Italy’s Player Ratings – E

Italy’s Player Ratings – Euro 2008

Not too many positives came out of Euro 2008, with Italy recording only one win, one draw and two losses. If we have to find one positive, it is that Chiellini is shaping up to be a super defender. Here are our player ratings for the entire tournament.

Buffon - One error in game 1 which we would have lost anyway. Saved us against Romania and was solid as ever against France. Did everything right against Spain. 9/10

Materazzi - Not the man he was in 2006. Not good enough really and not a defender worthy of a place in the NT. Not anymore. Only worth being in the squad for his charisma and relationship with other players. 4/10

Gamberini - Didn't play. Therefore cannot rate him. N/A

Panucci - Not bad for an old fellow. He didn't show any lack of pace and got that all important equaliser against Romania. Filled the DC position as well as can be expected for someone out of his natural position. 7.5/10

Barzagli - Even though Materazzi's pathetic performance made him look good in the first game, this guy was still woeful. 5/10

Chiellini - Injured Cannavaro in training, but made up for it with his performances in all of his 3 games. Killed Torres and Mutu, as well as Henry. Showed that he is the future of the heart of Italy’s defence. Now all we need is a suitable partner for him once Cannavaro hangs up his boots. 8.5/10

Zambrotta – Howler against Romania. It's a shame because he probably would do that maybe twice across his entire career. Put in as many quality balls into the box as ever but his defensive ability was at times shaky. Still our best right back and one of the best in the past few decades. 6.5/10

Grosso - Same with Zambrotta except he was defending better. Put more quality balls in the box than ever before. Not his fault Toni was useless. Probably would have put us into the semi's if Toni didn't go for the most impossible overhead kick ever... A solid contributor who always lifts for the Azzurri. 7.5/10

Camoranesi - Played bad in the first game (so did everyone though). Better used as a substitute. Played well when he was on against Spain. Unfortunately, he is our only true attacking right midfielder. Probably our worst covered position. Wasn’t spectacular, but still played decent – 6.5/10

Pirlo - Still our maestro in the midfield. One of the best distributors of the ball the game has seen. His poor season for Milan didn't show on the pitch. Sets up plays, takes set pieces, and did his job well. We missed him in the Spain game. 8/10

Ambrosini – Absolutely rubbish. If Italy was playing with 10 men, excluding him, nothing would have changed. He cant run, has no skills, cant shoot, cant set up, is hopless. Should never have made the team to start with. 4/10

Gattuso – Was very wasteful. Unnecessary free kicks, yellow cards, and passes. It's unfortunate because he has been one of our best players for the past 10 years. The soul of our midfield for so long... Anyway, he isn't quick enough for the modern game and his ability to read play looks like it has vanished also. He was a liability against France. 5.5/10

Aquilani - Only saw a bit of him but expected to see a little better performance when he started against Spain. Will be a good learning curve for the kid who is a future star of the NT. At least he wasn't wasteful and did what was required of him. 6/10

Perotta - Useless as an attacking midfielder. The only reason I can see for Donadoni putting him there was in case we scored an early goal (which in that situation he probably would have dropped back into his original position and had a 4-4-1-1 formation). 5.5/10

De Rossi - Can't believe he missed that penalty. Out of all the guys I would have selected to take one and expected it to go in, it would have been him. Donadoni leaving him out of game 1 was inexcusable. Nevertheless, he proved his worth with his overall performance in the remaining games. Did Gattuso's job as well as created potential goals. Solid contribution overall. 7.5/10

Di Natale - I thought he was harsh done by to be dropped after the Holland game. Didn't run off Toni enough nor did he grab any games by the balls as Cassano did. 6/10

Quagliarella - Played something like 15 minutes. Unfortunate, but given the circumstances you can understand why. Future attacker for the NT. Would have been a good experience for the guy. 6/10

Boriello - Didn't play a minute but looked like he was enjoying himself too much on the bench (just ask Gattuso - he got slapped for lying to Buffon from the bench regarding the France Romania score). N/A

Del Piero - After all the pressure to select this guy he once again disappointed and failed to live up to expectation. He is to old to get 90 minutes of solid work out of him, and he is better used as a substitute. However I do feel he would have been better suited playing behind the two strikers, simply due to his lack of pace. 6.5/10

Cassano - The only attacker who was worthy of his selection. Showed what a class act he is. Can give and receive the ball as good as anyone in Italy, whilst having the ability to turn defenders inside out and play Toni in on goal. Worth more minutes than he got and shouldn't have been subbed against Spain. He took the quarter final by the balls and always looked dangerous. He controlled his temper which is something that you can't ask for lightly out of this guy. Hopefully his career remains on track and he wins us the 2010 WC. One thing he was lacking, was confidence which will no doubt grow back sooner rather than later. 8/10

Toni - Should have been subbed. Was probably the most wasteful performance I have ever seen from an Italian forward. So many factors contributed in him not scoring. The first being luck, or lack of. The second was the poor deliveries he received, followed by lack of support from the second striker / midfielders. I think Donadoni’s game plan to only look for Toni was wrong as well. That being said, he was wasteful on many other occasion and at times should have done better. 5/10

Donadoni - It all went wrong from the start. The 23 man squad he selected was not the strongest to start off with. He entered the tournament not knowing his best starting eleven, which is a joke at best. This was evident in the fact that the team was changed in each of the 4 games. His substitutions were useless and in most cases were made too late on in the game to have any impact. He transformed the best team in the world, A team that are the current world champions, a team that was playing the most beautiful football, into a team that would struggle against mid table teams in Serie A. His tactics were shocking. There was no one touch game. It was all about defending and lobbing the ball over to Toni, who was always surrounded by 2 or 3 defenders. What made it all worse, was the fact he was not man enough to admit his errors. After the Holland game he insisted that his tactics were the right ones, yet the 3-0 loss was Italy's biggest defete in over 30 years! His sacking will be a breath of fresh air to Italian football. 2/10