Beh. Good for Retegui but that was some comical defending by that Venezia player. Maybe 20 teams in the league is too many.
Posticipo -- regarding the ongoing subject of Barella/ Frattesi. Frattesi took his place on the bench to start but Chalanoglou has picked up an injury early on and so Frattesi has entered. Given Italy play the same formation as Inter, for those that want Frattesi to start, it would be Samuele Ricci sitting (which is one of @Vieri#9's bullet points). EDIT: If memory serves Frattesi and Barella have started for Italy at the same time. I want to say the Qualifer against Ukraine in Milano.
Seems to me Barella is more central conpared to Frattesi. Appears Frattesi is the mezzala now. But in this segment it really is something to see how defensive Barella plays at times. 20th Minute he was the closest teammate to Sommer while Darmian and Dimarco were pushed up.
Cristante and Pellegrini staring ahead of Pissili and Baldanzi is a shame to see. I know they are experienced but they are both inferior.
Berardi is criminally underrated by those in World Football and even this thread and some of it is his fault. He has that provincial mentality and really should have pushed for a move like 4 years ago when he was entering his prime. That and the inexplicable miss against North Macedonia kind of haunt him unfortunately. I've always been a fan and he's easily one of the 10 best offensive players in Serie A the last decade
I watched Retegui vs Venezia and I have to say he's really really grown over the last year. Whatever Gasperini is teaching him, he is absorbing it. He seems like a very smart player. He's always been tenacious in his hold up play, but now his positioning and anticipation is pretty elite. He'll never have supreme feet, but they are certainly good enough to do damage. He's also the ultimate team player. It's going to be tough for someone to beat him out over the next yr or so.
Speaking of Zaniolo, Gasp put him on for the last 20 minutes. He played him at prima punta. It was pretty funny. I saw one really nice turn and dribble. The rest was low energy pathetic display of calcio.
Zaniolio is a lost cause at this point he'll never have it. TBH he was always overrated but just so physically explosive until the ACL injuries...he was never going to beat you with his brains. Now that his explosiveness is simply average what you are left with is a low IQ average guy
Obviously I'm not calling for his return to the NT, but following the progress of players outside Italy, Ciro Immobile is leading scorer in Turkey. Don't need Zaniolo in this formation.
once he's fully healthy I would say yes even in Serie B. I also think he's for sure gone in January as some Serie A contender will swipe him on loan
I think he is expected to make a transfer in January. Probably won't cost much. He's 30 so he will be 32 come 2026. I think along with our formation not needing wingers he'd have to play exceptionally well to get in.
If you don't think Camarda is ready, please go watch his CL debut. 4/4 accurate passes, dropping back, constant pressure, 2 duels won, never lost possession, one amazing header that was a hair offsides. It sucks it was not allowed but he is ready for Serie A action. And for the people saying why is he not doing anything in Serie C. I've watched the games, he hardly ever gets the ball bc his team sucks and are defending and losing possession the entire game.
Great to see Camarda with the debut in CL! He would have been the YOUNGEST scorer in Champions League history. Oh my. Shame that was a hair offsides. If Milan Futuro sucks and he is getting no service, then I hope he gets more minutes with the Senior side at this point. There is no point playing on potato fields and risking injury if he's not getting any service.