No point dwelling on the past. Thank you Conte for your work, proud of this side's accomplishments. So, Ventura takes over now. Does he build off Conte's workmanlike squad or does he go younger, more creative? Who continues on in the Azzurri colors? Who has seen their last days in the iconic blue? Who is likely to be a 'Ventura favorite?' Do we still play a 3-man defense? Will Barzagli be convinced to continue if we do? Will Giaccherini find his way on yet another manager's favorite list (granted, he worked his ass off, so hats off to him)? Will Berardi, Gabbiadini, Saponara, Jorginho, Belotti, Baselli, Rugani, Romagnoli, etc be introduced? Thoughts, wishes and ideas..discuss. Forza Azzurri.
Other than Spain, our World Cup qualifying group is incredibly weak. We have Israel, Albania, Macedonia, and Liechtenstein. I think its time Ventura overhauls the squad. Go young and creative. Build a cohesive unit with a core group of young players and some key veterans. Bonucci and Chiellini are still essentials with Rugani and Romagnoli. Drop Ogbonna. Barzagli retires. Zappacosta should be introduced. He can split time with De Sciglio, Florenzi, and Darmian at fullback/wingback. Verratti and Marchisio come back. Benassi, Baselli, Soriano, Bonaventura, Jorginho, Saponara all fight for a place. Parolo and Candreva still options. Motta dropped. De Rossi probably retires. Sturaro dropped. Giacc probably dropped with new younger direction. Berardi and Belotti get drafted in. Gabbs gets another shot. Insigne and Bernardeschi stay. Pelle and Eder dropped. Immobile Dropped. 50/50 on Zaza and El Shaaraway. If Balotelli can resurrect career, maybe he gets another shot. Possibly Pavoletti if his club form continues next season.
I like Ventura but I don't think he's going to be the next miracle worker. I hope I'm wrong. There's enough talent young and old to choose from, what Italy needs is to build chemistry that peaks in 2018. I thought Conte failed at that when his options became limited and didn't build any trust for his bench. He left a few good players behind because of bias IMO, may have cost him will never know.
Right now, my thinking is 3-4-2-1. At least for the time being. I'd like to see how much longer Barzagli can play at this level if he's interested as I'd prefer to continue most of Conte's work: Buffon Juve3 Candreva, Verratti, Marchisio, Bonaventura Saponara, Insigne Gabbiadini Bench: Rugani, Romagnoli, Florenzi, De Sciglio, De Rossi, Berardi, Zaza, El Shaarawy, Sturaro, Giaacherini
Spot on. I'm excited to see what Ventura will do now he has a pool of players to pull from. The midfield needs to be built around Verratti. He needs to be trusted. In attack we need a new bomber to step forward. I would only keep Pelle for tactical purposes. It's always useful to have a striker do big man game. But he is by no means a starter. Unless Immobile can produce another 20+ goal season, he has no business on this team. Same with Zaza. His inclusion into this set-up was a gift.
If Ventura takes off from where Conte left off, im personally flying to Italy and kicking Ventura in the balls. Yesterday went how most of us said it eventually would. You need quality to win in the end and we had zero quality. I just hope Pelle, Eder, Giac, Motta are finally dropped. And only players who deserve to be there are called up. His new Italy needs to be founded on quality, quality can work hard, but quality can only do quantity. Dont let us down Ventura.
While I agree that Italy needed more quality yesterday, we can't completely abandon a team that has a win or die attitude. In 2006 we had a nice mix of this. I hope Ventura is a blend of prandelli and conte, I think both coaches had some good ideas but neither got it 100% right. We need to build for the future with some of our young guys, but the vets need to hold their hands to get there. I hope he gets a good idea of who he likes with his early picks, and the team builds a lot of chemistry from there. My picks for Venturas Italy (352) Buffon, sirigu, donnaruma - unless he's starting with u21 Chiellini, bonucci, barzagli, rugani, romagnioli - unless starting with u21 Darmian, de sciglio, zappacosta, el shaarawy, candreva Verratti, marchisio, benassi, giacherini, parolo, Bonnaventura Belotti, pelle, insigne, bernardeschi, Berradi I hear a lot of calls for Gabiadini, but he needs to play his way back onto this team. I hope he gets a move away from Napoli to see some more playing time. Bonnaventura was very strange omission for me. Conte never seemed to like him, and this always confused me because he has skill and always plays extremely hard. I have him starting along with verratti and marchisio.
