I do agree play and adapt to the rules. The Nations League was our backstop in case our EURO qualifying wet horribly wrong, which was entirely possible at one point. I actually think the bottom two teams being forced tom play in a relegation playoff does hurt us. Lord knows our National Team can't handle playoff games and knockout games right now. far from it.
Nations league should be the Euro Qualifiers. All the teams in the top tiers get automatically qualified. The bottom tiers need to duke it out to qualify for the remaining spots
No. He wanted out and I don’t want anyone on the team who doesn’t want to be there. He became toxic in the last season
I'm not as down on them as many here are but I understand the reasons for it. Seems like the 2 most disinterested players from the EC, are out. IMO, they were Darmian and Cristante. Next player out has to be Di Lorenzo. It appears that he will simplify things tactically. Only downside is that it doesn't leave opponents guessing. UNL is an absolute must. Need to finish top 2 to qualify for the expanded tournament finals. A top 4 there gives Italy a backdoor in case Qualification goes bad. Also, keep in mind a good UNL would give Italy a Pot 1 seeding. While Italy were horrible at the EC, was France any better? Placing-wise, yes, but they had difficulty scoring. Need Upemecano available for this one as he's always good for 1 mistake per game.
Raspadori Retegui tipped to start along with Tonali Ricci Fratessi. Only choice I don't love is Fratessi but he will look much better in a 352 than he did in the hybrid 4231 at the Euros. While the attack seems lacklustre we have to remember the wings are provided by the fullbacks which all can be very successful in a 352 shape going forward. Inter is the template here and really we don't lack anything that Inter have. If Inzaghi can build a giant as he did with Inter than Spalletti can do the same. Aside from Lautauro I would say the best Italy 23/28 players are better than the Inter squad on paper. I know the Euros were a disaster but I really believe it was down to tactics. We have a lot of talent. We just need time to rebuild with a 352. There are no good excuses left for Spalletti. Plenty of Nations lack a world class CF especially in Europe.
Nigeria have 3 excellent CF's and their WC Qualification is hanging by a thread. Also about Seeding for WCQ's, if my information is correct, as it stands now Italy are still in Pot 1. So to hope they show disinterest in this UNL just to get it over with so you can go back to watching the foreigners on Udinese duke it out with the foreigners on Bologna, Italy would surely fall to Pot 2 and like happened for 2018 will pluck out a team like Spain.
Yes and this is truly what has been our issue in recent years. We can't afford to be in a strong qualifying group psychologically it is very difficult now. I truly believe anyone that followed the team closely knows that 2022 was because 2020 was delayed to 2021 and the combination of Italy always doing poorly after winning and playing poor in September really clustered at once. From the outside people will just say oh Italy missed two world cups and hey fair enough but those of us that watched closely saw that after some good luck at euro 2021 they had some awful luck. Really going back to 2012 if you look at qualifying and group stages at tournaments Italy has had some really terrible draws. 2012 group of death 2014 group of death 2016 Croatia in qualifying then group if death 2018 Spain in qualifying 2020 easy group in qualifying normal group at tournament 2022 qualifiers really bad luck 2024 England in qualifiers group of death in tournament now of course a lot of this has been our own fault but it's also a vicious cycle that we can't seem to avoid for very long at all despite that record Mancini period it's been a difficult 12/14 years.
Donnarumma>Sommer Buongiorno>Acerbi Calafiori>Pavard Tonali>Mkhitaryan Cambiaso>Darmian Çalhanoğlu, Thuram, and Lautaro would easily start for us and those style of players would be massive improvement for our team. Thuram and Lautaro don't even start for their countries, yet none of our forwards come close to their quality.
Pavard better. Califiori had one good season and 3 good euro matches, well 2 against pretty subpar opponents.
Calhanoglu, Thuram, and Lautaro are in the most vital positions that Italy is lacking in. This my problem with the sentiment that Inter is doing this, so Italy can do this. Thuram and especially Lautaro are get-out-of-jail-free cards for Inter. They can do so much individually, and as a combination. Lautaro is an elite striker, and Thuram's skillset and ability to just shrug-off defenders as he charges 50 yards on a dead sprint is pretty remarkable. Plus, Calhanoglu is, among other things, excellent at PKs. How many PKs did Italy flub in the last round of WC qualifiers? Inter is a template, for sure, but the things they have up front and in the deep playmaking position are extremely vital to their success. It's not really replicable.
Maybe, but any good nation (and even some of the bad ones) have a guy who can score 15 goals every season. Italy is lacking forward production to an extreme degree. I can't agree with much that you're saying. I was optimistic going into Euros, but after that catastrophe, I'm saving my optimism for when the team turns a corner. Maybe it was the formation, maybe it was this, maybe it was that -- but they sucked. And, it's so early in the process of finding the forwards who may start in crucial matches. At this point, it's really anybody's for the taking.
Last moan of the day: Not one Italian in the final 30 for Ballon D'or. Emiliano Martinez, Rudiger, Grimaldo, Lookman, Carvajal, Saliba, Declan f*cking Rice, Vitinha, Hummels(???), Dovbik... I don't know. I don't think any Italian is the best player in the world, but no token nomination instead of one of those guys? Shouldn't England's midfield look a little better with two Ballon D'or nominees in it? Makes you think.
Jack is a very very poor man's Lautaro and Kean is prolly the closest to a poor man's Thuram. Retegui is a goal poacher and nothing more. I have no idea where the hell Zaccagni is going to play. My wish is Locatelli playing that deep lying playmaker role with Tonali and Barella alongside him. They are our best passers. Off the ball Locatelli is a pesk. It is not his natural position, but besides Jorginho and Verratti, no one is a regista. One area we have not talked about that is vitally important is corner kicks. Calhanoglu is elite at them, along with Guler for Turkey who I rate prolly the best in the world at. If you look the last few years, we have had some key goals from corner kicks and given our monster defenders, this is one area I feel we are lacking at. Who is our best corner kick taker? So many wasted at the Euros from Pellegrini and Dimarco. They should not take them and I fear they might be first choice. Jack finally took one at it was a beauty which Bastoni almost put it in. Tonali perhaps?
We won the Euros with Immobile and Spain won it with Morata, who both did jack squat in scoring but had immense work rate like a Retegui. However, our key playmaker's and theres were the 2 wingers. If we play a 3-4-2-1, we can get away with say a Retegui as long the 2 behind him are elite. Chiesa might regain that form, Zaccagni and Jack are not it. That spot is where I will be keeping a close eye on.
You could argue Pavard had one good world cup game and has been living off that hype from the goal he got
Dolla not nominated for golden ball?? Surely barella but serie a doesn't have the respect globally anymore. Nedved would of never of won it over teearrryyy onreeeee
Positives: Frattesi is playing behind Retegui. Tonali and Ricci starting, lets see how they perform. That's it. Negatives: Majority of Euro starting lineup unchanged. Di Lorenzo starting. Who would of thought?! Buongiorno and Bellanova still benched. They dont deserve it. Mbappe vs Di Lorenzo. Fight!