I think its time that Italy benches Gattuso

Now don't get me wrong; for many years I loved Gennaro Gattuso. But I think it is time that Italy moved on from its 2006 World Cup winning squad and he is one of the players that in my mind needs to go.

Gattuso has a tremendous work ethic and is a good ball winner in the center of midfield. But so are Gaetano D'Agostino and Antonio Nocerino. These two players are considerably younger than Gattuso as well (27 and 24, respectively). Gattuso will be 32 when the 2010 World Cup starts. I doubt he will be able to put in his usual lung-bursting efforts throughout the tournament as he did as a 28 year old in 2006.

D'Agostino and Nocerino also offer something that Gattuso doesn't: actual offensive skill. D'Agostino is a slicer when it comes to passes out of the midfield. Now some would say this is Andrea Pirlo's job, but having two players in the center of midfield would be better for the overall Italian attack. D'Agostino has also been one of the leading assists man in Serie A for the last two years.

As for Nocerino, he has impressed at every Italian youth level with his leadership and nose for quick decision-making. While not as offensive-minded as D'Agostino, he still gets forward at the right times and is involved with dangerous chances.

Gattuso has only 1 goal for Italy, coming against England in a friendly in 2000. I tried to look for it on YouTube or similar websites but I could not find it. I can only imagine how the goal was scored. The ball probably crossed the line while the England goalie pushed the ball away and just happened to hit Gattuso in the face and went in or something of that nature.

I question Gattuso's intelligence; both footballing and overall. He never knows what to do when he gets in offensive positions. He is a terrible crosser and when he shoots, row Q gets a temporary souvenir. When Italy won the World Cup, this guy took off his shorts and was still running around the field hugging teammates. For those that don't know, these soccer shorts are not meant to be worn with underwear. So yes, Gattuso's private parts were out in the open for about 10 minutes before someone told him to put his shorts back on.

I bring this up because Italy's performance in the 2009 Confederations Cup was not good. They struggled to score goals. The only goals they scored were against 10-man United States who played with 10 men for 57 minutes. All goals came when the US was down a man. Not only that, the goals came from the space Ricardo Clark usually fills! They failed to equalize against 11-man Egypt and looked old and out of sorts against 11-man Brazil. They need more offensive options out of midfield since Totti retired. I think Nocerino and especially D'Agostino will bring this more so than Gattuso. I'm not saying he should retire from international football, but its time for Lippi to bench Gattuso and let the younger, more offensive minded defensive midfielders have a go in the team. Gattuso would be better used as a 60th-minute sub when Italy needs to go into lock-down mode.

While that won't fix everything, it probably the first move that needs to be made...and quickly I might add.