Roberto Donadoni could well be replaced even if Italy qualify for the 2008 European Championships. Gil Gillespie argues that his tenure, like his appointment, has been a bit of a charade from start to finish.
Donadoni: Making The Worst Of A Bad Job
Lose-Lose Situation
Roberto Donadoni is heading for what he has described as his “World Cup Final†but he knows that he is unlikely to emerge as a winner whatever the result.
Saturday November 17th is almost certain to be the day when he will lose his job. No-one will be surprised, not even the man himself.
Ever since he was first appointed 18 months ago the former Milan legend has found it impossible to escape the fact that he inherited a lose-lose situation from Marcello Lippi.
There is no way anyone can follow a World Cup winning coach without looking inferior and so the Italian Football Federation went for a patsy, someone they could get rid of easily and with the minimum of fuss. Donadoni was unfortunate enough to be offered the job.
Pretending that they had one eye on the appointment of Jurgen Klinsmann as Germany coach and the other on Marco Van Basten’s as Holland’s, Italy’s top brass quietly hinted they were following a new football trend without ever actually saying so.
Suddenly, in a complete reversal of everything they have done before and everything they believe in, they handed the managerial reins to a 44-year-old novice who had only ever been in charge of one Serie A club.
Donadoni obviously doesn’t possess anything like the tactical and motivational stature that Marcello Lippi used to such devastating effect in Germany last summer.
How could he? This is why the so-called Grandfather of Italian coaching Carlo Mazzone has questioned the appointment of Donadoni. “I don’t know what the Italian Football Federation is trying to achieve†barked the hugely respected old stager “I’d really like to know what strategy they are usingâ€.
The Worst Possible Start
As if throwing a rookie coach into the most thankless job anywhere in football wasn’t enough, the Italian authorities refused to move the start of the 2006/7 season forward and Donadoni’s under-prepared side were unfairly caught cold by both Lithuania and France in early September 2006.
The already hugely sceptical press have been on his back ever since and a cloud of crisis has followed him to every European qualifying game press conference. “I don’t know why people are putting me on trialâ€, has been a typical response.
Falling Out With The Players
But while the circumstances were difficult, there is a very real sense that Donadoni hasn’t exactly helped himself either. There were the rumours of a private falling out with Francesco Totti, who eventually got round to announcing his international retirement almost a year after he first mentioned it to his adoring public.
Then there was the handling of Alessandro Nesta’s similar decision to knock international football on the head. It was insensitive at best. Nesta really needed a hand around his shoulder and got nothing except a shrug and a blunt request to reconsider the decision when injuries left too big an empty space in the middle of the back four.
Somehow he even managed to become the first person on the planet to fall out with the peerless Gianluigi Buffon, a situation described by La Nazione newspaper as “the last strawâ€.
A similar lack of tactlessness is also at the heart of his refusal to show Alessandro Del Piero any additional faith, culminating in the Juve skipper’s exclusion from the last stages of the campaign and the do-or-die game in Glasgow on Saturday.
Team Selections, Raised Eyebows
So there will be no Del Piero on Saturday and no Pippo Inzaghi either. On form and on age, this would normally be the correct way to proceed. But the Scotland game is a one-off, a ’World Cup Final’ and to leave out two of Italy’s most experienced goalscorers could prove to be a highly irresponsible gesture.
It's not as if Lucarelli, Gilardino and Iaquinta are in the form of their lives and none of them have anything like the big match history of the two legends sitting at home watching the game on TV. Surely someone with the edge-of-the-area trickery that Del Piero possesses was worth including against the kind of defence that traditionally struggles with players of this kind? Even if he‘s only used as a substitute.
And why take a journeyman striker who’s playing out the twilight of career in a far-away former Soviet satellite state instead of the centre-forward who‘s just equalled Gert Muller‘s European goal-scoring record? Lets just cross our fingers that Di Natale and Luca Toni don’t pick up a knock early on in the game.
“We can only hope that Donadoni at least for once shows a bit of wisdom and humility with his senior players…our winners,†commented the journalist Enzo Bucchioni as part of the build-up to the Scotland clash.
Damned If He Does, Damned If He Doesn’t
Somewhere, to the left of the stage, the likes of Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi wait. When the full-time whistle blows on Saturday, Roberto Donadoni will know all too well that his time in charge of the Italian national team has been a farce and he has been cast as the fall guy.
Not many football watchers in Italy will be sad to see the sword fall on him. After all, even if Italy qualify for next summer's competition, there aren't many who believe Donadoni has even a shot at winning it for them.
Donadoni: Making The Worst Of A Bad Job
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delfino_1936
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delfino_1936
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Grammar Nazi
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Police Deputy Mitch
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DON HALA MADRID
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Not sure who'll take the reins but I was just thinking of a pretty dramatic situation. Ancelotti becomes Italy coach and Mourinho's takes over at Milan.. He's actually named both Milans as clubs he'd like the coach so it's always possible...
Last edited by DON HALA MADRID on Thu Nov 15, 2007 10:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Grammar Nazi
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I think it would be a good move. i think he is getting stale at milanLaziale wrote:that would benefit both Italy and Milan imo.Hala Madrid wrote:Not sure who'll take the reins but I was just thinking of a pretty dramatic situation. Ancelotti becomes Italy coach and Mourinho's takes over at Milan.. He has name both Milans as a club he'd like the coach so it's always possible...