Its interesting to see what happens with Higuain now. If he leaves, Gabbs might become the main guy at Napoli. It might be the reason why Manolo is turning teams down in EPL and Bundesliga. Who knows though, I wonder if Sarri really rates him, and if Higuain's brother is just trying to light a fire under De Laurentiis.
Some insight to ventures Italy. - confirms 352 - wants to convince barzagli to continue - belotti and Berradi possibly the future http://www.gazzetta.it/calcio/europ...gli-mondiale-160209707678.shtml?refresh_ce-cp
Ventura has stated he will try to convince him to continue, like Conte did with Pirlo. The idea should be to continue Conte's work from a team unity and defensive structure standpoint but to inject some creativity and youth moving forward. 3-5-2 still works for this side, but Barzagli continuing is important. He looked great in these games. I'm excited about the future of this side - something I wasn't with Prandelli or Donadoni.
I agree with all this, but Barzagli is 35 years old. He should be allowed to ride off into the sunset. I think its kind of shitty to publicly try to force a guy out of retirement. They tried the same thing with Nesta after 2006. Respect his decision, its not like he's 30-31.
Che un grandissimo viaggio! Now let's turn the page into the Ventura era. I think coming out of the Euro with a very old squad and looking at the teams Italy have for World Cup Qualification, Italy can't wish for a better position right now to conduct a roster overhaul. Starting from the Goalkeeper, Ventura should really think about the quality of Buffon two years from now. I understands that he said he wants to play in WC2018, but that doesn't mean you have to call him. We have Perin, Donnarumma, Gollini, and Sirigu to consider from. In defense, we should keep the the new Juventus 3, Rugani, Bonucci, Chiellini, as the starter and get Izzo and Romagnoli. But also not forgetting Tonelli, Acerbi, Caldirola, and Goldaniga as outsiders. In central midfield is a position where we would have in abundance. I agree with Indestructible, that we need to build around Verratti. That means we need to surround him with two B2B midfielder. With the appointment of Ventura, I'm guessing that one of the other midfielder would be Benassi. The third midfielder would be between Marchisio, Soriano, Jorginho, Baselli, and Sturaro. Others that would be pushing for a consideration are the Sassuolo 3 of Pellegrini, Mazzitelli, Sensi, especially if they would have a deep EL run this year, Cataldi, Verre, Viviani, N. Rigoni, and Capezzi. In the wingbacks, would also have competition. Florenzi, Darmian, De Sciglio, and Zappacosta are probably gonna fight for the starting spots, but also Berardi, Bernardeschi, Bonaventura, Donati, and Sala. Others who are on the outside looking in are Masina, Dimarco, Piccini, and Biraghi. On the strikers, we are looking for a candidates that would fit a Pelle-Eder like partnership. The only thing that would make sense is Insigne and Zaza, but also don't forget about Immobile, Belotti, Paloschi, Lapadula, Pavoletti, and Destro. It is obvious to see that Ventura is set to inherit a very deep and diverse talent pool. It's not a coincidence that Serie A might be looking at a very Italian league next year with many of the homegrown in the 20-26 age bracket. They might not be as talented as the Cannavaro, Buffon, Totti, Vieri, and Del Piero era, but they still have the Italian DNA of being humble, loving their country and the shirt, respect the tifosi, unselfish, and passionate. The four stars in our badge shows just how successful that DNA really is. FORZA AZZURRI!
