Friday 25 June 2010

The Crash of the Titans...


Italy are out and didn't even get past the first round, in a group that included Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia. Gigi Buffon was right, if they couldn't even get past them. they didn't deserve to go any further. The way they played was pitiful not something you would link World Champions to. Yes there were brief moments of class and for a while Cannavaro brought composer and a sense of order to the game but that all disappeared after the draw with the kiwis. You started to see the tired legs and lack of creativity and adventure going forward. What continues to baffle me is.. why take Vicenza Iaquinta who has had a cameo appearance at his club due to injury and leave Marco Borriello, a player on fire, at home? I guess Lippi's love for the Juve player has come back and kicked him up the ass!!!! But it's not as simple as this the whole team were below par, it was embarrassing!! It was schoolyard tactics- just kick the ball upfield and hope that the forward does something, there was no passing, no keeping of the ball and no pressing or sustained pressure, that was until the last 15 minutes of the game against Slovakia when Andrea Pirlo came on!! By then it was too little too late. I have a question... why didn't Lippi put Fabio Quagliarella on earlier in the tournament? He wasn't injured and he brought in pace and had a great understanding with former team mate Antonio Di Natale, the way they worked the ball and played off each other was exactly what this group of players needed earlier in the tournament. Lippi should've been done doing all his experiments, these group of players looked out of sync with each other and lacked familiarity. My only hope is that Cesare Prandelli can bring some cohesion back to this group of individuals.

Tuesday 22 June 2010

A memo to FiFa..


So far this World Cup has had shock, spills, own goals and controversy amongst other things. I propose a radical idea to get rid of players faking injuries and going down like they just been shot by a sniper, if a player is supposedly injured make him get off the pitch forcing his team to play with ten men, trust me, after a while his own team mates will get annoyed with him. And also video evidence has to start to come into the game because there is only so much the refs can see. And the 4th official is on the dugout, so I don't see why he can't just have a monitor there and then relay the information to the ref, he's meant to be there to help the ref isn't he?

Wednesday 16 June 2010

Buffon...

Can Italy still be a competitive force without Gianluigi Buffon? Now that is the million doller question, not only does he bring his skill as a keeper but he brings with him a sense of calm and reassurance, you would always know that he has your back. Now his back has gone out and he might be out of the World Cup. He has been dealin with this problem on and off since January and obviously it's something serious, and it's not going away and a quick fix wont do so the only other option is surgery. This will most likely take him out of the competition, but I'd rather know that he's going to get the right treatment than have him in pain and not at his best. Maybe I have a another reason to all this rationalisation.... I am a Juventus fan and I want him to help the team get back to their best and we can't do that if one f the most influential players is not there. So from the bottom of my heart.. Buffon I wish you well xxx And the greatest gift the Azzurri could give, is to go as far as possible.

Tuesday 15 June 2010

Too old??




Are the Italian national football team really that old or arre we just nitpicking? I think the latter, as he showed in the game against Paraguay, they're still some life left in those 36- year-old legs- I'm talking about the captain Fabio Cannavaro. He put in a fine performance against the South Americans, shutting down their attacks, tidying up and even going forward. But there was an inkling of tired legs begining to creep into the second half, but that's why we have got Giorgio Chiellini, who some regard to be the best young full back at just 25- year- old. This team has got a mix of the experienced and the exuberance of the youngsters, and I can tell you now, that if people actually bothered to do their research they would see that they're older teams out there, take Mexico for instance they have an attacking player who is 37- at least Cannavaro is just a defender and it's not like he's doing that bad considering....

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Juve are losing the plot!!!

What is wrong with them? I am sad that they had such a dreadful season and only finished in seventh with the Europa League play offs to look forward to, but that was due to injuries and the players not being familiar with the tactics and each other due to the changing managers and new players coming in, what they now need is stability- no instead they're getting rid of players and I have no doubt that next season will be more of the same!

What baffles me is this whole thing with Diego, Yes I admit he hasn't had a great debut season, that's because he was brought in as someone who can fix a sinking ship, and with the massive price tag he had people expected no they demanded that- but hang on a second, he is just one player, what happened to the other 10??!

Also on hearing how frustrated Sebastian Giovinco is just makes me sadder. He is a fantastic player with tremendous potential, only there was noone at Juve who knew how to harness it. Yes he is small but there is nothing he can do about that and who cares???!!! Look at Lionel Messi he is just about three inches taller and people are saying he is one of the best players in the world. Size doesn't matter, Juve are just afraid to take a risk and it's too bad because now he is so sick at being left on the bench that he is contemplating moving to paster new. I wish him all the luck in the world, the only way he can get better if he gets off the bench.

I really do hope he stays, as his youth is a major plus and the fact that he started at Juve Youth team I really believe they owe it to him to give him a chance. Another person who deserve a chance is Diego, He was one of the new signings and I have seen glimmers of briliance in him and seeing as though he was hot property at Werder Bremen, I believe Juve owe it to him to keep him on, since it is MY theory that it is the Bianconeri that have lowered his value.

So in conclusion if anyone from Juventus is reading this I am pleading with you to give then the chances they deserve and I don't know how buying a bunch of new players is going to help the team become more familiar with each other or help you keep within your budget!!!!
Barcelona are one of the greatest teams because many of the players grew up with each other and played through the youth system...... Maybe you could take a leaf out of their playbook???!!

Tuesday 8 June 2010

Weekend movies




First movie I saw at the weekend was the movie that won Sandra Bullock the Razzie for worst actress and I can see why. All about Steve is about a women ( Bullock) who has a blind date with a man named Steve and then she spends the rest of the movie chasing him across country.. her theory is that Steve invited her to come along.




Okay now before you think less of me, I only watched this movie because of sheer curiosity and the fact that I'm a fan of Bullock's work. But this movie was cringewworthy and the message was not a clear one. What this film does say is that being intelligent is useless because in the end all she does is crossword puzzles for the local paper and the news anchors are clearly moronic. This just encourages the myth that being smart is nothing and fame is everything- something that is a scary theme in American movies. Don't people understand that if your smart you can get fame.. I mean if that's what you want, this obsession with fame is an unhealthy obsession and a little sad really. Also this film encourages stalking... which I understood was a bad thing?? Mary ( Bullock) basically stalks Steve. and if this was the other way around and Steve was stalking Mary, he would get arrested and have a restraining order but because it's a women it's romantic- ahem double standards!! And this whole myth that you're nothing untill you get a man is absurd. Some of the most successfull women are single and that's a good thing because all they do is complicate things I mean just look at what happened in Sandy's personal life.


The other thing about this movie that did make me feel sad was how she was made to feel like an outcast because she didn't conform to society's version of " normal", what made this even more sad was how she was making excuse for being different.




Another movie that I saw was, " The Killer Inside Me". Something completley differen to All About Steve, But it is still about obsession. His need to kill. This film just shows you what happens if you keep yourself so repressed- it'll kill you! Although it did have more to do with his background and how he was forced to grow up. What can I really say without giving too much away? What I will say is appearances can be deceiving. Worth a watch but I could have done with a lot less sex scenes, it kindof gives it the feel of a "snuff film."