Italy's upcoming friendlies: Saudi Arabia, France, and Netherlands

Balotelli dedicated his goal today to Davide Astori and posted a nice little message for him on social media.

 

Not the greatest game from Italy, but there were some positives out there. Good to see both Balotelli and Belotti score. Their confidence should go up and hopefully both will score a few more goals in the upcoming games. Bonnucci and Romagnoli did fine at CB. Florenzi should start over Zappacosta at RB, and Cristante should start in that midfield (he looked dangerous once he came on). I'm not that impressed with either Verdi or Politano. I don't think either are Azzurri material. Insigne and Chiesa should start next game with Berardi getting a chance to see what he can bring in a national setup. Personally, I would probably give the nod to De Sciglio over Criscito in LB also. And like a few others mentioned, I'm not opposed to trying out Perin over Donnarumma. Healthy competition can be a good thing...

 

I've heard enough bullshit like this. Those guys were proven players and actually did something for the national team. We've just been eliminated from the world cup and barely beat a side we should and need to beat convincingly. Especially now. Don't even mention those past players and what they did compared to this team. That's the problem with supporters like you with your constant excuses and shit way of thinking. Always it's just a friendly and it's going to be ok. These games now aren't just friendlies. We need to win and win well. We're not doing that and never really have been but before we achieved something.

Italy sucks plain and simple and until they actually go to a tournament and achieve something meaningful, we will remain where we are at this point in time. A team who can barely win a game and not qualify for a major tournament.

 

I'm with you, where are the instant-mix Maldini's, Totti's and Del Piero's? We've had 6 months. Why the fck haven't we grown them yet?

 

Couldn't agree more. Yes I have been saying this from the beginning that Verdi and Politano should not be there. I would like to see a 4-3-3 with Florenzi, Romagnoli, Bonucci, and De Sciglio (Give Caldara a chance as well). Zappacosta actually did pretty well except for that terrible mistake that made us concede. Then play Jorginho, Pellegrini, and Cristante in midfield. When Verratti is ready, he can play instead of Pellegrini. Marchisio as well. Then Insigne and Chiesa on the wings supporting either Balotelli or Belotti (whoever seems more determined and is in better form). Then we should try Berardi as well and see how he does.

 

I'm definitely tired of hearing "we always play like this against minnows" "We don't do well in friendlies" "it's the end of the season, no one cares" and the million other excuses.

Bottom line is we need to be putting these teams away, 4 or 5 goals if possible but if we can't then we're just not there skill wise. We can't keep comparing our NT to what they did 10+ years ago because that team did what it had to do to win, qualify and do well in tournaments. The mentality of "it's just how Italy plays" needs to stop, we can't play that card anymore especially in our current situation.

Pretending friendlies aren't important also needs to stop, we need all the points we can get to start crawling out of our embarrassing Fifa ranking, not being seeded has been biting us in the ass for a long time now and it's in part due to not winning some of these easy friendlies.

With all that said i agree it's still way too early to start judging, we learned a few things today and hopefully Mancini makes the right adjustments, glad to see Balotelli scoring again even if he is allergic to chasing the ball. Hopefully we won't get blown out Friday.

 

I get it. We should be blowing these teams out. But do you really think they’re going to go balls out in these three friendlies. They’re probably searching at half time what beach they’ll be at in a week

 

Jesus we won against a team that made the world cup. first game in charge for Mancini. relax mother ********ers. Lippi's first game in charge we lost 2-0 to ********en shitty Iceland in a friendly. we had most of the chances just didn't bury em. give em time.

 

Once again, we're comparing decade + old team that produced results vs a current team that's not in the WC...We need to let go of "old Italy" and what they were, how they played, how they were managed and the squad they possessed because those times are long gone for who knows how long. If we play France like we played today it's going to be a shit show.

 

That's the shit I always hear you guys say

'' do you really think they're going all out in these friendlies ''

'' Italy only does what they need to then step it up once the tournament starts ''

haha no sorry. I've heard this nonsense in the qualifying stage also. And heard it for decades now. How we play down to our level. Is that what we did vs Albania, Macedonia and Israel? 1-0 at home to Israel, 3-2 against Macedonia away thanks to two late goals and a stoppage time winner. 1-1 against them at home lol.

Always excuses please stop.

 

I don't care about the next Maldini's also for that matter. You don't nor shouldn't need names of that calibre to put away teams like Saudi Arabia.

The mentality of the supporters is disgraceful. Excuses, thinking we're better than what we are and thinking we don't give it our all.

Italy is not a good team period. Italy is a team that belongs out of the world cup and aren't worthy of being there.

 

Just finished watching the replay. Am I the only one that thought that they weren't that bad? I thought they were fine, not great, but not poor aside from a couple lazy mins in the 2nd half.

What I liked;
Balo was good. His goal was a fantastic take.
Jorghino played some nice balls, and controlled the majority of the game
The CB's were confident and did not make a mistake.
I liked Pellegrini's game. Made some good runs and reads the game very well. He needs to cut down on the stupid passes (a concentration thing imo)

What I didn't like;
Zappa. He was sleeping today minus a few good crosses
Cristante. Didn't do anything for me in his short time on the pitch. He got caught to high up the pitch a couple times. He needs to play with more structure and awareness.

Everyone else was meh. Saudi Arabia is a team that knows each other well and have played together for a while. We have a very experimental squad and not a lot of experience. Add in with the fact that the team has had limited time with Mancini and his staff, I don't understand what people were expecting. We won at a neutral site in a game that we basically dominated for 70 mins. SA had maybe 2 chances the entire game. It was a decent first game. It is a process, don't expect a full turnaround over night.

