World Cup: AUSTRALIA vs Italy

[Cooldude]

Yellow card records in the group stages are wiped, knockout stage is a clean slate

Only suspension carries over, that's why that idiot Emerton won't play

 

[Presti_is_god]

Do Italy have any suspensions?

 

[crowsarethebest]

From what I saw Italy vs Czech's, Italy play a posession game and its is imperitive we go for the ball and attack the ball. We can't just zone of against Italy.

 

[demon_fanatic]

No i dont think Italy have any suspensions.. Gatusso got a yellow last night but that was it i think and he wasnt carrying any cards..

Nesta their best defender is injured does anyone know how bad this is?

In regards to our lineup i think we should go 2 up front Kennedy and Viduka... now i know this may seem a gamble but this kid Kennedy can play and always seems to head the ball into a dangerous spot he would set up kewell, bresciano and cahill a lot.

If we play Bresciano that gives us 6 midfielders :Grella, Cullina, Cahill, Bresciano, Kewell, Sterjovski.. i think this is overkill... id leave Sterjovski on the bench as an impact player for the 2nd half and finally start Cahill, Kewell and bresciano all together as they are our most likely to score... use cullina and grella as the shields to our back 3... With emerton out Cullina will have to be more defensive minded helping out grella lots...

id go 3:5:2 : Chipperfield, Neill, Moore, Grella, Cullina, Kewell, Cahill, Bresciano, Kennedy, Viduka.

but id say Hiddinks likely choice will be to stay with the back 4, 5 mids and viduka up front by himself, with wilkshire or skoko filling the right back left vacant by Emerton.. i personally dont think wilkshire is up to it.. hes playing div 3 at Bristol.. Skoko would be better but does he have the pace for right back?

anyway bring on kennedy, i rate this guy as more dangerous than Aloisi even, but as long as kewell, bresc and cahill all start together i am happy.

 

[lucas_hsv]

Its 5pm German time, so that is 1am for the Eastern States, 1:30 am for Adelaide and 11:30pm for Perth?

-Mav

Thanks for that.

 

[Woodson]

Guus better wise up. Kalac over Schwartzer is absurd.
I will have a 75/25 tendancy with the Socceroos come Tuesday morning.
Have INT'nal phone calls to make just to stir the pot Kalac the hack better not play!!! Are you outta your mind Guus??

 

[Cooldude]

We can't easily give away the ball, with Italy, you won't get it back for a while if you do

Logically there's no chance that we'd win, they're too good for us, dare say they'd be a bigger test than Brazil, but it's Italy and they'll choke on penalties.

 

[Woodson]

We can't easily give away the ball, with Italy, you won't get it back for a while if you do

Logically there's no chance that we'd win, they're too good for us, dare say they'd be a bigger test than Brazil, but it's Italy and they'll choke on penalties.

Not if Kalac gets the gig. Buffon is as good if not better than Schwartzer.

 

[JLC]

Operation Shut down Lygon st has begun

After watching Italy v Czech republic i am pretty confident we will win this game.

Bresciano must start as we need to make more of our set pieces.

In Guus we trust (except on goal keeping selection)

jlc

 

[demon_fanatic]

anyone else think guus will roll the dice and start kewell, bresc and cahill all on and maybe move sterjovski to the bench.. sterjovski did great tonight but the other 3 are more likely to score and we really struggled with set pieces without bresciano last night.. and his knowledge of the italians he must play.....!!

roll the dice guus : 3:5:2 with kennedy dukes up front

 

[topdon]

Its good that we have a few players who play in the Serie A, who are familiar with the style of Italian football ... and of course ... know the language.

Italy will want to control the temp of the match, it will be important for Australia not to conceed early. We do not want to have to come from one or two goals down, as they'll bottle the game right up. Australia MUST put on the pressure early and score to force the Italians to chase the game. This is where we can then beat them, on the counter-attack, as they'll need to push players forward.

 

[Toots Hibbert]

If we go defensive we will get slaughtered. We only know one way and thats all out attack. Italy will try and clog it up i'd imagine, thats their style, if we put in a physical presence and attack them down the flanks, we can give them a scare.

When you put fear into Italian footballers, they collapse. They will find a way to shoot themselves out of the tournament again, either with a bad blunder, own goal, red card.. you name it.

We don't go all out on attack. We have Viduka up forward to hold the ball while our midfielders who have been busy helping out the defence can get forward. We only go all out on attack when we are in a desperate situation.

Yes we have a team with an attacking mindset but we have a solid defensive setup from which to go forward.

