You have to realize that Sarri is not looking for a classic trequartista role. In all honesty, it is like a holding midfielder in front of the midfield role he is trying to employ. Also, Juve has a load of strikers, so he is trying to get them in play. Allegri had a similar challenge with Ronaldo being pretty much a one-way player. His solution was playing Mandzukic, who has shown to be a very smart player on the pitch.
Mancini looks like he's sticking with 4 3 3. At this point, I would drop both Insigne and Berna to the bench permanently. Chiesa and Zaniolo on the wings supporting whichever CF Mancini likes most is the way to go. Berna is a great player to have on any team. He can be plugged into so many different positions. Overall though, he seems like a jack of all trades, master of none type player.
Italy now up to 13th place from 15th in the latest FIFA World Ranking published today. Important, Italy is now the 8th placed team from UEFA in the ranking; the top 10 will be the top seeded teams in the 2022 WC UEFA preliminary draw in December 2020.
Looking back on this thread , It was all doom and gloom from when Ventura failed to have Italy qualify for World Cup 2018. Lookiing at their record in 53 years across two different tournaments ; the Euro and the World Cup, Italy has placed 1st , 2nd , 3rd or 4th 11 times out of 21 finals. On average that is a positvie result once every 4.81 years. They also have 9 medals which is a medal every 5.88 years. I don't think too many country's on earth other than maybe Brazil can boast this type of record. Italy 1968 Euro Champions 1st Mexico 1970 World Cup 2nd place West Germany 1974 World Cup Group stage Argentina 1978 4th Italy 1980 Euro 4th Spain 1982 Champions 1st Mexico 1986 Round of16 Italy 1990 3rd United States 1994 2nd England 1996 Group stage 10th France 1998 Quarterfinals 5th Belgium Netherlands 2000 2nd South Korea Japan 2002 Round of 16 Portugal 2004 Group stage Germany 2006 Champions 1st Austria Switzerland 2008 Quarter-finals South Africa 2010 Group stage 26th Poland Ukraine 2012 2nd France 2016 Quarter-finals 5th Brazil 2014 22nd Europe 2021 Champions 1st
U take away the 1974 World Cup and the 2010 World Cup Italy has had some great tournaments, Lets face it you are going to have good and bad tournaments thats normal . England would kill to have Italy's success
The way England talks you think they have won every thing under the Sun , at least we Italians and even the Germans are a little more realistic
I thought about Germany after I posted. Since 1966, they actually have a better record wtih 18 medals... That is a medal every 3.05 years. They never do that great against Italy though.....
Right now Germany is at the same stage Italy was in in 2018 when Mancini first took the reigns. Every country goes through this I guess its Germany"s turn now .
Yes definitely. Remember France 2008-2010 as well? They were absolutely shambolic. Although I don’t think Germany now is as bad as we were in 2018. I think Germany will qualify for 2022 World Cup after a hard fought group.
but but but all 26 players on England are “generational” lol I love how they toss around that word so easily
Still loving the fact that Germany beat Brazil 7-1 at home in 2014. That was the the ultimate upset of all time!
I loved that as well. Not sure if it was really an upset though. Germany were slight favorites before the match especially after Neymar was out injured and Silva was suspended. Most people expected Germany to win. However, I think the score line itself was the shocking part. Nobody expected 7-1.
Germany has never beaten Italy in a game that matters within the 90 minutes but man oh man have they played some great games against each other 1970, WC, 1978 WC, 2006 WC just to name a few
to me that was more of a statement game they could of held back after it was 3 - nil but I think they needed to make a statement
I live here in Canada and the amount of non Italians I see that just love the Azzurri and Serie A would surprise a lot of people
Isn’t that a weird statistic? I remember hearing on the radio in 1978 how during the World Cup Italy tied Germany 0-0. That was my first recollection of their rivalry.
I always tell friends the best game ever Is Germany v Italy 1970 World Cup It had everything . I have the game on dvd. To me Albertossi the Goalie for Italy was amazing and Gigi Riva scored maybe the best goal at that World Cup , and Finally Roberto Boninsegnia was a beast in that match