Spain v Italy

[Ray de Galles]

Spain v Italy

Ah, so another circumlocution to follow now? Italy's players better than those of Germany's? Based on...?

Haven't we all spent years bemoaning the lack of quality in Serie A , particularly of homegrown players?

Not forgetting this is an Italy deprived of Pirlo and Gattuso through suspension, Cannavaro through injury and Totti and Nesta through retirement. Those are a few of the players who have shone as individuals in recent seasons.

They performed badly, the manager was rightly sacked and they have, in my opinion, huge problems ahead but they got the best result against Spain in the tournament and made them look ordinary. Stay with me here, I could have them as moral victors of the whole tournament in a while.

[Etienne]

Spain v Italy

Any circomlocution is based on trying to work out what the hell point you are making.

Serie A may have dropped significantly in quality, but it's better than the Bundesliga. Luca Toni and Mario Gomez have demonstrated the weaknesses of that in fine style.

I don't think anyone doubted Italy's ability to effecively form a massed defence for 120 minutes. I certainly didn't.

[Etienne]

Spain v Italy

Though I think it was as much Spanish psychological hang-ups as the Italian performance that made Spain look ordinary. They looked terrified.

[Ray de Galles]

Spain v Italy

Etienne wrote:

Any circomlocution is based on trying to work out what the hell point you are making.

I refer you back to the original post ;

given that they were the only opponent not to be beaten by the European Champions and that Spain nullified Russia and Germany at least as effectively as they did Italy, do we reappraise the Azzurri a tiny bit