I guess ranking Italian strikers this season: 1.Scammaca 16gp 6g 2.Reteugui 18gp 5g 3.Pinamonti 24gp 8g 4.Immobile 20gp 6g 5.Belotti 18gp 4g 6.Lucca 25gp 6g 7.Coloumbo 21gp 4g Not very good, but not horrible id say. Scammaca and Retegui healthy this season would be getting 15 goals at least. Those are the two id take but they are not realible to stay healthy. Kean is a total failure, what a disappointment, so much potential.
Supposedly Retegui spent the night in hospital after a clash of heads. Pinamonti's numbers are skewed because Sassuolo have pretty much sold half their team and Berardi's injury. He gets absolutely no service. I want to see Pinamonti with Italy's Midfield. Not saying Italy are all that but he'd do better with Italy than Sassuolo. We are hard on them but getting away from the 4-2-2 has messed with CF goal totals unless your name is Erling Haaland.
- Gallo's been living off that 1 amazing season at Torino for years now. There is absolutely no way he should be in the convo. I'd rather take that waste of skin Cambiaghi of Empoli and that's saying something. - Lucca. Not sold on him. Cannot invent anything on his own. - Raspadori (and Giovanni Simeone for that matter) had their golden opportunity to shine with Osimhen away at AFCON and both shit the bed. - Scamacca. I blame Ronaldo the predicament that Scamacca and Dusan Vlahovic of Juve are in. Hitting the gym and working every muscle in your body is great but in the end this is still football and not bodybuilding. - Colombo. He has flair for a player on a big frame. There was a play he pulled off last year by the sideline to lose his marker, run upfield and almost scored. Belotti, Lucca would never be able to pull it off. Neither would Immobile. If they take 3, it will be in the 4 of: Scamacca, Raspadori, Retegui, Pinamonti. Pinamonti may end up having the best numbers despite playing for the worst team but his lack of recent NT experience will surely factor in. They will move on from Immobile unless somehow, some bloody way, Lazio not only go on to eliminate Bayern Munich but win the entire UCL and Immobile scores the winning goal against Madrid in the SemiFinal and then against ManCity in the Final. Gallo Belotti is just done.
Yeah. Dissapointing he hasn't had a big year, this year. Maybe he's a year or two away. Maybe he's just not that kind of player, period. We'll see. I'm less hopeful, but maybe I'm being negative because everything going on at Napoli is disappointing, this year.
Good points. If healthy, this team has more talent than that 2016 Euro squad, partly because of injuries at the time. Chiesa is better than any forward they had, and Conte had the 2016 team looking dangerous, somehow, with Pelle, Eder, and Giaccherini. Spalletti should be able to get some good results with this team. He probably needs to tweak the schemes, though, because he doesn't have all-world forwards (Osimhen, Kvaratshkelia) to bury 1/2 chances.
Yup, and in Euro 2026: Parolo was hardworking but not that talented. The only real world class midfielder we had was De Rossi and he was also past his prime. Buffon, the BBC defense, and De Rossi were our only world class players at that time. Maybe Florenzi but not sure if he was quite world class or not. Now we have: Bastoni, Acerbi, Darmian, Barella, DiMarco, Chiesa all world class. Frattesi is almost there as well. Also while I know that Scamacca, Raspadori, and Retegui have faced criticism recently, I think they’re better than Eder and Pelle. So is Berardi.
This team is definitely better than 2016. Simone Zaza and his ridiculous PK. Stupid bald ********. Just seriously GTFO. Graziano Pelle did very well (Belgium opener and Spain R16 especially) and Conte had Emmanuele Giaccherini playing like prime Xavi/Pirlo/Iniesta/Modric all rolled into one, with the fighting spirit of Edgar Davids. Conte stressing that the team needed to play Italian football which was sweat and hardwork (comments he made after the tournament). Can't recall offhand if these were Italy's best players at the time or he wanted players to fit his style. Conte's teams are high on tactics (see the recent comments by Eden Hazard) and the 2016 Italy team showed this. I am hoping that Manuel Locatelli is suffering from a temporary illness of Allegri-itis and that he snaps out of it in Training ahead of the flight over.
Superb performance today by Nicolò Barella vs Atleti. Numerous outlets have him as the highest rated player in the match. Numerous others have Bastoni as the second highest rated. Wingbacks Darmian and Dimarco not rated as high but Dimarco unlucky not to have an Assist by a wasteful Marko Arnautovic. Thought Frattesi did well when he came on.
Barella and Bastoni were definitely the best on the pitch. He is not Italian, but I also felt Dumfries played exceptionally well.
