another old excuse for not calling balotelli based 6 years ago. What attitude ? The attitude no one at NICE is talking about ? What are you basing this off ? I haven't heard any anybody speak about Balotelli's attitude since he left liverpool 2 seasons ago. You guys just use the same excuses from 6 years ago, most of the haven't even followed him ohhhhh" he's bad in the locker room" this was 2012, we're 2018! There is no way to possibly tell that he is the same player in the azzurri locker room without him actually being in there today. This is your opinion not an actual facts because fact is nobody as called him out for being a issue in the locker room since he was at liverpool. facts is when something is happened, when has anybody spoken on his attitude in the last couple years ? Balotelli has not been in the azzurri lock room in 6 years so nobody actually knows what type of affect he would have on the locker room today, and there is no way to know unless he is in there and they see the same thing from 2012. Other than that's this all people giving their opinion based on 2012. There is nothing to prove he's the same player he was years ago. Is his name is the media for dumb s.... ?today His card counts and down and his counts are up. What are some of you basing this things on ? It's all based on years ago nothing thats current. A lot of people think their opinions are facts when there is nothing to back up what they speak on. If his club is not saying they're having any kind of issues in the locker room with him then where are you getting this from ? This not facts, it's your opinion that he's that he's same player today. When there is no facts to back up someone's claim there that's an opinion! I've yet to see his teams mates or managers at NICE call him out for being an issue in their locker room or having attitude problems there but some how you can see it from your house from the other side of the world.
Our under 21 and under 19 have not won but are always a threat and only Germany and Spain have done better in the last 10 years. It's not the youth's fault that they sit on the bench and throw away their talent at an early stage to the point they cannot make any big team. Italians have this stigma of letting the youth start from the bottom and earn their keep when other countries throw the youth right into the mix. That's old school thinking from us.
We were well on our way to drawing with Sweden had it not been for Eder's goal that he pulled out of his ass. The only other previous chance we had was a Parolo header. People forget how absolutely abysmal Italy looked that day. Like I said. Two good results in 5 games.
My main thesis is that Italy overachieved in that tournament and we've regressed afterwards. Results are one thing, but we've spiraling downwards since then. I don't know why I'm being challenged on this fact.
People assume that someone makes a cute pass when they’re 20, it’s automatically going to translate to future greatness. If you want a laugh, just go back on this forum and check threads of “Future Italian talents” just to see a real theatre of broken dreams. I’ll believe Barella is a top talent once he’s applying his skills in a high level CL game for a top European club. Till then, speculating on who will be Italy’s starting 11 for the future is a massive excercise in futility.
Yes Italy had enough talent to at least qualify for the WC. But in all likelihood it would have another 1st round exit. At best round of 16. Reaching the quarters would have been a great achievement
Napoli elite.... no... they are more of a 2nd tier sort of team like an Arsenal or Tottenham in England (they can challenge but they wont ever win shit)
agreed. i think we all need to go to the local church and light candles and hope that Pellegri, Scamacca, Kean, Orsolini, etc can kick start the next young generation of talent
That's nonsense. I have no doubt that Napoli wants to win the scudetto. That said, it's insane to think they would take Champions League lightly given the financial incentives and notoriety to be obtained by doing well in Champions League. If you'd take their first eleven against any team in the world, you're not paying attention. They're not even leading the league domestically and they lost to their two key domestic rivals, Juve and Roma, respectively. That's not even getting into how much better the elite European sides are than Napoli.
You don't think PSG are better? Atletico Madrid? I'm not trying to shit on Napoli. The boys here know that I give them a hard time on the Rivals thread, but the fact is that they have done well with a relatively restricted budget. The craziness starts where we start pretending that we have all these great clubs in Italy where the evidence shows us that Italian clubs aside from Juve (of late) have done ********all in Europe since the turn of the century. Then the rationale becomes that we have all these great teams in Italy full of great players so the issue with the national team has to be the coaching. That's bullshit. We don't have the players to be considered elite anymore.
If you don't think that crashing out of the group stage of World Cups 2010 and 2014, respectively, and not qualifying for 2018 is a crisis for Italy, 4-time world champions, then we really don't see this the same way. The clubs aren't to blame. If a kid is talented, he will find his way to the first team. You talk about guys like Berardi being a talent. I see an over hyped that never lived up to billing.
Apparently you haven't kept up with the times. This is no longer the 80s and 90s where Italian players could have played domestically and made the claim they were playing for a great club, unless they're with Juve. You mention the 2006 team. That was the last of a great generation of talent. I don't know that mentioning our last success which was 12 years ago helps bolster your argument in any way. We are far removed from the days of Vialli, Baggio and Signori. I suggest you start paying attention. Either that, or you can continue to cling onto this delusional view that Serie A is this great league it was in decades past with the same talent levels.
If all this is correct, why hasn't a top club tried to sign Balotelli since he moved to Nice? If Balotelli had fixed his attitude issues, why does he play for a provincial French side? Ever thought that the reason it isn't an issue at Nice is because they can't attract players of his quality given the stature of the club and they're willing to put up with his nonsense?
with Bernardeschi out and Candreva being Candreva... i would have liked to seen Florenzi given a shot at that RW role. For me I think he is better suited to a more advanced role where he can focus on being creative and not have to defend as much