Remember the Genesis story about Adam, Eve and the snake? (I believe it's true, by the way.) The blame passing started then and it's still very much happening these days. I see it in my house when I ask my kids who made that mess in their room.
It also happens in football. I saw it in my 6+ years as Romania correspondent for SoccerWay. When a manager comes to a club and has poor results, he will be quick to point the finger to his predecessor and blame him. Some club managers also take this mentality with them when moving into national team management.
Recently, after Italy failed to secure a Pot 1 spot, Mr. Conte blamed Mr. Prandelli for this: "The previous era led us to this point". However, the numbers prove it's 100% Mr. Conte's fault.
As Mr. Prandelli left after the 2014 World Cup, all the games in the most recent time frame were under Mr. Conte's supervision.
These are the pots taking into account only the first three time frames (games played between 48 and 12 months ago), so without Mr. Conte's game.
Pot 1: Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, France, Portugal, Greece, Italy
Pot 2: Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, England, Denmark, Scotland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden
Pot 3: Turkey, Czech Republic, Wales, Hungary, Austria, Armenia, Slovenia, Iceland, Slovakia
Pot 4: Finland, Poland, Montenegro, Norway, Albania, FYR Macedonia, Republic of Ireland, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan
Pot 5: Israel, Estonia, Latvia, Northern Ireland, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Georgia
Pot 6: Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Malta, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino
So Italy would have been very much in Pot 1 without Mr. Conte's games.
Big Difference
ReplyDeleteWales Pot 3 (Now Pot 1)
Greece Pot 1 (Now pot 3)
Iceland Pot 3 (Now pot 2)
Northern Ireland Pot 5 (Now pot 3)
Faroe Islands Pot 6 (Now Pot 4)