I actually don't think there is a big gulf between these teams. I think our CT is a moron and doesn't put his players in the best position to succeed. The loss of Conti and Berardi hurt primarily because it put that log Petagna back out there. The 2 days rest caught up with the team in the second half. I think those were huge factors. Di Biagio is borderline retarded. We go down to 10 men and he pulls Chiesa and leaves Petagna out there to do nothing.
Literally we really fought hard in this game. I don't know why you are all complaining. Seriously the reason we lost was Gagliardini's red card. Of Course you will lose if you are a man down against that talented Spanish side. Bernardeschi did well to equalize, but I knew Spain would get the better out of us after we were down to 10-men. What Gagliardini did was stupid, and we really had to be more disciplined. Otherwise though we played really well. Fought hard, and really caused them a lot of problems even when we were down to 10 men. I was honestly quite impressed with the pressing and eager to get forward in the final minutes of the game. Our defending wasn't shocking at all. We did well. Although after the red card we had to leave spaces open in order to push up. When you are a man down, and trying to push for a goal, the defense will get disorganized and will leave gaps and look bad at times. If it wasn't for Gagliardini's sending off, I am confident we would have took this to extra time at the very least.
They fought hard and had a good first half. It's tough to judge a tired team when they are down to 10 men and give an accurate and fair assessment. I still think this is a very different game if Conti and Berardi played. 3 fast players up top would have given Spain's defense problems and made their midfield more cautious throughout the game. A lot of positives to take away from the tournament despite Di Biagio's stupidity. Caldara showed me a lot. Rugani had some good moments too. Donnarumma was beaten by some great finishing but I still think he has a bright future. I also loved what I saw from Berardeschi, Chiesa, and Pellegrini. We have some good young core players that will only get better. Imagine if this team had a regista in the midfield and a lethal central striker? Who beats them? Well, Belotti and Verratti are two of those missing pieces.
we lacked a quality centre forward and extra creativity in midfield. With this team it would have required a tactical genius to win tonight.
Donnarumma was caught flat footed on the second goal. Great shot but his reaction was poor. His idiot agent fukcing with his mind did not help for this tournament. In the end, these lads will play 5 games in 15 days. What is the point UEFA? As long this leads to the future, winning the tournament itself is no more than icing on the cake.
I agree. We lacked a center forward and a regista. I also agree Donnarumma was caught flat footed on the second goal. He might not have arrived there anyway but he could have been quicker. I'm not sure we needed a tactical genius. I would have dropped Petagna for this game and played an extra midfielder. We could have used more numbers in the middle for a game like this....similar to what Conte did to Spain at the Euros. I would have had Locatelli in front of the D with Benassi and Pellegrini free to roam and attack more. The future is bright. We beat Germany and made the Semis with a team that has a TON of Serie A starters. Remember, we finished 3rd at the U20 WC and guys like Orsolini and Mandragora have bright futures as well. We also can't forget about guys like Romagnoli who wasn't here and the very young stars Kean and Pelligri. Italian football is much better off today than it was 6-7 years ago. We should all feel good about that.
I said early on they would tire from the high intensity pressing approach. They needed to score early. They didn't. They rolled the dice and they lost. To be fair to Di Biaggio though the tactical flexibility associated with building an u21 squad is lower than a national team.
I am really excited for the future. We won't have all those players join the senior team at the same time, and will probably integrate 1 by 1, so its really nothing to worry about too much. I really must say that Berardi, Bernardeschi, and Chiesa all impressed me. They are great players with a bright future. Berardi was injured for most of the season which is why he was nowhere to be seen really. Bernardeschi was at a club that is extremely inconsistent and is in deep trouble. Chiesa and Bernardeschi were probably the two players that were actually saving Fiorentina. If they were not around, I guarantee you Fiorentina would have finished 12th place at the very best. Literally Fiorentina looked like a joke this season and an extremely terrible team. They only had 4 impressive games all season in all honesty, and even those were extremely close games. To be honest with you, all the players I listed below deserve to make the 2018 World Cup Squad: Buffon, Donnarumma, Perin, Chiellini, Bonucci, Barzagli, Rugani, Caldara, Romagnoli, Florenzi, Darmian, Spanzziola, Conti, De Sciglio, Zappacosta, De Rossi, Marchisio, Verratti, Benassi, Pellegrini, Gagliardini, Candreva, Insigne, Bernardeschi, Berardi, Chiesa, Belotti, Immobile, Eder, Gabbiadini This is a total of 30 players. We can only have 23. Now I am sure not all of those will be availible, as at least some are guaranteed to be injured. And also there are a lot more players that are probably competing for places that I did not list. This is really a good sign for our country and national team. I remember back around this time 2 years ago, Conte was complaining about the fact that back in 1998-2006 there used to be around 100 italian players to choose from, and at that time there were only like 40 in the 2012-2016 generation. I feel like finally we have so many italian players with promising talent which is extremely great for our country. Once we have many talented players that are not only competing for a starting place, but even competing to make the squad, this is really good signs. I felt like until after Euro 2016, it was like the starting squad was completely set, and there were only like 2-3 decisions to be made on the final 23 men squad, as there was no competition. Those are not good signs.
