Why on earth is Parolo and in particular Immobile playing for the Azzurri? The latter is absolutely horrendous and blew 2 chances in the first 2.5 minutes vs England then proceeded to miss another one on the 10 minute mark. He has scored what, 7 goals in 33 appearances or something close to it. He played during the qualifiers vs average teams and couldn't replicate his serie a form. Friendly or not, another bum manager selected another unproven player { international team } Buffon, Chiellini, they better stay retired also because I don't want to see these guys play another game for Italy. They're finished at International level and are holding back players. Bonucci I don't care much for either, although he will still be there. Belotti hasn't done a ********en thing also.'
I wonder what happened to Belotti, one hit wonder? Scared of getting injured again? He just hasn't been the same after injury.
6 years later, no World Cup, and guys some of you put your faith in still can't score more goals than him combine hahahaha silenzio!!!!! Italy striker statistics 🔢🇮🇹Ciro Immobile: 32 app, 7 goalsAndrea Belotti: 15 app, 4 goals= 47 app, 11 goalsMario Balotelli: 33 app, 13 goals🤫 pic.twitter.com/wg9JAoN2Cl— Matt Santangelo (@Matt_Santangelo) March 27, 2018
What do you think of Marchisio? Should he come back? He really did not take any part in 2018 World Cup qualifying due to injury. I really want him back so badly.
Candreva, and Parolo must go definitely. Don't want to see them in the squad again. Immobile I am not so sure. He should maybe at least be here but not start. I want to see this: -Insigne-Belotti/Cutrone- -Bernardeschi- -Pellegrini-Marchisio-Verratti- -Zappacosta-Chiellini-Bonucci-Florenzi- -Buffon-
Chiellini and Buffon must go. They're washed up for the Azzurri and Buffon in particular is too old and is ruining Donnaruma's growth and experience. It's time to move on. Chiellini isn't that '' old '' but old nonetheless. He also didn't impress me since Euro 2016 and it's time to retire. Marchisio hasn't played for us in ages. He's 32 and too old also. We can't have over the hill washed up old players in our team unless they really deserve to be there.
Just curious, how does a player that has this kind of skill not make your list of what you want to see?
Some people only have the image of him from 2012 and they're still hanging on to what they've heard or saw. I'm Pretty sure you won't hear the last of balotelli doing something stupid but one thing we can go on is actual facts. His card numbers are down, he hasn't done anything stupid off the field or even on the feild in god knows how long. Personally I think he grew up when he had his kids, He also knows this would be his last chance if he does something stupid. I don't think some people really understand how long it's been since we scored a goal during a game. They last goal we scored was a penalty. Does anybody actully know the last time we scored a goal during play without actually looking ? I don't. I don't care what immobile does at Lazio! One think I know for a fact is he is not the same player for the Azzurri so why would I put my faith in him when his goal scoring rate for the national team Is so poor. How are you 1 of the main strikers on this team with 7 goals in 6 years smh im pretty sure you can get that from borini if he was getting those game's. The fact that we still have people thats comfortable with immoble as the starting forward, then that tells you all you need to know about why we're sitting at home. Immobile has 7 goals for italy, and only 1 of those goals came against teams that wasn't fielding Serie B, semi pro, and MLS level players smh teams like lichtenstein and Macedonia. The man has 1 relevant goal to his name in a italy jersey and that's against the Netherlands. The rest of them are teams that feild part time fishermen and a construction workers. The guy has don't nothing for italy in 6 years!
The decision is becoming more and more clear to some people around Italian football back home. You can not win games if the forwards you've been using for 6 years is not putting the ball in the the back of the net! Mario Balotelli deserves Italy call-up if Roberto Mancini appointed - Ex Players Mario Balotelli should be recalled to the Italy squad if Roberto Mancini is appointed as coach, according to five former Italy players interviewed by La Gazzetta dello Sport. Mancini is expected to be named as the successor to Gian Piero Ventura, and his experience of working with Balotelli at Manchester City and Inter Milan could lead to the Nice forward returning to the national team for the first time since the 2014 World Cup. That would be a boost both for Balotelli and Italy, as the striker has scored 31 goals in 49 Ligue 1 appearances over two seasons. "He deserves it for what he is doing on the field," said Marco Materazzi, part of the 2006 World Cup-winning team. "That's without forgetting that off the field he's not been as controversial as has been made out, while Mancini has the advantage of knowing how to deal with him and how to make him feel wanted." According to Pierluigi Casiraghi, a return for Balotelli is long overdue, and he would have preferred to have seen him included in the World Cup playoff late last year. "He knows how to find the spot, which is something we lacked against Sweden," he said. "Not only has he scored regularly for Nice, but he's also found a certain consistency this year." According to former Italy goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca, there is "no other Italian forward with Mario's technical and physical qualities," and that as a former goalkeeper, "Balotelli seems to be a very difficult opponent to face." Marco Tardelli, the former assistant to Giovanni Trapattoni, has "a lot of faith in Balotelli, also because I believe that now he's 28, he will have worked out for himself that his is really his last chance." He added: "He can give added value -- he is an extra option for the attack for the coach, and not a bad one. We don't have a forward like him." And Demetrio Albertini believes Balotelli "is a player capable of doing extraordinary things when he is in the right frame of mind," believing Mancini could be the man to get him in that condition, although he remembers that they "also had some bad arguments" at Inter. "But I don't think it's so much about the coach but rather about Mario's attitude and how much he wants to play with a certain amount of continuity," Albertini said. "Nobody has ever questioned his technical quality." Italy, who did not qualify for the World Cup this summer, crashed out in the group stage in 2014 in Balotelli's most recent national team appearance.
