I think it's hard to really assess this one given the red card happened so early. You're not beating Spain down a man regardless what tactics and players Mancini choose. More alarming to me tho is we haven't played great after the Euros. And we got two big WC qualifiers in a month time.
Spain brought on two teenagers who played very well. You never see that in Italy. They are care more for developing their players.
Agreed. Although I have to say Italian boys take longer to mature than other countries for some reason. Maybe to tied to mamma.
Italy is always flat after a big tournament win. The key is to not be complacent and use fresh resources. I don't understand why every coach loves Berna. I can see him as a sub but not a starter.
It would have been nice to win it but honestly, this tournament is lame. I'm not sure why it was even invented. They won the Euro three months ago when it counted and now all Italy needs to worry about is qualifying for the World Cup.
Trying to beat the Spanish at their game is stupid. We should have started Locatelli and Pellegrini and maybe Kean and make it a physical and counter attacking[/QUOTE] hey guys I've been a member for awhile now, just don't bother commenting. I like to read and move on. But i do have to disagree with you on this. Italy under conte in my opinion was able to control the game against Spain easily and win 2-0 with a team that wasn't as United as this one. Conte was known to change formation with ease in every game, but Mancini sticks with his formation even if it isn't working. That needs to change.
The tournament is lame, but we need to keep our momentum going, 2 draws in the qualifier and now a loss. yeah. let not get anymore of that.
Very hard to understand why Mancini started useless Bernardeschi as center forward instead of Pellegrini. Emerson is not good. Di Lorenzo not brilliant either, a bit less bad than Emerson. We do have Spina so I'm not worried about LB, Spina will be back. But yes, we need a better RB. And definitely we need a better center forward than Immobile and Bernardeschi obviously isn't it. Bonucci boneheaded, his elbowing sank the team. I understand our fans (I'm a rossonero) being frustrated with Donnarumma but one should never boo a player who is playing for the national team, due to club issues. Disgraceful. Yes, he did get rattled and this may have played a role in our defeat. Oh well, the undefeated streak couldn't last forever and we still beat all world records for that. I wish Mancini would experiment a bit more with the young guys. Calabria, Tonali, Pellegrini, Kean... I didn't watch second half. I fast forwarded because at the end of first half, behind 0-2 and one man down, I figured all was lost. The one half I watched, it did seem to me like Spain deserved the win, so, congrats Spain. Unbelievable how Insigne didn't score the equalizer when we were still behind only 0-1, Bonucci was still in, and Insigne had the perfect opportunity. A score there, and the game might have developed differently. Oh well.
I honestly completely forgot this game was on today. I see we got a red as well. How did we play overall?
played with about as much urgency as i thought we would for a nations league game LOL. Spain were the better team up until the red card no doubt. they were hungrier. we did have chances and they did have some holes at the back.. with some better finishing (as always) would/could have been a diff scoreline. Bonucci's second yellow was merited.. bit harsh considering how he got the first one..but its a yellow and we move on.
I was surprised we had so many high profile starters considering this tournament is glorified friendly - particularly Chiesa. If he goes down with an injury for any meaningful length of time, Juve's season is basically over at that point.
[/QUOTE]="culopeloso, post: 39981520, member: 110081"]Trying to beat the Spanish at their game is stupid. We should have started Locatelli and Pellegrini and maybe Kean and make it a physical and counter attacking[/QUOTE] hey guys I've been a member for awhile now, just don't bother commenting. I like to read and move on. But i do have to disagree with you on this. Italy under conte in my opinion was able to control the game against Spain easily and win 2-0 with a team that wasn't as United as this one. Conte was known to change formation with ease in every game, but Mancini sticks with his formation even if it isn't working. That needs to change.[/QUOTE] We didn't control that game in possession. We made it a physical game and punished them on counters while playing very tight in defence. This is Conte's signature. Other than that I agree with you
I would have played Kean, Pellegrini, and Chiesa (all with great speed) up top and had more of a physical midfield. The Spanish are never going to give up their possession game, but they are smaller more fragile players. They can be had on the counter and that is how you punish them.
In hindsight, the best approach IMO would have been to bench both Insigne and Berna. I would have played a simple 4-3-1-2 with Kean and Chiesa up top. In mid, I would have played Locatelli and Jorginho in front of defence, while Pellegrini mezzala and Barella b2b. I would have started Calabria over Di Lorenzo simply because he has a better engine. If Mancini wants to continue to be successful he has to learn to be more flexible in tactics
I also have no sympathy for Donnarumma, While I don’t like that he was boo’d because it hurt Italy, I completely understand it. Italians outside of Italy should know by now that Italians inside of Italy are always more partial to their clubs than country. This has been true forever
I really don't understand all the hate and blame by Milanisti or why it's Donnarumma's fault that he left Milan and why he should be whistled at? Which player in today's world plays an entire career at one club anymore and why not try and make as much as he can? No one blamed Maradona for leaving Napoli, CR7 for leaving Man U, Real and Juve or Messi for leaving Barca. If anything, those players were and still are revered not punished. Honestly, at the end of the day all of this is exaggerated. I mean he is only a goalkeeper and I think fans should get over it.
