Let's not let loose the dogs of war just yet. This match was truly a tale of two halves.
The first half began in earnest; our first clear opportunity was by Mario Balotelli and it was scooped up by the keeper. Immediately it seemed Russia would have an opportunity of their own on Buffon - which was also nicely saved. The first half had a seesaw rhythm to it; very fluid from both ends; quite frankly though, the Azzurri looked the better of the sides, although Russia had the clearer of the opportunities.
At the back, Prandelli decided not to test newly recovered Chiellini; instead he opted with a very plausible Maggio - Barzagli - Bonucci - Balzaretti to man the back line. Most of the time, while the ball was in the back half of the pitch; this four man defence looked horrid. Although Balzaretti seemed to play his normal best the other three men seemed a tad clueless at times. Maggio, oddly enough, looked like he was extremely uncomfortable tracking back and helping his centre backs. While Barzagli and Bonucci played with the minimalists of passion and determination. There were times at the back when Russia would be skirting the ball down the centre of the pitch and you could see that had the Russian striker opted a different path for the ball (passing it down the right instead of the left) a goal would have been the end result.
Our midfield looked as though it was a bit disjointed. Montolivo did play better than I expected; however, I'd prefer a player of his quality not playing in the Trequartista position and instead playing a little back. De Rossi seemed to have a strong match in his own right; while although Pirlo made some cheeky passes, his lack of speed was evident at times as the Russian midfield was able to pressure him into misdirecting the ball.
About Pirlo for a moment; I love the guy. He put together a miraculous season for Juventus. However, without taking anything away from him, it was the organization of Juventus that really suited Pirlo. Juventus was open to him. When Pirlo had the ball, the defence, and midfield (esp. Vidal) made themselves available to him as an outlet - just incase pressure was applied. Pirlo is a midfielder that will fight for the ball and distribute the ball with finesse. However, he is not a player that will dribble the ball past a player. He will not retain possession. In the Ireland match, the Trapp saw this, and put him under pressure throughout the match. The same was true yesterday. It seems (correct me if Im wrong) but as soon as Pirlo gets the ball you have the Attackers, De Rossi, Montolivo, and Marchisio all making runs into the box. This leaves Pirlo open and susceptible to being picked off.
Which brings me to Marchisio - I'm not his biggest fan. I know, there's a tremendous amount of support for this player; but when I pick up my yearly copy of FIFA 12; he is usually my first transfer out of Torino :). Regardless, I could tell he was playing to the left of Pirlo most of the night; but from there he seemed to drift in and out of the game. He was the one consistent feature of our midfield throughout the match and in the second half seemed to completely disappear. There are some calling for a different approach to our first match at EURO 2012 I believe one player that should be under scrutiny is Marchisio.
In attack we started the match with Cassano and Balotelli. Balotelli seemed to have some serious drive attributed to him during the first half of the match. He created the most chances and showed the most determination out of the two. There was an almost comical moment where Balotelli was at the top of the box with four Russians hanging onto him, and not a friendly player insight as an outlet. Cassano was off to the left of the box and not a midfield player was in the vicinity. This moment among others showed the tactical disconnect prevalent in the squad.
I did say it was a tale of two halves. However, the second half was a sheer mess. Although it did begin with promise. But once Russia was able to finally put something on target, the flood gates opened and the Azzurri quickly withdrew from the match both physically and mentally. Prandelli did change the attack to a three man trident and removed De Rossi,Montolivo and Pirlo from the midfield at his own peril; he replaced them with Motta and Nocerino. Suddenly service to the front of the pitch came to an immediate halt.
In defence, the only change Prandelli ventured to make was to remove our only bright spot in Balzaretti and replace him with a competent Ogbonna (whom I do think played fine under the circumstances). But taking our such a reliable soul in Balzaretti and replacing him with a young soul in Ogbonna did give the Russians yet another avenue down the left side of the pitch.
Finally, De Sanctis; its hard not to feel back for him. He was thrown on late as Buffon tweaked his arm and looked okay at the start making some decent saves. He had no chance on the first or second goals which was a testament to how well we defended; the third goal he really should have snatched that up. But in his defence the game had long since been over, so what the heck.
