Cesare Prandelli - Galatasaray Coach 2014-2014

You can be knocked out in football, but there are ways, and there are ways.

Italy didn't shoot in these last 2 matches. No shots.

IMHO it is much difficult to score in this way .

Yep, the chance creation was an absolute joke. Attacks were so random and blunt.

sportsczy wrote:Would Carlo consider the job?

Carlo said he doesn't see Italy competing until 2030. That is when he want to coach them

Prandelli's biggest mistake and the one that doomed him = building the attack around the scrub Balotelli. Balotelli wasn't even making runs. If he was moving properly, there is no way Pirlo, Marchisio, Verratti, etc. wouldn't find him. No idea why he did that tbh... it was suicide.

No shots on target in the last 2 games, pathetic.

Whatever your thoughts on whether correct or wrong in Prandelli resigning is subjective, yet this should not tarnish his legacy for Azzuri in any manner.

I understand this is the worst possible happenstance especially after our deserved knockout as being out of the grandest stage twice in a row is a world of pain.

Yet look back into 2010 where there was not a single positive to look upon considering the old guard was on its last sinews, talent was bleak, formats were not made, pessimism was abundant and the final whistle for Slovakia let us see nothing else but depression.

Yet Prandelli came into Italia; gave us an identity, a philosophy, direction, guile, and actual football. He brought the coinage of merit into a once political Italia and stood versus all the criticism and doubts and made us play the best football we have played since Sacchi and Zoff. He brought leadership in a cavern of turmoil and bleak prospects to which Italia's current inertia was akin to a cruiser ship against a high tide.

He provided conscience and leadership to the upcoming starlets and inspired their club managers, he provided new legs for the elder guard who were all but consigned as finished. He gave the much maligned Oriundi a chance and banished the political favourites of Abete and all the chop-room politics of FIGC. He combined with Roberto Baggio, Arrigo Sacchi, and Demetrio Albertini to renew a long term project of rebuilding gli Azzuri back into a vision of what modern Italian football must represent regardless of all the Serie A metronomes and financial doom.

He took us to a Euro 2012 final beating England, Germany and lost to an Espana having 10 men half the match with less than 48 hours of rest compared to the opposition.

He took us to the meaningless but competitive Confederations Cup only losing to Espana on penalties and making some of the most shrewd decisions to get us there.

He became a peoples manager, when a mistake presented itself he owned up to them and always reacted diligently, yet never was accused in failure on his second try.

Where did he fail? Cesare Prandelli in all his leadership and exquisite character at times was quite indecisive. Typically of an Italian manager he chose to sort out every tactical option under the sun in preparation for a tournament yet did not follow through with the perfectionism that made him Hero and Villain to us all. THAT is where he failed in this World Cup, producing an Azzurri without clear ideas in a squad full of the most complete players on earth. You never go to a World Cup unprepared. Yet sadly it will go ignored on his ability to adapt, improvise and be the architect of solutions that most managers would fail in, fans not understanding the difficulty of that situation.

My biggest criticism? I loved his squad selections initially yet he could not attune needed balance and an assortment of depth in which through injuries or suspensions exposed his poor squad selection; hindsight rearing its head again to look upon who he could have chosen and rightly so.

Yet tarnishing his legacy in favour of Byron Moreno Mk.II in a World Cup of struggling Europeans in treacherous heat to which even his scientific solutions could not persevere, is just plain scapegoating. Our first match was played in the middle of the Amazonian climate as the next ones BOTH in the North of Brazil which are home to the most extreme temperatures in the country (compared to other groups playing in the South), was all against him despite his failure to compile a more guileful Italia. In Italia's absurd stop-gap satiation schedule of friendlies it surprised me that he even could follow through with ideas in a squad full of transitional and tactical change.

I see what Prandelli is for the manager he is; and what brilliant tenures he had in smaller clubs like Verona to Venezia, ranging from his stellar campaign for Fiorentina only to have his long term vision marred by the once sightless brothers than own them.

I see Prandelli as the man who picked up this nation from its knees and successfully completed his transition from dank depths of 2010 to an Italia once again in no doubt of their limits.

I see the man with such utter class and elegant character that it rubbed off on critics and fans alike; taking immediate responsibility to take the attention from the game, in a game full of Blue-Pill managers finding excuses in every corner of the earth.

As manager for the Azzuri I give him a 9/10 as his failures will be acknowledged yet there are more than climbing ranks and winning points; Prandelli has set the long term vision for Italia until the next generation with all tactical options strived and concluded until further evolution; all outliers and semantic exhausted to give a clearer vision of how Italia must build upon his philosophy as such was his sacrifice for the organization.

Should he have been sacked? I wanted him to complete his tenure in Euro 2016 in a more familiar territory not faced with tropical weather and ill-timed friendlies where he will be shown for the manager who struggles in a group stage yet lights up during the more delicate preparation of a knock-out stage where he has proven himself with Fiorentina and Italia. The do or die decision where clarity is his finest ally.

Grazie di tutto e sempre, Mister Prandelli. I wish him the best of luck in the future and know he will succeed wherever he goes.

Honestly, I say bring back Lippi. He made a big mistake in 2010 but outside of that is one of, if not the best manager of all time. I think he could really work wonders with this Italy team, which really has alot more talent than it seems.

And LOL to the people calling Prandelli a failure. Hes a class act and a great coach. He made a mistake not taking Rossi but overall hes done very well. Took us to the Euro final, Confed Cup final, and now got screwed in the WC. I also like that he learned from his mistakes and admitted them very quickly which is very rare these days.

