Don't move Candreva to the middle or the left he's at. His best on the right. He's not great at making the incisive pass, but he possesses a great shot and crossing ability. Plus he's great at getting past defenders wide and delivering crosses. He's ok on the left but lazio used it more as a.change of pace for Anderson who could dominate either side.
You said Candreva was the "best Italian player atm"…you did not specify by position. Thus I offered players who are better than him regardless of where on the pitch they play. A healthy Bonucci and Chiellini are more important to Conte than Candreva. The same goes for Marchisio and even Buffon (who I forgot to mention). And comparing Darmian's statistics to Candreva and Berardi makes no sense. I won't even bother to say why, this should be apparent. You've decided to change the goal posts of your original post to dismiss my counter argument. And those statistics are meaningless. Anyone who actually watches football knows Italy has been playing poorly on the offensive end. Candreva does not have the talent to inspire Italy to that next level…that is plain and simple. He is a solid player, nothing more. And our next two fixtures are against Malta and Bulgaria. These are teams we should beat with or without Candreva. September is the time to implement Berardi in the starting lineup and see what he can do. Like I said in another post, remember when everyone was discussing Maggio or Abate at RB, before Darmian was given a chance and made the argument irrelevant? As Italy's last few starting XI have shown, offensively they have been terrible. A overhaul in the final third is desperately needed.
Yup, we are so used to greats like Nesta and Cannavaro. Guys like Chiellini and Bonucci any NT would kill to have. They are proving to be world class. On their way though. Should make the team, but has to earn to start, and until Chiellini or Bonucci drop in form which I don't see happening then they won't start. Unless one is injured they won't bet any playing time in qualifiers or Euro, most likely get playing time in friendlies
I'm not trying to use subterfuge, or move the goal posts as you put it. All I'm trying to do is create a common frame of reference with some objective data. "best player atm" or you could say "most valuable player". There's a reason why players up front and in and around goal including attacking mids command the highest market value in transfer markets, because they are the most important players over 90 mins. There is only so much a fullback can do. Yes make some much needed changes in the final third but why remove the one guy who is actually performing?
I have often thought that Darmian is like a young Zambrotta. Good at beating players, hard runner, solid defensive game, at best average crosser of ball, has a wild shot, can play LB or RB. And you'd have to say that Darmian is close to locking down that NT spot too.
I really like Zappa, if he's anything like my FIFA 15 career mode he'll be an 88 overall in no time LOL
People need to remember Zambrotta by the time he was 22 and 23 years old in 1999/ 2000 was already featuring regularly for Juve as right fullback and for Italy. In that same year at just 23 years old in Euro 2000 I remember him making blazing runs and beating players down the right flank many a time. When Maldini retired after 2002 Zambro switched, with no problems, to left back at 25 and was always our first choice from them on until the 2010 WC. While Darmian is turning 26 and shows similarities and likeness we could only hope he becomes half the player Zambro was.
Zambrotta was converted to fullback. He started as an attacking winger during his Bari (?) days and was purchased by Juve for that position. Then Ancelotti or Lippi, can't remember whom, started playing him as a fullback.
yup....forgot about that Juve converted him to right FB then a little while later he was switched to left FB....can't remember if he first switched to start playing LB with the national squad first or Juve?
I though by the time Camo came to Juve after 2002 Zambro was mostly employed as fullback there by then?
Grosso was another converted fullback, so that 2006 side had two attacking minded fullbacks. Zambrotta was the more accomplished defender of the two.
Yep. I have no idea how his conversion came about. He was an OK defender but effective attacking down the flank. Could hit a shot too. The same for Zambrotta.
Don't know if this makes things clearer as far as times and teams but here is some quick info of each of the players careers....at Perugia it seems Grosso was converted from AM to LWB...before that at Chieti he played AM....didn't read all of it though and for every player listed yet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabio_Grosso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluca_Zambrotta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauro_Camoranesi
It was Trap I believe, after he called Camo to the national team. Lippi made the move from left to right. He was excellent in all roles. One of my all time favorites.