Great post but most of those names are not close to being ready. If Ventura is continuing the work of Conte, which he should, you don't close the door on those who sacrificed so much for the shirt. Names like Candreva, Parolo, Sturaro, Pelle and DeRossi would all still be on my radar. I'm all for a young, vibrant team but let the vets gel with them and transition them in slowly. I had this debate with many before but you can't just throw young players into the squad and think its a winner. Hopefully Ventura builds a project but doesn't forget the pulse of this team right now.
With players like Buffon, De Rossi, even Barzagli... you can just bring them in pre-tournament if you think they'd improve the team. They're experienced enough to walk straight in if required. I agree that a new GK should be given games. As for Verratti, it's been gone over. He's not a DLP like Pirlo... Marchisio or Jorghino will play that role and Marco will have to be more active. My guess is that Ventura will rotate between 3-5-2 and 3-4-3 and make sure all our mids are ball-players. There's a reason we were gassed after 60 mins against Germany and that's because we can't string 3 passes together in midfield and control the game.
De Rossi would only fit where bonucci plays, so for me he could be his backup. Also, seeing Barzagli hold back the tears shows how much he cares for this jersey. Having guys like that ushering in the new generation is extremely important. I feel like if Ventura lets him know how important he is going forward, he'd like another WC. I also like Jorginho quite a bit, and hope to see him integrated in the new team.
1. We have an abundance of talent at the back and in midfield. - Masina, Calabria, Zappacosta, Darmian, De Sciglio (Mattia had a great tournament) as full backs. Romagnoli, Rugani, Romagna, the Inter-Empoli loanee who's name evades me but he's in the Serie A at 18! - Verratti, Marchisio, Jorginho, Sensi (who will be developed at Sassuolo courtesy of Juventus), Mandragora etc. 2. We will need to find a good striking partnership. Think Insigne will continue to develop and get better (hasn't hit his peak yet). Him as SS and anyone between Gabbiadini and Belotti should fill the number 9 spot. If Belotti continues his form and shows it's part of his development path, he'll be a top, world class striker. 3. Ventura plays a very fluid type of football. Similar to Sarri's Napoli. So I envision something like this as my preferred team (again, this factors in the talent I see and who I think can peak highest) 3-5-2 Rugani-Bonucci-Romagnoli Calabria/Darmian - Verratti - Jorginho/Mandragora/Marchisio (Marchisio depending on health) - Sensi (Read up on him, his vision is ridiculous; more akin to Pirlo/Xavi/Scholes than any young midfielder in the world right now)-Masina Insigne - Belotti/Gabbiadini Verratti is more of an Iniesta type to me. More forward, good vision, amazing ball control. The DLP should be someone like Sensi or Jorginho and Mandragora/Marchisio as a pivot. There's lots of talent in Italy. Ventura just needs to use it.
Forgot to add even Berardi or Bernardeschi lol. But they would fit more of a 4 at the back formation. Look out for Moise Kean too at some point. Massive talent.
I think 3 4 3 works best. My preferred squad moving forward would be... Rugani/Romagnoli---Bonucci---Chiellini Darmian/Zappacosta---Marchisio---Verratti---De Sciglio Berardi---Gabbiadini/Belotti---Bernardeschi Insigne first sub off the bench. Perfect mix of veterans and youth. No chance I give Masina the spot over De Sciglio. And too many players ahead of Sensi. I do like Calabria immensely, but he won't be a factor until after the WC IMO. Let him play for the under 21 these next two years.
Masina is a natural LB. And very creative as well. I love De Sciglio's performance but it remains to be seen if he'll recapture his 2012 form where he looked to be the next great RB or not. I also prefer a left footed player for LB. Doesn't matter who is ahead of Sensi NOW. 2 years is a long time and he will develop on Sassuolo while playing in Europa league. Ample experience to showcase his talents. And same on Calabria. Assuming he is developed properly, kid has ridiculous potential. Haven't seen a young right back this talented in a long time. Going forward he reminds me of Dani Alves but he's also tenacious on D and decent at marking. Regardless of the choices, 2018's team will be immensely more talented.