Always like Prandelli, especially his spell at Fiorentina. But I don't think anyone can consider his tenure as Italy coach as anything but a flop.

I do wonder if Italy can entice some of their better coaches to take the job or if they will be stuck with Allegri.

I respect Prandelli not only for the way he has stepped aside here but also how he has conducted himself all along, even if I didn't necessarily understand some of his choices.

Must be said he took on a pretty daunting task after the debacle in 2010 and his work to really get Italy ship shape for Euro 2012 was excellent.

But I think, like many managers before him, the (relative) success of this tournament clouded his judgement somewhat moving forward, meaning he found it difficult to effectively use it as a springboard for this WC in Brazil.

sportsczy wrote:Prandelli is a very good manager.  He tried to get Italy to play positive football...  but in the end, he became conservative for whatever reason today.  Overall, a very positive influence.

i hope italy doesn't hire a manager that would revert the NT to its old style of playing, which i hated.  

I don't think Prandelli is the first to get Italy playing positive (in an attacking sense) football and he won't be the last. 1978 WC is an example.

But results define everything and IMO Italy will almost certainly revert back to type.

Yep, results are the only thing that counts in International football imo, like I said it's different from the club competitions as fans have to 'endure' bad football twice a Week for 9 months at a time

A handful of 'boring' games and a deep World Cup run is infinitely greater than some scintillating football and a group stage exit.

Plus let's be honest, 2013-14 Italy has been awful in the final 3rd and went 9 months without a win.

My personal pick as to who should succeed Prandelli (Or who should be the manager going into the 2018 WC) is Conte. Honestly, none of the current crop of candidates look appealing to me. And i doubt that Carlo would want to coach the Azzurri.

Unfortunately, Conte recently extended with Juve. So we'll have to settle with either the National Cup guy, the Farmer or Allegri

I think Conte missed a trick by signing a new contract with Juve.

Could do both if the club and FIGC agreed to it

I mean half the team is Juve players anyway, it all makes sense.

Could be a interesting solution, no doubt he is the most favourable option among the attainable names being thrown about.

I would have two reservations though.

A.) How that situation would work in Italy's volatile football and media climate

B.) As much as I love Conte, I think his coaching career is only in it's formative years; he clearly has all the attributes to be an absolute top level manager and while I don't doubt his ability to get the best out of players at his disposal I think at this very moment he still has much to learn when it comes to the finer points of knock out football.

He's so invested in his project at Juve; head, heart and soul that I think the only way he can truly serve Italia to the fullest is when he has won all he can win with Juve and the fire in his belly has subsided somewhat.

Yeah Conte is too young. International football is for the final years in a coaching career. The work load is simply too little for someone so young.

Not to mention I bet Juve pay more than the FIGC.

Italy sucked sadly i supported them but they need to keep prandelli.

the likes of allegri mancini would be a disaster for italy.

Gotta respect him for how he went out honestly. Didn't get the results and that ultimately sealed his fate, but he's been a model professional for Italy and he really did try to hold the players accountable with his code of ethics. That system was often pretty much airtight until the end when it frayed a bit, but I think Prandelli did his best. It just wasn't enough and I think he knew that.

Excellent guy and he's still a good coach. He'll land on his feet no doubt.

Couldn't have said it better McLewis , completely agree . Respect for Prandelli . Such a pity for him and Italy , but they only have themselves to blame .

International football is for tacticians. I don't think Conte is strong in that regard just yet. This was also Prandelli's downfall.

Think Ancelotti would be perfect. Doubt he'll leave Madrid for NT just yet. Capello is another guy. But he's too negative. Don't know if FIGC want to go back down that path specially since the talent level defensively isn't nearly as good as the Baresi's Maldini's, Nesta's, Cannavarro's, etc. Rafa would be perfect for Internationals. But again he's probably still too early in his career.

It is an honorable and correct decision. He was tasked with improving the team and he did no better than Lippi if one looks at it objectively. I understand the head of the Italian FA has also resigned. That is also the right thing to do. No referee would give a straight red for a questionable foul to a player on other teams that have won several World Cups, they would be too intimidated to do so. The Italian FA has not the influence in FIFA that it should have. The head of their FA is to blame for this, so he should have resigned, and he did. You have to respect the Italians for this. Other managers and FA heads who have failed have not done the same.

Respect to Prandelli, must say, my favourite coach.

I think he understands where he went wrong, his decisions were questionable at times, but he still gave us a dying hope in a dying generation. Plus a Euro final.. 2 years after being destroyed at the WC.. not bad.

I am worried about whoever will replace Prandelli.

I am also confused what the resignation of the head of the FIGC will have on Italy?

prandelli did honorable thing by admiting his mistake but i hope italian fans and FIGC still supports him.

Prandelli did make a mistake because he didn't have solution to both costa rica and uruguay problems, but ...

this italy squad wasnt bad, they just played badly. and they missed some good players...

do i want the likes of mancini who was a billion dollar failure at mancity or do i want a cocky ex-milan allegri who so blindly settles even for a draw or loss and boasts a lot in media.

no, i would have prandelli anyday!! anyday ahead of him...


prandelli made a mistake, but he really is a sensible guy and i strongly believe only he can fix this problem and make italy strong again!!!


hope prandelli cools down and reconsider his future or FIGC doesnt accept his resignation.

only conte ancelotti can make this team strong.. but i think prandelli should stay

No respect for him as a tactician. Played for the draw and got sucker punched.

I still have respect for him as a person because he realised he failed and quit immediately.

how about morten olsen as italy coach?

Mancini to take over?

Time for Mancini to shut his doubters up.