Italy Shouldnt Depend So Heavily On Andrea Pirlo
Andrea Pirlo has been Italy's best offensive player over the past 5 years at least. Forget Totti or Del Piero, and especially forget the host of pretenders who have made up Italy's frontline since the 2006 World Cup. While "Er Pupone" and Alex Del Piero are champions and some of Italy's finest, they had their hour and peaked before the 2006 glory in Germany.
Italy's offense, from 2006 up till now, has belonged to Pirlo. Unless gli Azzurri coach CesarePrandelli introduces some new players into the set up, Italy's ability to create chances will fall entirely on Pirlo for the foreseeable future. And as he ages, I doubt this will be a boon to Italy.
This is no exaggeration either. All one has to do is point to the final match Italy played in the 2010 World Cup. Gli Azzurri were losing to Slovakia. Pirlo entered after half-time and the team scored two goals (and still lost), but those statistics don't tell the whole story. The first-half Italy looked dull, devoid of ideas and positively unable to locate the opponent's goal. When Pirlo entered, the side moved positively, looked to create chances on goal, etc. Without Pirlo, Italy were dreadful. With him, they were able to almost launch a heroic comeback. Do Italy really want to be the team of two halves until Pirlo announces his retirement?
As a recent article points out, Prandelli's recent experiment to bring aboard new talent failed against Romania. But that does not mean he should give up. No other national team can remain a top force in international football and rely on one player for their offensive productivity. Spain is unusually blessed with creative midfielders, being able to call on at least four world class playmakers ! (Xavi, I niesta, Fabregas, Xabi Alonso). Holland can use van der Vaart and Sneijder. Germany have Oezil and Schweinsteiger.
The point is that Italy's starting line-up regularly features only one player expected to create from the midfield, and when fit, that player is Pirlo. The rest of the time a back-up with little international experience, especially at major tournaments, is expected to fill in this role until Pirlo becomes healthy again.
Part of the problem is that, in the national set-up, Italy hasn't groomed another creator who can work alongside him. Xavi regularly plays with Xabi Alonso or Iniesta in the midfield for Spain; Italy should be trying to find a second playmaker to work with their own Maestro consistently, not just when he's injured.
It's not as if La Nazionale are lacking for midfield quality either, it's just that the national team coach has, at least since 2006, preferred to protect Pirlo with less offensively gifted players. Normally two hardworking butunimaginativeplayers are placed in the midfield to win the ball and give it to Pirlo, who then distributes. But perhaps a midfield trio of Pirlo, De Rossi and either Fiorentina's Gaetano D'Agostino/Ricardo Montolivo, or Juventus' Alberto Aquilani might do the trick. It would certainly take some of the burden off of Pirlo (and also alleviate the risk and obvious nature of Italy's game).
True, none of these mentioned players are household names or synonymous with world class midfield talent, but that's part of the point. Either through injury or through being overlooked for selection in meaningful international games, these players haven't really been given a chance to shine. Montolivo was taken to South Africa, true, and did not impress, but the disaster of that campaign is not indicative of his influence and quality he regularly has for Fiorentina.
Aquilani has been wonderful for Juventus this season, and though his first call up in nearly two years was not a rousing success, his form, should it continue on its c! urrent u pward trajectory, deserves reward.
In any case, Prandelli needs to look towards integration, not just replacement. The current system holds Italy to the fitness and form of one player. This cannot happen for any longer. The inclusion of previously in-the-cold strikers like Balotelli and Cassano is a great step forward for Italy. The next move is fixing the midfield.
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