Protests, simulations, poor technical level: Serie A continues to lose ground

Dives at every slightest contact, repeated rolling in the event of little more than light contrasts (the Brazilian Neymar's dramatic scene in 2018 when, with the national team, he had given life to a farce that became the protagonist of dozens of memes: the PSG player is a repeat offender ), hands in the face to simulate a blow that is often non-existent or in any case negligible, screams that make one think of killer income in reality in the norm. What about the protests at every (very presumed) wrong suffered on the pitch, whether it is a foul whistled against or a reversed lineout? With groups of players who surround the referee to intimidate him and maybe, on the next occasion, push him not to make decisions that are unfavorable to them?

Once the football championship has started again, for the great majority of sportsmen the "most beautiful sport in the world", the degrading and mortifying spectacle of dozens of its protagonists has promptly returned. Professionals, so they are qualified, often lacking in fundamentals (stop, cross, shot, pass) but excellent in provoking the opponents, in an attempt to deceive the referee and, consequently, in inflaming the fans, not infrequently unaccustomed to negatively evaluate the behavior of those who defend the colors of their team and, vice versa, easy to insult the "enemies".

The golden times

Serie A in the Eighties and Nineties was the reference tournament in Europe after the long English domination, a climb to the top that began with the opening of the borders to foreigners (and the arrival of champions such as Maradona, Platini, Zico, Boniek, Falcao, Van Basten just to name a few) and continued with the numerous victories in the Cups (five times Milan and Juventus in the Champions League between 1985 and 1996, eight times Parma, Inter, Napoli and Juventus in Uefa between 1989 and 1999, four times Sampdoria, Juventus, Parma and Lazio in the Cup Winners' Cup between 1984 and 1999). Then the decline began, unstoppable: the last success that counts is dated 2010, Inter in the Champions Cup. Meanwhile, Spain has risen to the top of the world by winning 21 trophies between Champions and Uefa from 2000 to today, as well as a World Cup and two Europeans with the national team. Now is the time of the English, European champions with Chelsea and above all protagonists of the best league on the continent: the Premier League. The Italians are struggling, out of breath, unable to conquer ground and level up, overburdened with debts - a large part of the budget rests on television revenues, unlike the other major tournaments - and full of older players, sometimes old stars who have come to spend the last remnants of his career in our latitudes thanks to lavish contracts that weigh down the pockets of the clubs and swell those of the players. While the level of the game is daunting and the speed in dribbling and phrasing is obsolete.

To understand the difference between Italy and England, you could read what Marques Allan, 30-year-old Brazilian international, ex Napoli today at Everton, explained. "I am fortunate to be in the Premier League, the most difficult league in the world, which gives great visibility," he explained a few months ago after retiring with Brazil, "in Serie A there is more tactics, the small ones are waiting for the opponent and they defend themselves low. In England the pace is very high and the teams are looking for victory for the whole 90 minutes ». This opinion is almost identical to that of Papu Gomez, then still at Atalanta, after a Champions League match against Manchester City which ended 1 to 1: «These», he spoke of the English, «go double, Italian football is much slower. They play to win, they attack and press a thousand. We do this in Italy and it's fine, but in Europe they all do it ": Here: in Great Britain we play at a different speed, with a different technique, with an impetus that cannot be imagined in Serie A today. Above all, with fairness between players (apart from rare exceptions) and an unthinkable referee.

In Italy on the pitch prevails - this is the impression - the idea that one must be smarter than the others, and that deceiving the referee is not wrong. Thus from the most useless and superfluous behaviors (such as placing the ball a few centimeters outside the line that delimits the corner: what sense it has is difficult to understand) to the most annoying and unpleasant ones (throwing yourself on the ground as soon as you feel the opponent's hand on or at the slightest contact with the defender's leg, possibly in the area), the players in Italy adapt immediately to the climate and give the worst of themselves. And then change register when they find themselves playing for English teams.

Rolls

Who has forgotten the bad figure of Immobile at the last European Championships, when he collapsed in the area during the Italy-Belgium match rolling in pain to rise again a few seconds later, thanks to Barella's goal? «Pathetic and embarrassing», the comment of the former British striker Alan Shearer. Not the only similar example, there are dozens of episodes of players who fall for a whistle in favor and who get up as if nothing had happened if the game continues. There is no lack of cases of players who, apparently fractured, jump to their feet to face the opponent who accuses him of having simulated; pretending to have cramps or injuries within minutes of finishing; who waste time taking free-kicks or returning the ball from the baseline; who raise their hands as if to say "I did nothing" or point to the ball after knocking down the opponent.

In all this, the level of play expires and the young Italian players think more about cunning and tactics than to improve technically, with very few exceptions (Atalanta, Milan, Sassuolo, perhaps Fiorentina). Who today is capable of jumping man in one on one? Where have the Bruno Conti, the Franco Causio, the Enzo Francescoli gone? There is a shortage of those who know how to hit a cross properly, the passages are always particularly slow and the former ones are very rare, the man marking is obsolete and the famous tricolor defense has almost disappeared, the stop is a mysterious art. Already in 2009 Fabio Capello, one of the most successful coaches at an international level, said: the game in Italy "is too fragmented, the referees should let them play more because otherwise they facilitate the crafty ones who always throw themselves on the ground". Concepts reiterated a few days ago in an interview with Corriere dello Sport: «It's a fact of culture. With us every contrast is a whistle, abroad they don't throw the ball out even with the man on the ground. It makes me laugh when even my colleagues on TV to justify a foul say "Well, touch it." What does it mean? There are people who dive all the time, the famous fainting fouls… So we don't level up ».

Innovations

To change things a different mentality would be needed. Hard. Then perhaps some regulatory innovation can be hypothesized. Above all certainly the introduction of effective time as in basketball. Two halves of 30-35 minutes each with the clock freezing at each interruption (fouls, substitutions, fixing of barriers, protests, real or presumed injuries, throw-ins and baseline). Without giving the chance to lose fundamental minutes at the end of the match, perhaps some bad habits would disappear. And then prevent the goalkeepers from holding the ball in their hands for too long before the postponement (six seconds? Five? Seven?) Penalty, perhaps, a punishment for two in the area. Mission impossible, perhaps. But proposing ideas costs nothing. Applying them is another story.