Italy: A Necessary Revolution

One of the truest definitions of insanity, as Albert Einstein once said, is doing something over and over again and expecting different results. While I won't call Marcello Lippi insane, one wonders though when he sees his squad struggle to get out of its group at the Confederation's Cup, then bowing out to a top side like Brazil, and then offers defensively that no major changes for next year's World Cup are in order. "The best team I could choose was the one standing on the field tonight. If I do have any regrets it is that this was not the correct image of this team for the world to see. I know our performance was disappointing and we have to go home, but it was not the real Italy tonight." Is he really seeing what we all are?


Let's go back three years. Italy had just won the World Cup, their fourth in their history, the players had gone off on holiday and Marcello Lippi took off on a wine tour of Tuscany. All I could think of, instead of enjoying the winning moment for a squad that I had followed since I was a kid, not to mention the hundred duckets I won off them in an office pool, was what now for these players? You follow, you project, and you wonder how the act can continue in four years considering how old these players were and how poorly they played overall in Germany. South Africa was a ways away sure, but who would have thought that so little would have changed since that final in Berlin.

Compare the two squads. In Goal, Gigi Buffon is still the number 1 and at 32 no longer the unquestioned number one keeper in the world but there is no true #2. Marco Amelia is hanging in there but after 3 years should he be more than a perennial #3. In defence, Fabio Grosso, Fabio Cannavaro, and Gianluca Zambrotta were still playing and only Giorgio Chiellini was having an impact on a geriatric backline. In midfield, Gattuso still snarls around but with a little less bite, Pirlo directs traffic with a few yards of pace less than he had (what little he had to begin with) and Mauro Camoranesi still can't remember the Italian national anthem, but is it now more from a looming, aged dementia or is it really that he still bleeds albiceleste and not azzurri beneath that shirt? The remarkable part is that at 25 Daniele DeRossi is still at the prime of his international career. It speaks to how quickly the young Romanista came into his own 4 years ago. Up front, the nursing home is full effect: Luca Toni and Vincenzo Iaquinta are still involved, but until recently even Alessandro Del Piero, and one-legged Francesco Totti were still in Lippi's plans. Up front, only 26 year old Alberto Gilardino is an energetic holdover from the World Cup squad. In short the team has needed a major overhaul for years. The critics, and I was one of them, rightly lambasted Roberto Donadoni for his tactics but the one thing you couldn't fault him was on his selection. The ex-Milan midfielder took pretty much anyone with an Italian passport and could still kick a ball. Lippi's selections however have been as hardened as the arteries of his starting 11. A necessary revolution is needed.

Gigi Buffon may not be the best anymore, but he's certainly still the best in Italy. Davide Santon needs time on the wing. Giorgio Chiellini is set at one centerback but is Fabio Cannavaro still an option at 35? Gamberini might not be a Baresi or a Maldini but he's been a quality centerback for Fiorentina. Fabiano Santacroce can even help out the back and Marco Motta can play on the wing opposite of Santon. In the midfield, I'd rather see three quality players there who are great two way players like Daniele DeRossi, Riccardo Montolivo and if he can fix the injury problems Alberto Aquilani, rather than specialists like Gattuso. If you want to fix the problems in defence, alleviate them by strengthening the midfield. Hold possession, regain it when you lose it and attack. If you must get a rottweiler in the middle I'd choose Angelo Palombo; a younger version of Rino. Up front, Italy are old, slow and one dimensional. Lacking a fantasista, they haven't been able to link their midfield and their attack so including Antonio Cassano here would be ideal. Short of that, then I'd settle for Sebastian Giovinco. His passing is extraordinary, he's lightning quick, and while most would look down on his size and lack of physical presence, I'd give up a little of that for a bit of transcendent skill. Up front, without question, Giuseppe Rossi needs to be in the mix with his U21 partner Gianpaolo Pazzini. Add Robert Aquafresca, Antonio DiNatale, Alberto Gilardino, Fabio Quagliarella, in fact there are so many younger strikers plying there trade in Italy that you don't have to be a genius to put combinations of them together to find the right mix. In fact, with such a heady mix of great, young Italian attacking talent, it is Lippi's greatest failure not to have developed them more.

It may not be a time to panic, Italy were close enough then to give Spain a run for their money, and some veterans must stay on to give some semblance of continuity for the World Champions, but Italy cannot take this loss lightly. They have 11 months.