Florenzi had another good match yesterday. Destro in my opinion had a bad one - it's more important in the long run to put away the easy chances he missed than it is to score the occasional wondergoal. That said, he does keep scoring ... De Sciglio looked genuinely effective on the left for the first time that I've seen him. He was admittedly playing against mediocre opposition, but it gives me hope that he can adapt to that position. Bonaventura also had a good match - it wasn't his fault that his side couldn't finish. Darmian has been having a bad year so far. His side lost all their good players, though, which makes it difficult to judge him. Bernardeschi stepped on the field as a late substitute and immediately picked up an assist. Ogbonna continues to impress me. Chiellini continues to fill me with loathing. Another nothing match for Zaza. I guess the real test will be when Berardi comes back. I'm off to see if Gabbiadini is all he's cracked up to be.
And Gabbi scores an absolutely beautiful goal to make it 0-1. I see what you guys were talking about.
http://footyroom.com/southampton-2-1-queens-park-rangers-2014-09/ Pelle at Southampton is on fire! Thought he was a dutch league stat Padder but he lit it up Might need to accept Italian players going abroad!
lets see how he does by mid season if he is still putting them away like this then I say give him a chance.
Pelle has scored in most games I've seen him play in, think I'd rather see him get a chance then flavor of the month young strikers who are on relegation threatened teams.
I think our top direct strikers are currently: Zaza Immobile Pelle With Gabbiadini and Berardi able to fill in or take more of a RW position. On the LW/secondary striker side of things, to me, its between Insigne and El Sharaway - both have the creative flair needed but I'd only bring one moving forward. After watching Totti's first half, I'd even consider him still - his touch is still elite and runs well. Obviously you don't build a program around him, but man is he class. *What a flawless first half for Verratti today. A goal too, which was wonderful to see. He is a class act and World Class in every sense.
Florenzi is playing as a wingback today, and doing it well. Might be worth slotting him in as a left back for the NT. I would start Pelle over Immobile right now. He has been both prolific and consistent for a long period - he's not a flash in the pan, although he is 29 and might start to lose form in the future. Immobile, on the other hand, has struggled to shine at a higher level than Torino. Zaza I don't know about. He's been shit for a few matches, but he's on a shit team, so who knows.
Mattia Destro has to be part of the conversation when it comes to direct strikers. He should be grouped with those three other guys at minimum. El Shaaraway has to get on the pitch and play consistently before even thinking about the national team. Milan should be his only concern for the immediate future. Conte won't take Insigne or Berardi any time soon for a multitude of reasons. Gabbiadini is a no-brainer at this point. Zaza looked good for Conte, but I have my doubts about him also. His team is bad, but without Berardi they look even worse. He only had 9 goals last year, and while he played well against Holland and Norway, he did blow a plethora of chances. Unlike Immobile he has not had a prolonged prolific period of goal scoring. Talented yes, but still largely unproven even in Serie A. Immobile has not looked like a superstar, but you are exaggerating his struggles to some extent. He scored in his first Champions League game, and has one goal in three starts for Dortmund. He was rested one game and came off the bench late for the other two. Plus he scored against Holland for Italy as well. 3 goals in 6 starts this season is not terrible. Lets give the guy more time…. Regardless, I'm all for giving Pelle some playing time.
I'm not talking about mid season. The next round of internationals are 10 days away. The objective is to try in form players, and with him being in form now it's a good time to give him a shot.
The play of Verratti, Gabbiadini, Okaka, and Pelle are obviously all good signs for us. Although I still think we should be erring on the side of younger players than Pelle. However, the best news for me coming out of Serie A is the emergence of Romagnoli. Unlike some Italian managers, Sinisa is willing to give a 19 year old talent a shot. None of this "I don't want to burn them out early" crap. Romagnoli has responded with a goal and assist against Chievo, and a fantastic performance in the Genoa-Samp derby. Sinisa compares him to Nesta. A big missing piece for Conte is a world class CB. Fingers crossed on this one.
3 minutes in and Immobile scores his second goal in two Champions League starts. Not a huge sample size, but I don't see any evidence of him struggling to shine outside of Torino at this point. I see that spineless weasel Prandelli is up to his old tricks of being embarrassed on a international stage.
Italy has a talent problem right now. We have 0 world class players in their prime right now. We have a bunch of decent complimentary players right now. These players are great to fill out a squad/line up with when you have a few world class players to lift them. Unfortunately they look very average at the International level at the moment.
Yup. As average as all these other editions: http://forums.bigsoccer.com/threads/antonio-contes-first-call-ups.2010667/page-14#post-31430805