ITALY v COSTA RICA - Review

People here are quick to jump on our attack - cassano, balotelli, Insigne, even to a small extent cerci are all being blamed before the rest of this team. First and foremost, those who think Rossi would have faired better against Costa Rica are kidding themselves. Further, the thing that has held us Italians back is this euphoric mentality to see veterans. Buffon, Pirlo, even Chiellini and Barzagli are not who we make them out to be. Sure Buffon and Pirlo have accomplished wonders in their careers, but like Cannavaro's 2010 appearance you have to know when to call it a day. The buck though stops with Prandelli - prior to the World Cup, it was promised - ATTACKING FOOTBALL - instead over the last two matches I've seen us resort to a formation and lineup that is all too eerily familiar to 2010. Our approach has been incredibly conservative. What does one expect Balotelli to do without any support? Numerous times, he would gain possession only to have no one to help him with four Costa Rican defenders draped on him. Marchisio, candreva and company all trailing far behind the play. It was the 'so called incredible midfield' that couldn't keep pace with the game. How many times was Pirlo hustled off the ball? How many errors did Chiellini make at center back? The media and many of you hail an incredible midfield - best in the world some say - yet why, when we needed to press did we only resort to long balls from barzagli. This approach devoids us of creativity, of the ability to even get a shot on goal. How we approached an important match against a minnow with such a defensive mentality is beyond me. Look around, is Brazil playing 1 striker? France? Belgium? Holland? Uruguay? England? No one is employing these tactics and they are reaping the rewards. We are playing an ultra defensive formation and still bleeding goals - but for a few more lucky bounces this game could have gone out of reach. This game could have been different had we forced the play and pressed Costa Rica with more attacking options in the first half. Instead Prandelli went defensive, they scored and parked the bus making us look average as they countered. How many times did you see Pirlo picked off from the back? Chiellini's woeful performance was simply shocking - missed back passes turning into free corners for Costa Rica or goal scoring chances and Buffon - here's my problem with Italian football. Sirigu was heroic against England - best goal keeping for the Azzurri since Toldo in 2000 IMO - yet Buffon who is coming off injury is brought in - what? Any other country would have stayed with the hot hand - not gone backwards. If I'm to take the England game as an example, I am sure Sirigu would have claimed the cross before the Costa Rican tapped it in. There's a long way to go before we are challengers again, Euro 2012 gave us a false hope - the confederation cup smacked us back to reality, but even then Prandelli refused to listen. And what of our attack? To be honest, if utilized, it's our only bright spot. Cassano's issue yesterday was that he was basically playing in midfield, it would have been more productive to have cassano on the left and Insigne using his pace uniting midfield and attack, but by the time these guys were brought on Costa Rica had parked the bus and the game was over. Prandelli needs to attack Uruguay on Tuesday. He should start the match with Insigne - immobile - cerci and if healthy bring in de sciglio and verratti. Let the youth guide us to the next round and let's give Buffon a rest. It's time to think like champions and if we go out we go out, but at least we tried; playing as we did yesterday we simply look poor.