No Nedved

Czech playmaker could have cracked defensive stalemate

My first reaction after watching Wednesday's Champions League final between Juventus and AC Milan is to rant about how defensive Italian football is.

My second reaction is to rant about how def... alright, maybe not, but the title decider was not exactly an advertisement for attacking football.

The numbers don't lie and they certainly illustrate a lack of adventurous spirit from either side.

Juve and Milan combined for eight shots on target. In 120 minutes of football? A poor total to say the least.

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So who is to blame? I don't like pointing arbitrary fingers at anyone, but I think there could be three main reasons for the shortage of goals at Old Trafford.

Firstly, I believe the absence of Pavel Nedved played a big part in Juventus's inability to threaten Dida's goal. The bianconeri had two shots on target and even though Alessandro Del Piero tried to carry the load of being the man entrusted with the playmaking, it was obvious that he would have been more comfortable in a more free role. I think Alex was too worried with having to play two positions at the same time: attacking midfielder and forward. And that affected his performance.

With Nedved, who had a phenomenal season for Juve, the Serie A champion would have been a completely different side. More balanced and more offensive, like they were against Real Madrid.

I think UEFA and FIFA should definitely look at their suspension regulations because this is the second time in less than a year that we have been denied the privilege of watching a top player in a top final. Remember what happened to Michael Ballack in the World Cup? I would like to think that Germany would have been a different team if they had their midfield maestro in their lineup.

What do I suggest then? Wipe the slate clean when it comes to the final unless a player is sent off in the previous round. A red card should always mean a suspension, but to see a world class player miss the final because of one yellow card is a bit silly to say the least.

The second factor which contributed to a 0-0 result Wednesday does have to do with the mentality of the Italian manager. A stereotype maybe, but Marcello Lippi certainly lived up to it. With Nedved out, he could have turned to Marco Di Vaio and played Del Piero behind the ex-Parma forward and David Trezeguet.

Instead, he opted to bring in Mauro Camoranesi who is a good winger but was visibly asked to worry about his defensive duties as he rarely came forward. In effect, it seemed like Juve were sometimes playing with three defensive midfielders. Edgar Davids and Alessio Tacchinardi were already performing those functions.

Milan manager Carlo Ancelloti could be blamed for defensive tactics as well. To take off Rui Costa, one of the few players who seemed interested in scoring goals, and put on defensive midfielder Massimo Ambrosini in the second half could hardly be considered a move designed to promote an attacking mentality. Ambrosini came in and joined Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo in the middle of the park and that did little to add any kind of offensive punch.

And finally, the fact that these two sides know each other so well definitely had a lot to do with the way they managed to cancel each other out. Milan and Juve play at least twice every season, so there are very few secrets between them. Their build-up style is very similar which means there is no clash in styles whatsoever.

That was seen on the pitch when many times one team knew what the other was going to do even before they did it. There is no doubt that we saw some amounts of exquisite individual skill by certain players which did livened the game, but overall it was hard to find a number of differences between the two teams schemes overall. So can you blame Italian football for the scoreless outcome of the European Cup final? Partially, yes. After all, the last six Italian teams who have made it to the competition decider have combined for only two goals. Furthermore, with calcio sides, it seems that many times the fear of losing definitely overtakes the will of winning.

But on this occasion there was another factor in the mix. And Football's governing bodies could do something about it.

 

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