I can put up with Milanisti booing him if say PSG were visiting San Siro. But, there is no excuse for it when Gli Azzurri are playing...especially after everything Donnarumma did for our team this summer. The problem is with a certain touchy segment of POS Milanisti fans. There are plenty of other cities in Italia that would NOT have done that and who would have showed more class.
I think this is not only about he left the club for nothing but his behavior and Raiola’s comment about Milan. He disrespected to the club who gave him a chance when he was a kid and supported his agent. Who the fck is Raiola man? Booing him in a Semi-Final game is stupid btw.
It still exaggerated though. Every player on earth should try and leverage as much money as he can when he has an opportunity elsewhere and they all do that already so this is nothing new. Aside from this, he is only a GK and they are a dime a dozen. Mike Maignan seems like an adequate replacement so I still don’t understand what the big deal is about Donnarumma leaving. Fans need to get over it....
Personally I put country ahead of club. It's been said here that Italians outside Italy do that. Well, I'm an Italian outside Italy. I live in the United States. So even though I'm a passionate Milan fan, I wouldn't have booed Donnarumma. But explaining to you why some did, here is what happened: Donna was developed by Milan's Youth Academy. Everything that he is, he learned from Milan. So, his contract was expiring and PSG wanted him. Paolo Maldini offered Donnaruma something like 8 million Euros. Donna wanted 9 or 10. Well, 8 million would make of him the highest paid goalkeeper in Italy. So here is what grateful players would have done: Donna should have signed for 1 million less than what he wanted, and then, under contract, he could have left Milan for PSG, but Milan would be paid a huge transfer fee. This would be a way for him to express gratitude for Milan. He would also be playing every game for Milan (instead of being benched at PSG) and would be giving to PSG more time for their excellent #1 goalie to age a bit more (he's 36). PSG could have waited one year to get Donna, if he had wanted to stay for another short contract with Milan so that he could be SOLD to PSG. By contrast, that's what Kessie did. Well, not Donnarumma. He kept insisting with the higher salary and when Maldini said we couldn't afford it, he left for PSG as a free agent, so that Milan didn't get a cent. Oh, and Donnarumma's agent is a POS. He wanted 20 million Euros to sign a new contract for Donna. Now at PSG he's warming the bench. He hasn't played in months. THAT's why he played poorly, not because of the boos. Think of it. Maybe some 15,000 Milanistas booed him. Well, he's a professional player. This shouldn't rattle him. He played the final at Wembley with 80,000 fans booing him, and he played well and we won. Professional players get booed all the time. Unfortunately black players in Italy get called monkeys and they still play well. A professional player can't be rattled because of booing. If he played poorly because he got whistled, he's too fragile to be a professional player. So to blame Italy's defeat on the Milanisti booing Donna is a bit much. Here is why we lost: Because Bonucci was slow, boneheaded, reckless, dirty, and collected two yellows. You don't beat Spain one man down. What about Bastoni? He is a terrible defender and the first Spain goal was his fault. Mancini loves him because he plays for Inter and Mancini used to be Inter's coach. What about Barella? He has been playing poorly since the Euro quarterfinal, and got overrun in midfield. Again, Mancini used to coach him. Bernardeschi as center forward, really?? He can't even score for Juve, much less for the Azzurra against superior competition. Pellegrini is taking the league by storm... why didn't he start? Much better than Barella, is Tonali who is physical and has passing attributes, and is another one who is taking the league by storm. Why didn't he start? Calabria is currently better than Di Lorenzo. And why not Kean? Mancini seems to be afraid of starting the young guys, but Gli Azzurri need their energy. We have fabulous young players, Tonalli, Calabria, Kean, Pellegrini... but Mancini goes with the old donkeys. Was Bonucci rattled because the Milanisti (or rather, some Milanisti) were whistling Donna? Bonucci is a 20-year pro. A rattled foul is a sloppy tackle. You don't elbow someone in the back of the neck because you're rattled. So, our whistling Donna had nothing to do with the REAL reason we lost, Bonucci's red card. We didn't whistle Bastoni, Barella, Juve players, etc., despite the rivalries. We booed Donna for what he did to Milan. That's different. Google pieces by Fabio Capello, Cassano, Ambrosini; see what they say of the way Donna left Milan. They are all appalled at Donnarumma's actions. No, we didn't lose because some of us whistled Donnarumma. We lost because of Bonucci, Bastoni, Bernadeschi, Barella, and Mancini. And many of our players who left the team WITHOUT doing to the team what Donna did, we don't boo them either. Bonnarumma is a special case. He does deserve the boos. Again, I wouldn't have booed him if I were there in person, but I do understand why some of the other MIlanisti decided to do that.
Nobody commenting on Italy v. Belgium? I thought the game was at 9:30 AM ET and didn't realize it was 9:00 so I missed most of first half; tuned in in time to see Chiesa almost scoring twice. Will anybody fill me in regarding what I missed? I know that this is a glorified friendly, but it's helpful anyway to have this friendly in terms of preparation for the upcoming WC qualifiers. Switzerland won yesterday 2-0 so we need to stay sharp.
Belgium hit the crossbar and Chiesa missed one wide right in the first half. Nicolò Barella scored with a right from the top of the box in the 46th minute!
Belgium hit the crossbar again, but now Berardi has scored a PK earned by Chiesa. Courtois got a hand to it but couldn't keep it out.