Italy: G Donnarumma; D'Ambrosio, Bonucci, Acerbi, Spinazzola; Barella, Jorginho, Verratti; Chiesa, Immobile, Insigne Italy bench: Sirigu, Meret, Biraghi, Cristante, Izzo, Belotti, Grifo, Romagnoli, Zaniolo, Bernardeschi, El Shaarawy, Mancini Greece: Paschalakis; Bakakis, Chatzidiakos, Siovas, Stafylidis; Zeca, Kourbelis, Bouchalakis; Bakasetas; Limnios, Koulouris Discuss
Greece is parking l'autobus so we have a lot of lateral passes, mostly among the defenders. Jorginho & Verratti usually pass it back to the defense. Bonucci will launch a long one every so often. Wing play is minimum.
Looks like he injured his hamstring. Chiesa is like a wild cat. Put him out in the open, he runs & makes things happen. Place him in a zoo, nothing. Parking the bus is like having a zoo.
Chiesa has played well this year for Fiorentina in a 3-5-2. He connects well with Ribery playing closer to the goal. His biggest weakness is his finishing In this Italy formation he’s just lost.
Problem was that there was no space as the Greeks packed it in. No creativity from central midfield leaves us with a boring side.
But Verratti told his club coach that he can pass the ball forward. Maybe Sal can post a meaningless graph with dots on it.
Greece almost score on a counter If we lose this game we can never wear green ever again. Puma can go to hell
Gli Azzurri has an 8 game winning streak (started with 1:0 friendly win over USA prior to qualifiers). The record is 9 that occurred between 1938 & 1939. A victory over Lichtenstein will tie that record.
The persistence with Immobile is bewildering, especially when Belotti - while no world-beater - is a serviceable striker who could trouble even the best defences provided he gets quality service.