 

[Divado]

anyone else think guus will roll the dice and start kewell, bresc and cahill all on and maybe move sterjovski to the bench.. sterjovski did great tonight but the other 3 are more likely to score and we really struggled with set pieces without bresciano last night.. and his knowledge of the italians he must play.....!!

roll the dice guus : 3:5:2 with kennedy dukes up front

I think he may play all 3, kewell on the left, bresch on the right and cahill in the middle somewhere. Bresch is the best at the set piece and after seeing the balls consisently hit croatian defenders he must start.

3:5:2 could work but kennedy and viduka play a similar role maybe dukes and aloisi up front, with kennedy to come on late.

 

[Korn]

Both of Emerton's yellow cards were result from his stupidity, they were both very avoidable.

 

[Qsaint]

Do Italy have any suspensions?

The key defender out?????

 

[Cooldude]

Not if Kalac gets the gig. Buffon is as good if not better than Schwartzer.

Are you kidding me?

If Schwarzer undergoes an extreme intensive and grueling goalkeeping training program for the next 10 milleniums, he still wouldn't get close to Buffon's level.

 

[sainter]

They are releasing 1500 tickets to Aussies in Stuttgart tomorrow at 10am so I'll be one of the 20,000 people travelling there to get lucky. Nothing like a 5am start to travel 3 hours to a place that you just were 24 hours earlier but I'm not going to complain.

Game starts 5pm German time in Kaiserslauten and I'm flying out of Frankfurt 7 hours later. I'm looking forward to watching the Aussies in the Quarter Final at Fed Square.

It's been amazing here. Other than last night we've been in Munich the whole time and it's just a fantastic place. The people are friendly and the stadiums are magnificent. German people seem intrigued by Aussies. We speak English but aren't American or English. I think they like that.

When I get back I'll post some pictures. I was lucky enough to sneak into the fantatics tour and visit Ohringen on the Aussie express. We got off the train and received a guard of honour. Such a humbling experience.

 

[Weaver]

I'd guess we will revert to our favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. The Italians aren't as dependant on wing play for their chances as the Croatians, they tend to build more through the middle.

We can probably get away with playing narrow against them.

Playing Kennedy from the start would play into their hands a little. Nesta (or Materrazzi) and Cannavarro are hardly going to be frightened of a bit of aerial work.

Also playing the two strikers robs Cahill of the freedom to push forward from midfield and he has looked our most likely to score or create a chance.

I don't think we can get away with the 3 defenders. Particularly if Italy play with two up front and Totti in the hole.

I think Culina will go to right back. Guus has used him as a wing-back before and trusts him. Culina has the smarts for the role.

That would create a vacancy in the middle for Skoko to partner Grella.

The other option would be 4-1-4-1 with Grella holding and picking up Totti, Bresciano coming in. Seeing as Guus doesn't seem to rate or trust Skoko I would guess that is the way he'd go, personally I'd prefer to see Skoko used.

Woner whether he will keep one of Cahill, Bresciano or Kewell as fresh legs for the second half? Has worked very well for us so far. Cahill getting the goals against Japan, Kewell getting the chances against Brazil, and Bresciano livening us up against Croatia.

I like

Schwarzer
Culina - Moore - Neill - Chipperfield
Grella - Skoko
Bresciano - Cahill - Kewell
V-Bomber

Grella and Skoko to stiffle Totti. The attacking midfielders to give Gattuso and Pirlo something to do. If you don't get at the two Italian DM they will just sit in front of the back-4 and we will be reduced to long-balls and shots from our own half.

 

[Weaver]

Both of Emerton's yellow cards were result from his stupidity, they were both very avoidable.

Disagree on the first one. If he hadn't held his man, his opponent would have been past and free to attack down a wide open wing. Classic example of allowing either the ball or the man to go past, but not both.

Once he had the first he was already suspended. The second one was stupid and selfish - reducing us to 10 men after already knocking himself out of the next round was the worst thing he could do.

 

[Cooldude]

Wonder if there's any merit in putting something close to a man mark on Pirlo, he's the type that as soon as you give him extra attention, he becomes Invisible Man. Most of Italy's play flow through Pirlo and Totti, but Pirlo's the pivot so to speak.

Hope our back 4 winds up Totti, the type of **** that can lose the plot if you stick it up his face.

Italy plays through the middle most the time, 4-2-3-1 will definitely be played. But we might be in some trouble if we go one down early

 

[Kegs44]

No i dont think Italy have any suspensions.. Gatusso got a yellow last night but that was it i think and he wasnt carrying any cards..

Nesta their best defender is injured does anyone know how bad this is?

In regards to our lineup i think we should go 2 up front Kennedy and Viduka... now i know this may seem a gamble but this kid Kennedy can play and always seems to head the ball into a dangerous spot he would set up kewell, bresciano and cahill a lot.

