Tactics Thursday Allegri versus Prandelli

A lost soul on this blog who shall remain nameless continues to stump for the hiring of Prandelli at AC Milan. Let's remove ourselves for a moment of the fact that not only does Allegri have a better Serie A winning percentage and some actual silverware, it's not about that now is it!? No, it's about the "beauty" of play because at the end of the day you are not measured on results, you are measured on scorecards from judges who look not at the scoreline, but at the quality of play. Anyone else see the problem here!?

The point I have and wan to make is that while Prandelli had a nice run this summer at Euro 2012 he showed his shortcomings, the same shortcomings that plagued him at Fiorentina and plague him now in Friendlies. The problem with some Coaches, I pick on Arsene Wenger for this often, is that instead of working to the result the work to an ideal. They boldly claim football should be played a certain way and that if you do that results will come, the unfortunate truth is that this is not always the case. Football is played against two teams and sometimes you need to consider what the other team is presenting when you make your bold faced claim and how it may effect your team's performance.

Italy's loss to Spain under Prandelli was not a loss, it was an embarrassment. An embarrassment because instead of rolling up his sleeves and asking his team to do the same, he foolishly hoped to outplay Spain. Instead of preparing them for a defensive posture to fight tooth and nail for a result, he asked them to expose themselves to the thrashing of a lifetime. It was not a game but a clinic, and the fact that he was not fired immediately thereafter was shocking. I don't want a Coach who is more enamored with how a team plays than the result, because as I mentioned above it is the result that truly matters.

So the idea of replacing the pragmatic and realistic figure of Max Allegri for the idealist turtleneck wearing clown pains me to the core. As I watched Italy yesterday, I saw a team fumbling to a tactical game plan that didn't seem to fit or function. Italy was a team built on defense and functional play, so the question becomes why not play to the balance of the team and not ask for them to be something they are not? Yes, the team can pass and posses but this compliment what Italy truly is and that should be said for any team.

Simply put, say what you want about Max, but at the end of the day he wants to the result, and the result is all that matters.