Dumfries definitely played very well. Indeed better than Darmian, who he replaced. Atleti really should have lost 3-0 but the only mild chance they got aside from the Yann Sommer mistake, I thought was when Lino got past Darmian. Probably need to see it again but I thought Darmian lacked urgency. Meanwhile later in the match when Dumfries came on there was that play where he flat out bullied Lino, lol. When going forward Bastoni almost has the characteristics of a wingback where he whips crosses in. I do wonder if Carlos Augusto is starting to cramp Dimarco's style, we're just used to high level performances by Dimarco or it was just an average match by him?
Basically this team is similar to our Euro winning squad, both times our only weak link is our CF, unfortunetely.
I feel very confident Di Lorenzo will start over Darmian. He offers a lot more in attack. Frattesi wont start neither. We need Barella on the right side, hate that he moves to the left every time Frattesi comes in. Left MF will be either Jack, Pellegrini, or Locatelli (if Jorginho starts as DMF). I hope Berardi recovers, he is easily my favorite for the RW. Chiesa is our superstar and will dominate left side with Dimarco. CF is a crab shoot like usual.
Thinking about it better, maybe too hard on the 2016 team. I'd say 2016's team was definitely better in Defence than what is currently. The Juve BBC + Buffon had been playing together for a while and are a lot more settled than what is currently going on. The 2 Fullbacks are settled but at CB, who will be starting? Seems like Spalletti wants one of them to be Acerbi but in recent matches we've seen different players draw in (ie; Scalvini vs England, then had Buongiorno vs Ukraine). I know they have no experience together so it's risky but if he wants 4 in the back, then from L-R: Dimarco, Bastoni, Calafiori, Di Lorenzo.
Since last comment on him, Lausanne have have played 2 matches and Simone Pafundi has been in the Starting 11. 1 Draw & 1 Win. IMO, this move has been the correct one.
Pellegrini has 4 goals and 3 assists in the last 7 matches. He's coming on strong since the manager change.
Obviously I still contend there are too many foreign players in the league especially on the bottom feeders. Nonetheless continued good Results by the clubs even if Milan don't factor in the NT discussion. All 7 still alive. Indeed both Lazio and Inter didn't allow a Shot on Goal by FCB and Atleti. - FCB are a mess these days. Lazio would be wise to put them out of their misery at the Allianz in Leg 2. Not sure Italy need him but Danilo Cataldi is playing well. Can offer some depth if it came to it. - Inter really should have done better with finishing but they should eliminate Atleti. - Napoli are gonna need to adapt quick with the new gaffer because they looked bad against a subpar Barca team. Of all teams, they will probably be eliminated but Napoli have time to get it right. - As mentioned, Pellegrini on quite the heater. I thought he took his goal well today. Real solid performances from Bryan Cristante and Gianluca Mancini. Mancini seems to have bottled some of his shithousery. Interesting how DDR and Mou had such different outlook on players. Mou loyal to Rui Patricio (they are both Jorge Mendes clients, just saying), even when Patricio was shakey to say the least. Svilar is DDR's pick and he has been a rock in Goal. Mou had no time for Pellegrini and trusted Bovè, whereas DDR choses the opposite. - Fiorentina progress in the Conference League.
Honestly I felt Napoli played a lot better in the second half. The first half there were many problems, but I thought they got a better rythemn later in the second half. Keep in mind as well, they just sacked their coach and got a new one like 48 hrs before the game. Honestly a draw might not be a bad result considering their situation, but they will HAVE to get it right in the second leg in Spain which will definitely be harder. I am honestly a bit more confident in Napoli than Lazio, but part of that is because I still feel that Bayern are considerably superior to Barcelona despite both teams not being in good shape at all.
All that is true but seems like Xavi still has his Dressing Room whereas Tomas Tuechel seems to have lost his. Considering Napoli hadn't had Osimhen since the Roma game in which he got a Red Card, ADL trying to teach Zielinksi a lesson by keeping him off the UCL Roster, new Manager, outplayed, to walk away with a Draw is a great Result. So if they play just a little better, could be enough. Whereas Lazio had FCB down to 10 Men early. I see your point.
Yes, and OMG: I gotta be honest, leaving Zelinski out of the UCL squad is just disrespectful. Seriously players are people; you can’t force them to stay or go anywhere. What they did to him is just ridiculous. You’re allowed to go and leave anywhere as long as the contracts and players are sold, bought, and done legally. I was furious when I first read about this news.
Zelinski isn't Mbappe. When the season is pretty much a lost cause already you have to focus on the players who are going to be there next year, not the ones who have already picked out their sheets in Milan.
The UCL isn't a lost cause. Could win a Round, max 2. More money for the club. In fact, Napoli just harmed themselves. Having him on the UCL Roster would have lightened squad rotation. Such an egotistical move. If Napoli really wanted to offset his departure they should have sold him for a pittance in January to at least recoup some money.