If we play Bresciano that gives us 6 midfielders :Grella, Cullina, Cahill, Bresciano, Kewell, Sterjovski.. i think this is overkill... id leave Sterjovski on the bench as an impact player for the 2nd half and finally start Cahill, Kewell and bresciano all together as they are our most likely to score... use cullina and grella as the shields to our back 3... With emerton out Cullina will have to be more defensive minded helping out grella lots...

id go 3:5:2 : Chipperfield, Neill, Moore, Grella, Cullina, Kewell, Cahill, Bresciano, Kennedy, Viduka.

but id say Hiddinks likely choice will be to stay with the back 4, 5 mids and viduka up front by himself, with wilkshire or skoko filling the right back left vacant by Emerton.. i personally dont think wilkshire is up to it.. hes playing div 3 at Bristol.. Skoko would be better but does he have the pace for right back?

anyway bring on kennedy, i rate this guy as more dangerous than Aloisi even, but as long as kewell, bresc and cahill all start together i am happy.

I agree with you, I hope they go with your suggested 3-5-2 team but i dont believe Kennedy will start, especially before Aloisi. And with Wilkshire, although i like the kid, he aint up to this level.
Do you think theres any chance Culina will replace Emerton at RB and skoko to join Grella as defensive midfielders? I'm not to sure where Culina plays at club level so if thats stupid question then fair enuf.

 

[Weaver]

I'm not to sure where Culina plays at club level so if thats stupid question then fair enuf.

Culina is a genuine utility. He often plays as a striker, or just behind them, at club level. Basically the same attacking midfield role as Kewell or Cahill have been playing. We've used him as a defender, a defensive midfielder, a wide midfielder. He really is Mr Fixit being plugged in where ever we have a problem.

In a way Culina might be the first player named in the squad because he is valuable to Guus - but the last guy named in the team. Picks his 9 players in their best positions and then safely plugs Culina into the other spot, whatever it is.

 

[Korn]

I really like the idea of how Guus does not start with all of our best players, but later bring in the "impact" players onto the field towards the end of 2nd half, like Cahill in the 1st game, Kewell in the 2nd, and Bresciano in the Croatia game. I prefer Kewell play the whole 90mins because I don't think he is an impact player, it takes a while for him to get used to the tempo of the game so bringing him in towards the end of the game is not a good idea.

 

[maccas_no1]

No i dont think Italy have any suspensions.. Gatusso got a yellow last night but that was it i think and he wasnt carrying any cards..

Nesta their best defender is injured does anyone know how bad this is?

In regards to our lineup i think we should go 2 up front Kennedy and Viduka... now i know this may seem a gamble but this kid Kennedy can play and always seems to head the ball into a dangerous spot he would set up kewell, bresciano and cahill a lot.

If we play Bresciano that gives us 6 midfielders :Grella, Cullina, Cahill, Bresciano, Kewell, Sterjovski.. i think this is overkill... id leave Sterjovski on the bench as an impact player for the 2nd half and finally start Cahill, Kewell and bresciano all together as they are our most likely to score... use cullina and grella as the shields to our back 3... With emerton out Cullina will have to be more defensive minded helping out grella lots...

id go 3:5:2 : Chipperfield, Neill, Moore, Grella, Cullina, Kewell, Cahill, Bresciano, Kennedy, Viduka.

but id say Hiddinks likely choice will be to stay with the back 4, 5 mids and viduka up front by himself, with wilkshire or skoko filling the right back left vacant by Emerton.. i personally dont think wilkshire is up to it.. hes playing div 3 at Bristol.. Skoko would be better but does he have the pace for right back?

anyway bring on kennedy, i rate this guy as more dangerous than Aloisi even, but as long as kewell, bresc and cahill all start together i am happy.

Great post and totally agree, Kennedy when he comes on just creates something he wants the ball, as soon as he come on this morning I said to the mrs you watch something will happen now, right from the onset he attacked, great player.

 

[Portmanteau]

Disagree on the first one. If he hadn't held his man, his opponent would have been past and free to attack down a wide open wing. Classic example of allowing either the ball or the man to go past, but not both.

Yep, exactly right. It was a good professional foul, because there not too much, if anything, behind Emerton. Who knows what could've transpired if Emerton let him past.

Once he had the first he was already suspended. The second one was stupid and selfish - reducing us to 10 men after already knocking himself out of the next round was the worst thing he could do.

I have a question. Emerton obviously has 3 yellow cards from the group stage, does he still only miss the one match, or does the fact he got sent off see him miss an additional match?