Rebuilding The Azzurri for Euro 2024 and beyond

Since joining Juve, Locatelli’s move into a more central role has hurt him with the NT. As evidenced by his contribution at the EUROs, Mancini sees him more as a mezzala, which is where he played with Sassuolo and the NT until his recent exclusions.

For whatever reason, Jorginho appears to still be at the top of the pecking order and Cristante is a very solid central midfielder. Because of this switch, Locatelli now finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the NT.

 

correct me if im wrong but wasn't Locatelli pretty bad at Milan?

 

Locatelli is pretty average, he's had some really good moments but we definitely have better choices

 

forgive me, but with Allegri he doesn't do anyone well (see Dybala), and the prototype of the coach who wins more due to external conditions (his golden age juventus had the strongest defense in Serie A)

 

We could use loca now as backup to our Muslim midfielder.

Cristante too. Roma fans just love him

 

You guys are 100% right. Locatelli is not Pirlo. So, stop trying to make him into that. Allegri is one stubborn MFer. Locatelli has good feet and he can distribute, but he's at his best when he is a little bit more wide and attacks box-to-box.

 

Well Gerry and Paolo just broke up. Maybe you can buy another bust from Belgium for 35M+? Although, I heard Gerry is going to be tight with his money going forward so maybe you can buy some retreads from Spezia.

 

Billie Bean

 

Gerry thinks calcio is like baseball. It's not that simple as we all know. You have to see the human being too. Scouts should still play a role. Talent evaluation is part art/part science.

 

Looking at the attackers Mancini picked, I think 3 5 2 is the formation.

 

It's not a huge number but it's nice to see 5 Italians starting for Fiorentina against West Ham in the Conference League Final...

 

Defeated by a team of foreigners


Interesting

 

lol 5 italians starting for an italian team is not that nice

 

all italian teams lost their finals (assuming Inter lose to City tomorrow)

hopefully the U20's are not next

 

But last year the Italian finalist won; granted only Roma got that fair.

The significance lies in reaching finals. If this can be maintained, sooner or later more finals will be won.

 

That is an outright buffet compared to what it has been.

 

Nice to see Inter starting 5 Italin born players.

Last time they were in the final I think only Materazzi came on at the end.

 

Bastoni really earned my respect today. He was outstanding. So was Dimarco. Fantastic.

Inter really played well and deserved better.

 

I see some people bitching online that Inter weren't good but I thought they were pretty great, they exceeded my expectations.

 

Inter had more expected goals and created tons of chances. Could have easily scored 2 goals and they were not ovrwhelmed at all. IMO they gained a lot of respect. 5 years ago I loathed them due to their policy of being the "international' team with no Italians. Now they seek out young Italians and their primavera is developing lots of Italian talent as well (even if they do not end up playing for the parent club.)

 

Most of the Italians who started in the CL final for Inter actually played very well.

Inter-Manchester City, le pagelle della finale di Champions 2023 | Sky Sport


DARMIAN 7,5 – COME IL PREZZEMOLO, NON GUASTA MAI

ACERBI 8 – PREZZO/QUALITA’ = BINGO

BASTONI 7,5 – FISICO DA STOPPER, LANCIO DA CENTROCAMPISTA

D'AMBROSIO 6,5 - UMILE E AFFIDABILE

BARELLA 7,5 – LUMINOSO, QUANDO CONTA

It's too bad Matteo Darmian and Francesco Acerbi are 33 & 35 respectively because expereinced players like them aren't easily avaiable in the current national team pool.

 

I thought inter were really good. Don’t know why city switched their defence up as they look better in a 4

I thought acerbi did well and I really like barella

 

Simone Inzaghi, another Italian also deserves a lot of credit as opposed to the scrutiny he received in the previous months.