Solid road win against a quality opponent. This is a good confidence builder. We got a little sloppy at the end, but frankly we had a lot of good chances too. The midfield was quite strong and Donnarumma showed his quality. Nice work from Spinazzola tonight as well. The best part of this game is that Ventura got FIVE youngsters their Azzurri debut. That was job #1. We have to get the new generation more of a taste of international football. Applausi per Ventura for that.
Oh, I also thought Rugani and Romagnoli has some good moments as well. Forgot to give them credit. I wouldn't mind seeing one of them replace Barzagli.
5 debuts for the Azzurri today. Petagna, Spinazzola, Gagliardini, D'Ambrosio, and Verdi. Nice 2-1 win today against an attacking Dutch side. We flying high
He will likely go to Bayern or Atletico. He strikes me as a player who would like to play for one of those clubs.
Solid win for an experimental team with lots of debutants. Donnarumma is the successor to Buffon and with these showings will probaly ave just as many caps as him hopefully. Good debuts from Zappacosta and Gagliardini. This match was not hard. The Netherlands are not a strong opponant and we only stepped up our game because they scored a lucky first goal. Second half we mostly cruised the way through. We need to play better teams to make a judgements on some of these players but it is a good time to give them their first match against an easy opponant in a friendly.
Anyone find it odd that with record high number of foreign players in Serie A, that Italy is producing a higher number of youth talent? I remember around 2012-13 how bleak the younger talent was in Serie A. Also Diawara on Napoli is a 19 yr old Guinian player who Ventura wants to cap, he could be a star do we cap him?
I'll be convinced when we start producing talent the way we used to. This side is still lacking in quality when compared to our squads leading up to 2006. Donnarumma, Rugani, Belotti and some others can reach similar heights; however, they have to show more until I'm convinced.
There are a record high number of foreigners in Serie A, but most of them are pure shit. That has given young Italian talent a chance to be starters where they otherwise might not have been. I'd be curious if someone was charting STARTERS rather than pure number of foreigners in Serie A which includes those riding the bench. It probably would be a different story. One only has to look at the Under 21 team and this one. Lots of talent there. Guys like Pellegrini and Berardi are immensely talented and aren't even in the senior side yet. I know I said this a couple weeks back, but we are really starting to see a talented generational turnover the likes of which we haven't seen in about 20 years. Yes, there are skeptics out there because these guys aren't winning Champions League trophies every year. But, international football is very different nowadays. Just because a player isn't winning doesn't mean he isn't good. Look at guys like Totti and DDR. They have ONE Serie A title among them. ONE. That doesn't mean they weren't great international players.
Who the ******** are Correa and Pratto, they start and over Dybala and Aguero. We would kill for these guys and they bench them...haha...this is hilarious
BTW, my stream wasn't great, but it looked like there were two bad giveaways at the end on the part of Verratti. You all know I'm a big fan of his, but I thought he was pretty mediocre tonight. Ventura had him in a more advanced position like a trequartista almost and I just don't think that is the best role for him. I like him a little deeper like he was vs Albania where he distributed some nice passes and then ran at defenders drawing them towards him getting the ball to his strikers. In short, I like him as a "point guard". That's not to say he didn't have an impact on the game. He had some nice tackles and few really good passes, etc. But, he just seemed out of sorts in that position.
I thought I'd do a little experiment and see how many Under 21 players are starters in Serie A. Here is what I came up with: Pierluigi Gollini (Atalanta), Antonio Barreca (Torino), Davide Biraschi (Genoa), Davide Calabria (Milan), Adam Masina (Bologna), Nicola Murru (Cagliari); Marco Benassi (Torino), Danilo Cataldi (Genoa), Alberto Grassi (Atalanta), Manuel Locatelli (Milan), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Sassuolo), Valerio Verre (Pescara); Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Alberto Cerri (Pescara), Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Federico Di Francesco (Bologna) That in and of itself is stunning. We are talking starters after all. Now, I'll add players under 24 on the Senior Side that are starters or close: Donnarumma; Rugani, Romagnoli; Zappacosta Spinazzola Gagliardini, D'Ambrosio; Verratti Verdi Belotti Petagna Politano There are a couple guys on there that are 25 like Insigne and Sansone that I didn't even add. That said...when is the last time you remember 28 SERIE A STARTERS that are 24 years old or younger on our two national teams? I know what you are going to say...Serie A isn't what it used to be, etc. But, it is still a top flight league and that number is incredibly impressive.