 

haha that made the world cup? do you know how pathetic Saudi Arabia are? Australia beat them for crying out loud and drew over there. Saudi Arabia lost 3 games in qualifying with a group consisting of Japan, Australia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Iraq. Lol.


Sadi Arabia didn't qualify for 2010 and 2014 { at least we have that in common with them. A team who can't qualify for a world cup }

in 2006 they drew with Tunisia, smashed 4-0 by Ukraine who we smoked 3-0 and lost their last game to Spain who were already in top spot and din't even try. 2002 Germany smoked them 8-0, Cameroon 1-0 and Ireland 3-0. 3 losses, 12 goals conceded. 1998 one draw out of 3 group games and that was to South Africa. France blasted them 4-0. This is who we're talking about here.


Wake up.

 

weren't that bad yet only won 2-1. The main problem. We can't score goals, put teams away or win convincingly. Not even half convincingly.

 

Guys, do you expect Italy to automatically become a good team again right when a new coach takes over? If you do, then you are either stupid or not familiar with how football works.

Many players that started today are either new or have not played with the Nazionale in such a long time: Romagnoli, Zappacosta, Jorginho, Cristante, Pellegrini, Chiesa, Balotelli, Politano, and Verdi. Some of them even just made their debuts today. This is the first time many of these players have played together. It takes TIME to build chemistry and become a good team.

We made many mistakes, but what do you expect from a new team that is not familiar with each other? Did France, Germany, and Brazil automatically just get this good? No, it took a lot of time for them to reach this level. France was suffering for a long time since Zidane retired, and just started to get back on track at the 2014 World Cup.

It doesn't matter who coaches us, or which players we have. We will not look like a top team right away, understand?

Yeah we missed many chances, but that will not be the case forever. You could just about say the same thing when Conte took over our team at first.

 

Let me also tell you that last year, I myself took over coaching a team that was suffering in September last year (Not a professional team, a club for college students). I dropped many players from the squad and picked up many young and new players. Two players that I worked with have played for a college varsity team in the past (something only one other club we faced had), and yet we still did not look convincing at the beginning. We had the talent to be top 3 in the league but at first we were humiliated 6-0 by the second best team, and lost 3-0 to teams we had the talent to be blowing out. Its because I took time to find the right chemistry for the team. However, by January I started to find the best starting lineup and tactics that go with the team, and we started playing up to our potential. We ended up finishing 4th place in the league, but in December we were around 13th place (out of 19 teams).

Coaching a team is a tough job. While I was doing it, I tinkered around with many formations, starting players, and tactics in the first few months. In fact I started with a 3-5-2, then moved to a 4-3-3, then a 4-4-2, then a 4-3-1-2, and then back to a 4-3-3 with the right players, and that worked best. Many of the others did not work properly.

 

Who says anything about being a good team. Good or not, we should be beating Saudi Arabia, a ********ing hopeless team convincingly. What many of us are saying is we're actually even worse off than what we thought.I don't expect us to be able to beat the likes of Brazil, Germany, Spain, Argentina or France for example. But if you can't beat this side by at least two goals, there is massive, massive problems.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. We did not beat them by two or more goals. That should be the bare minimum. Absolute least. Even then I consider that a failure. Which at the moment, is exactly what we are.

The footballing world is laughing at us. We are a joke.

 

Good points but guess what, our players are shit.

 

Blah blah blah...

Pirlo Purity, what took you so long to return mayte? Why don't you bring your other sock back from the Politics thread? Keep im company aye?

add Vialli-Toto to the list above...

 

Lol what motivation do they have currently? Even if it’s a bad habit the players know subconsciously they are a week away from Lazing on the beach in their mutandi

I’m just happy with the players getting some familiarity with the tactics and new coach and vice versa

 

Pirlopurity/Fabio Gross/Sock Puppet has always been the dark side of his other puppet, using these forums as a therapeutic outlet to express his despair and depression. The more positive vibes you shower him with, the more he loses it. It'll become a spectacle soon, you'll see.

 

I've followed Gli Azzurri since about 1981. I might know a thing or two. I get this team is not as talented as past teams. I never said we should accept mediocrity or laziness. In fact, in my 14 years here, I've always said we should take friendlies more seriously.

My main beef with the "sky is falling" posters is that there simply is no time to get any sort of chemistry with these guys. They had what...a couple practices to learn each other's movements and how to play together?

I judge new teams based on strings of results. Are they improving? Are the new players timid? Is there chemistry in the lineup?

We can scream at the sky all we want, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Getting these young players up to speed takes patience. This is part of the reason for the failure of Italian football recently. NO PATIENCE...especially with younger players. Let them learn and make mistakes.

 

Portugal tied Tunisia. You don't see them fly off the handle.
Italy's recent problems has always been and only been finishing.
The chances were there.

Baby Steps

 

I didn't watch the game but I'm glad for Mancini , Balotelli and Belotti. Balo scored after a 4 year absence. So much for losing his talent or the "level of the league". Hopefully this is a good start.

Aside from that though, just skimming trough the thread, I want to know exactly, how in the world is Italy going to develop another Vieri, Inzaghi, Del Piero, Totti, Gattuso, Pirlo, Nesta, and Maldini if you have 9 or 10 Argentine, Brazilians and every other nationality under the sun playing in Serie A games week in and week out? As it is, I doubt we can find a squad of 23 starting players at a WC prime playing ages of 25-30 with top teams. There isn't even a way to develop such a player in their crappiest form because they would never play in any of today's Serie A's top 7-8 clubs.

 

They are not, some of them are world class. Maybe not like some of the other top teams, but they are not shit. Our players are currently comparable with a second tier European team.