Um... 2014 isn't 6 years ago. @mikeyjames Besides having the reading comprehension of a moron you also can't do simple math.
He's about to turn 28, no need to have him on the NT he'll be 30 come next tournament time and 32 next world cup (if we make it). We need to get away from this mentality of bringing old players into the squad.
Why get hung up on age?!? How about fielding the best players period. And if Balotelli proves/earns a position, why would you block him simply due to age. Do you think Portugal is going to leave Ronaldo at home (he's 33!!)? Cavani and Suárez are 31, should they be left off the squad. Iniesta at 34 should sit this WC out right? France will leave Giroud and Matuidi behind. Mario Gómez, Ashley Young, Jamie Vardy, and Radamel Falcao all don't need to back a bag....... If he gets brought back into the fold, and is scoring goals why does his age matter. Player selection should come down to form, not an arbitrary number (32) that says you can no longer play top flight ball......
All of those players you mentioned are extremely talented and have a proven track record of consistency and fitness, they take their jobs very seriously. Balotelli? He's above average but rarely puts out and given his attitude towards training he'll be burned out physically by 30. Not many players go un-phased by the dreaded 30, to some it's just a number but to most they seem to just lose all consistency...Coincidence? Probably not, mentality? Oh yea...
So random pictures on the training ground/ pre game/ during stoppage prove your point? I'm not going to take the time to show you pictures of just about every single player in the Top Flight leagues, doing the exact same thing. Also you may have missed the above quotes from players that have played Professionally. Mancini: Sounds like someone that knows talent thinks Balotelli's skill set has a higher roof than "above avg". And his "rarely puts out" still compares favorably to his current competition for the NT. If you don't like him personally, that's one thing. But to deny his talent, and potential impact just shows a strong bias. just look at his most recent brace. A spectacular shot from distance. A finely slotted PK, that he had to retake, and did so to the same side, with success. I want a player like that back on the NT......
I don't even need to post pictures really, just watch the guy play, he's lazy. Unfortunately he's another talented player that makes dumb decisions and refuses to put out 100%, reminds me of Cassano. Don't get me wrong, i love Balo and when he's on he's unstoppable, with that said you never know which Balo you're going to get in a game.
Cassano lit it up for the Azzurri in Euro 2012. he was 30 then. Balo is 27 to be 28 this year and has matured. let him back on the team. it's not like we are winning cups without him. the last time we made a final he was on the team and he was 22. the last time Cassano was 22 we got knocked out in the group stages in Euro 04. let Balo back, he's a great talent. if he's lazy again cut him but for now we don't have any better options tbh
Now Mancini is Italy manager, fully expect a "Balotelli... Cutroneeeeeeeeeee.. I swear you'll never see anything like this ever again" in the final seconds of the Euros final 2020. https://t.co/tUWZlc4uRy— Izzo (@izzdashizzz) May 14, 2018 I can see it now
ill defend him on the 2nd pic: we all saw him take his shirt off after his 2nd goal vs Germany in that Euro semi finals win.... i would agree with him.. he doesn't need to do pushups
Great post I completely agree. Balotelli deserves a spot for sure for all his hard work and consistency. If he or Insigne started vs Sweden in Italy, we would have scored at least one goal. Ventura cost us a place at the world cup. Not the squad, as bad as the one's who took part in were.
Those Italy pics you posted were him at training during euro 2012, where he topped scored and put us into the final. Are you stupid? Great way trying to make him look bad.
You don't need me to make him look bad, he's done a good job at it himself. I don't need to even post pictures, just watch him play, unless the ball is at his feet he wants nothing to do with the game. Balo chasing the ball? haha someday we'll see it.