He's clueless. Playing Petagna again and not putting in an extra midfielder is proof of that. Players are taking cues from his ineptness. The defense was night and day different in the last two games, yet again.
I wasn't able to see the game again due to work. I may watch it tonight or tomorrow, though knowing they lost takes the desire away. Yes...Belotti and Verratti. The two players Uaglio mentioned who are only slightly older than most of the players on this squad. I hate to be right in this instance, but I did say that one of the big problems this team had (other than a bad coach) is that Petagna completely sucks. I know a few other posters agreed with me, but does anyone else disagree at this point. Holds up play well is the only positive to his game, otherwise he is utterly worthless. Some of the people who comment here take their negativity beyond anything logical. Italy was playing with one day less rest, missing their second or third best player, and had a player sent off due to a red card....I would put the odds of them winning in that scenario at less than 25%. That doesn't even factor in the realization that Di Biagio is a poor coach. No, instead the future of the Italian team is in shambles... I'm not the biggest fan of Donnarumma at the moment for obvious reasons, but when watching the highlights, I did think his reaction to that second goal was extremely slow. Not saying he should of 100% saved it, but he did not look like a world class keeper based on his reflexes in that instance. Saying that, he's 18 years old, and has Porky Raiola feeding him bullshit all day long and screwing with his head...
Makes you wonder what kind of tournament he would have had if that shithead did not mess with his head. I know Donnarumma said he was focused but like you said, he is only 18 and he did not need this crap during this short tournament. Raiola does not care about his clients, he just uses them.
He wasn't sharp. The defense wasn't either. Di Biagio is the worst coach I've ever seen. Not only does he not learn from his mistakes, he keeps making them. What a chooch.
I thought Di Biagio set us up right. Petagna was needed for the long ball when Spain were to surely put us under pressure. Everything changed when a world class player like Saul scores and then Gagliardini gets frustrated after getting nutmeged once again. He was lucky to not be booked in the first half and then gets 2 to start the 2nd, he obviously couldn't cope with the Spanish midfielders. I think Di Biagio would have a subbed him around the 65th but Gags decided he had enough. Petagna will always be a little frustrating as he stumbles around, but he wasn't the problem today, I thought he was decent. In the first half we had several promising counters that came to nothing thanks to Bernadeschi and Chiesa not winning 1 v 1s. Bernadeschi played well but those were chances when the Spaniards were stretched. Pelligrini also blew another chance where the ball fell kindly to him. This Spanish team is very strong, there's a good chance they can lay Germany to waste 3-0.
Donarumma was poor, sure guys were hitting great strikes past him all tournament, but his reactions were way too slow. Though he does show command in the box. We're reverting back to the 90s with good defenders and forwards and no midfielders.
The goals that the Czechs hit and the Spainards hit on us were incredibly well taken for the most part. Almost all of them were perfectly placed. Shit happens. The problem wasn't with Rugani or Caldara (who I thought was great this tournament). The problem was that the midfield wasn't working (especially when we went a man down). A 3 man midfield is a poor choice against teams like the Czechs with 5 in the middle or teams like Spain with that kind of skill in the middle of the pitch. Think about how many times you saw opponent midfielders with free runs at the defense? Countless times. There was so much space between the midfield and the defense that teams were able to exploit that over and over again. That is a failure on Di Biagio not organizing his team correctly. Spain's first goal is a great example of that. Calabria was very poor yesterday. Most of Spain's attacks started from the left side. I get that he is more of a LB, but I expected better from him. Conti was sorely missed as I thought he would be. I thought Pellegrini had a great tournament in midfield and Benassi was solid. Gagliardini was great against Germany and pretty much sucked the rest of the tournament. He may have been my biggest disappointment. What I realized is his size actually works against him at times. He's so big that he doesn't change direction as well as smaller shiftier players. That's a problem and it leads to some stupid fouls. He's got a lot of work to do. Petagna blows. I totally disagree with starting him. He holds up the ball well, but that is not a good thing when you need to be quicker on the counter-attack against a team like Spain. He offers essentially no scoring threat and the defenders know it, so they can converge and concentrate on Bernardeschi. Finally, a hats off to Chiesa and Bernardeschi for a great tournament. Both players hustled and showed some great skill in the face of double and triple teams at times (because no one was scared by Petagna). I really hope Bernardeschi signs with a club that will play him as a seconda punta. He will light it up in that position.
Just a thought.....If failed (senior) World Cups are easily forgotten come the beginning of most Serie A seasons, when all else fails, how many people really remember the U21 championships a week, two or even month later?
Spain has always played better than us on the pitch going back as far as I can remember. We just have different football cultures - one produces elegant play and the other doesn't. The difference between the past and now is that Italy used to produce world-class defenders and ruthless goalscorers so it didn't matter that they would be dominated on possession - they'd still win games regardless. Speaking personally I yearn for the defenders we used to have, even if it meant we played "boring football" on occasion. If we had defenders in our ranks today that even remotely resembled previous stars then Niguez would have been lucky to get a single strike on goal, let alone score a hatrick.