Efficient 2:0 win. Nothing fancy. Not crazy with the formation as a stronger team would take advantage of the open space. Bellotti is a horse.
Verratti was one of the best out there. 2 nil was maybe a little flattering with Albania having 3 good chances in the 1st half but amazing Italy couldn't score from at least one free header from a corner.
Ya i Ya Italy wasn't crazy inspiring but Albania played good defense and didn't give the Azzurri much. Comfortable win for along those lines
Comfortable win, I will never complain over 3 points. One thing that really bothered me, however, was that we rarely dribbled at defenders. That is when Insinge is at his best IMO
Nice win. What gets to me is that we made no subs. First time I have seen that happen. I don't recall watching any game before seeing no subs made by a team.
Sorry guys performance was ok but not good enough considering we were playing Albania and I find that we need much more creative flare in our midfield play perhaps it was the 4-2-4 formation but relying on Verratti is too much of a risk and limiting .. especially IF when playing stronger, faster and more technical teams ... I wasn't impressed and I was expecting a thrashing to say the least just like Spain did to Israel .. I believe both of these games were let's just say on par with each other more or less ... I'm sorry but Italia is Italia and we need to create fear and awe with other teams and Inspire our fans and all fans with our football for all to see..
While what you say is true, I think you are being a little too harsh. Keep in mind we are integrating a lot of new players that are young and inexperienced. Some of them are here for the first time like Zappacosta. Verratti, Belotti, and Insigne also haven't featured much in the past and they are just about starting to become our key players. I didn't expect a thrashing. I expected 2-0 or 3-1 something like that. Albania are a good team and not to be underestimated. The type of player we are missing is someone like Bernardeschi. He has tons of creativity in attack and has the quality to link up midfield with attack. When he get back and integrated into the team, we will be firing on all cylinders.
That could be possible, but I'd still think he would want to see some other players, especially Gigliardini (or however you spell the Inter midfielder's name). Anyway we will probably see a lot in our friendly vs Netherlands.
Well I've always believed in a dominating and a showing no mercy kinda of thrashing of other teams big and small right up until the end of the game game plus entertaining the fans at it with great football is my liking also of how i would like to see Italia should play ... we need to bring up our football reputation to the top again as world champions kings of football ... that's not being hard that's called passion!
Razzi, 4-2-4 e gol romani L'Italia va: 2-0 all'Albania De Rossi su rigore e Immobile stendono De Biasi: gli azzurri tengono il passo della Spagna. ... Andrea Elefante 24 mar 17 - 22:47 De Rossi sblocca su rigore. Ansa La nuova Italia si fa in 4 Ma può reggere in Spagna?
The 4-2-4 is very aggressive, especially when you think how offensive minded Zappacosta is. But, you know what? I'm glad Ventura tried it. We needed goals to close the gap with Spain and he at least rolled the dice. They missed a lot of easy chances or it would have been better. Verratti was awesome tonight considering he only really had DDR covering his back. My only criticism of Verratti has been that he sometimes isn't direct enough. Well, he played very direct tonight. He kept attacking defenders on the dribble, opening up spaces, and he hit a lot of incisive passes. Barzagli is a concern. His lack of speed in a 4-2-4 is concerning especially with no midfield coverage. Kudos for Candreva for playing his ass off as usual. Credit also to Insigne who showed a lot of hustle getting back on defense. For a player of his talent, that was nice to see. I just think the 4-2-4 against good teams will get us in trouble in the midfield so Ventura has to use it carefully.
I doubt Ventura uses 4 2 4 against top sides. I watched today's game after work and thought that Verratti and Zappacosta were the two best players for Italy. Candreva also did well, and Bellotti worked his ass off (and earned the penalty). We have strikers that contribute even when not scoring. And how anyone can say anything bad about Immobile at this point is beyond me. The guy has 5 goals in qualifying, and always goes all out for the shirt (even if I still like him more off the bench). You also mention something I found concerning...Barzagli looked really slow at times. He had a solid second half, but I though he looked shot at certain points in the first 45. The break due to smoke bombs/flares helped us out.
That would be nice but since the beginning of time we've been winning through qualifiers with thrifty and uninspiring performances, and even less inspiring typically in friendlies and I'm ok with that so long as the soldiers show up in the big games. This is Italy.