Player Ratings:
Buffon 7.0 Looked his normal self. At times wasn't too sure of his ability but managed to keep a clean sheet.Maggio 4.0 Usually a rock at the back; probably gave the worst performance of his career. He'll snap out of it, I have faith.
Barzagli 4.0 Coming off a great season with Juventus. But lets be fair, he isn't national team material and demonstrated that again today. No passion or conviction in his play
Bonucci 5.0 Started well enough but seemed to trail off significantly as the match got underway.
Balzaretti 7.0 Got forward nicely, tracked back nicely. Why Prandelli took him off out of the four is puzzling.
Pirlo 7.5 Delivered. Caught Cassano offside too many times; but showed some good ideas and clear thinking. How he found Balotelli out of nowhere was an incredible display of vision.
Marchisio 5.5 he didn't track back well or provide Pirlo with help in the midfield. His ability to drive into the box though was well received.
Montolivo 6.5 I thought he came out well in this match. Controlled some of the pace. He did drop off as the match wore on could have been down to fatigue as he just returned from injury.
De Rossi 7.0 Was agressive in moving forward and breaking up plays as they progressed through the midfield.
Cassano 6.0 I was surprised to see him track back at times. Did play poorly in the first half but then started coming strong in the second half only to be replaced.
Balotelli 7.0 Showed determination to get a goal on this night but didn't. Should start against Spain as he was our brightest spot in Attack.
The Substitutions
De Sanctis 4.5 Rough Night.
Ogbonna 5.5 Played well enough at Left Back, but would have rather seen him at CB
Motta 5.0 Didn't even appear to me he was on the pitch
Nocerino 6.0 Had one or two decent moments, broke up plays, would have liked to see him come on for Marchisio instead.
Di Natale 6.0 Took a shot on net 5 minutes into his outing for the Azzurri, made some runs but all was fruitless as the service got progressively worse from Midfield.
Giovinco 6.5 Wore his heart on his sleeve. Made runs, tried to move the ball around and show some quality.
Supporting CAST
Prandelli 3 Yesterday wasn't one of Prandelli's finest. Instead I think he did lose the plot as soon as he opened his mouth and commented that he would pull Italy out of EURO 2012 if he was asked by UEFA. I understand what he meant, but the media ate it for lunch which in turn reaped a lot of unnecessary pressure on the squad. He followed that act up by this performance. On pitch there were obvious pluses and minuses, but instead of recognizing the positives from the match he proceeded to remove them; as though it was scripted and put in some serious negatives. He failed to recognize and adapt his game plan.
There are many ignorant people in the world who believe this rendition of the Azzurri lack quality to mount a serious challenge. Displays like yesterday further that belief. The Azzurri were not lacking quality on this day, they seemed to lack tactical organization and mental preparedness; two things a manager is responsible for.
I do have faith he will pick his game up a notch and be prepared for when the games do begin to count. As someone said, this is not 2010. This squad is far superior to that disaster; and will show it as soon as the matches begin to matter.
The BALL -3 Not only did it skip all over the place, move awkwardly, but the movement of the ball was just stupid. It was like they were playing with a beach ball. I'm not sure if there are complaints, but the ball looked horrible for both sides. Russia did manage to control it a little better as the fact they had 2 previous games to prepare was obvious. But you couldn't even get a decent free kick off with that ball.
Final thought, I've been rambling now for quite some time on this page! So, just to sum up what my thought is... Last night we looked as though we just came off a nice vacation. We looked a little tired, a little down, a little sleepy. No problem. I have faith that with this match now past us, we can take from the many positives and build on it. It wasn't necessarily as bad as the score suggests. We'll be ready for Spain, I have full confidence in this team to succeed in this tournament. But first Prandelli will need to burn the midnight oil and keep comments to a minimum in the media. Who is his PR guy? Let Albertini do all the interviews; Prandelli you focus on the team; and I'll take care of putting together these rambling articles. Alright Break!
Euro 2012 begins in one week
