He went off for medical treatment. Appeared to be oblique or somewhere in the midriff. That 2nd Set was ass. Holy crap. Carlos is going to destroy the winner of this one if Sinner is hurt or FAA gets to the Final. You were more optimistic about Joker than I was.
@Vieri#9 The crowd is starting to back FAA because they sense the tide shifting and he's the underdog. They need to muzzle that bitch with short hair whooping it up.
Ya I just turned it on, Sinner hitting some out of the world shots but ya he maybe carrying an injury which sucks. With Djokovic, like I was saying, there is no one better in the world except for Sinner and Carlos. To make all 4 grand slam semis is crazy, and then you have these broadcasters ignorantly saying maybe he needs to retire. Like WTF.
one thing is clear has been for several years now...Raspa was made for the Nazionale. You cannot have the group without Raspa...he will do anything for the jersey
Very happy about the 5-0 result today, was very surprised seeing a Fifa 4-2-2-2 formation, ultra attacking which finally showed with that goal galore. 40 shots, lol. We can't use this against top teams though. It would've been nice to try a 3-5-2 with Gattuso. So I dunno what we are going to do here bc Gattuso has already hinted he used 2 CFs bc they are weak, which Israel are not. And even though we beat Israel both times in the Euro quals (one close game and the other a blowout), they are leagues better than Moldova and Estonia. I can't wait until Monday's game!
much respect to Donna Gigio, he could have decided to sleep and then Estonia scores and who knows, in the long run we need the GD point. Instead Gigio is awake and makes a tremendous double save that may not be mentioned again but could be a key moment months from now
It's funny to me that even Raspa was targeted lol. But I mean that's Gattuso, he tried to take Lippi's head off after Del Piero's goal against Germany
Yes I would think he will use a 433 normally but there is something to the 442 ala 2006 that is amazing to see with Gatusso. Feels like there's been a world cup curse in exchange for 2006 since then let's hope it was just a 20 year curse and Gatusso can get us over the line. The thing I was most impressed with was once the flood gates opened the team just saw blood and did not think about their tired legs. That is a great sign.
Gennaro Gattuso warns Italy ‘will get nowhere with quality alone,’ so they must rediscover the fighting spirit that they were ‘masters’ at over the years. this is the key right here. there was a weird notion starting with Prandelli that we needed to lose our identity to modernize and Spalletti was the worst of this school of thought. the idea that we used to have all this fantastic talent that we now do not is the most overblown notion. It was that we had a lot of players that were tactically versatile and could be put as the disposal of the manager. The great Milan and Juventus sides of the 80s 90s 2000s featured big name foreign talent and Italians doing the dirty work. Outside a few players this was always our strength.
🇮🇹 Raspadori is Italy’s top goalscorer over the last 4 years 🔥He’s scored 8 goals for the Azzurri— @Guidolino8 pic.twitter.com/GKMadA0xoQ— Italian Football TV (@IFTVofficial) September 5, 2025
Gattuso should hire his other 2006 WC winning Calabrese buddies , Simone Perrotta and Vincenzo Iaquinta to be his assistants and round out the set!
For sure ... I can't imagine Berardi stays away too long either ... just leave out Iaquinta's father !
Good for Calabria. I always thought that region (and Sicilia) should produce more great footballers than they do. Rino always looks like he's had four courses and a few bottles of wine, but he sure can kick some ass.
I will say that Euro 2020 was very much won by southern and provincial players. Insigne Immobile Donnarumma Barella Berardi Verratti
My cousin played for Locri until he was 38 and always said there was incredible talent throughout the region. He almost got sold to a Serie B side but then the team owners and presidents lied to him and forced him to sign a new contract and he never ended up moving. The problem traditionally was with corrupt politicians as well as team presidents who would rather keep their teams down so they could work crooked, behind the scenes deals and no one would know anything. He moved into management after he retired but finally decided to leave the club as he saw the team was purposely losing to avoid getting promoted to a higher division. These stories were notorious in Calabria and Sicily from the 1950’s up until the 2000’s. I’m sure it is still going on but no one ever talks about it. Catanzaro finished 5th two years ago and 6th last season in the Serie B this past season. They went to promotion play-offs, lost to Spezia, and they then lost out to Cremonese who was promoted to the Serie A. It is always the same story though in Calabria and that is they blow a lot of smoke but with no cigar.
Berardi? Converted his PK in the Final as a sub but he lost his spot to Chiesa during the tournament who could have won tournament MVP had it not been for Gigio.
US Open Quel suprise. Sinner vs Alcaraz in the Final. Colour me suprised. Have a feeling Alcaraz is going to win. Really don't see how Sinner is slight favorite. This is an important one as the Winner will be ranked #1. Either Jannik retains his #1 Ranking or Alcaraz overtakes him. Jannik Sinner becomes the 4th man in the Open Era to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a single season. Rod Laver - 1969. Roger Federer - 2006, 2007, 2009. Novak Djokovic - 2015, 2021, 2023. 𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐤 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 - 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓.He is the youngest EVER to do it. This… pic.twitter.com/Wkp3nz2mMl— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 6, 2025
I finally got around to watching the match, where did all this pace come from? Great win, I still have my doubts about Gattuso but I really hope it works out.
What gives me some hope is that Gattuso understands very well the Italian saying of "The ends justifies the means." This is the classic Italian way of playing. This is why no one ever wanted to play against us. We were always one of the most feared teams, regardless of our quality because opponents knew we were mentally unbreakable and would excell under high pressure. If playing dirty and ugly is needed to get through, we would do it. I hope he can bring the grinta back.
Yes Mancini was a bit of an anomoly because we had Jorginho and Verratti the only two midfielders at that time that could rival Spain so we were able to dominate the ball against the likes of england and belgium. As soon as Spalletti took over and he was asking Cristante and Locatelli and others to play that way it was a disaster. Gatusso feels like a return to Conte where our best attributes are being eventuated while not being a defensive manager. The test will come against top managers and opposition and whether or not he is tactically able to respond yet to be seen of course but it's the right idea.
Yes Catanzaro did well coming from Serie C to almost winning promotion twice in Serie B but they couldn't do it at the final hurdle. We will see they have a decent team still with Aquillani now in charge. Cosenza likewise were relegated to Serie C last year.
Don't get me wrong Im just highlighting that there was a provincial spirit to the 2020 team with the likes of Barella from Sardinia and Verratti from Abruzzo and a good number of players from Campania.
For me I think we still need to think about scoring goals I would like to see a 442 ala 2006 against israel with one midfielder being a wide man all Camronesi and the other being a ball winning box to box all Perrotta. ------------------------------------------------Retegui ----------------------------------------Kean ------------------Tonali--------------------------------------------Politano -----------------------------------Locatelli-----Barella------------ ----Cambiaso-----------Calafiori---------Bastoni-----Di Lorenzo ------------------------------------------Gigio I am also fine with Rovella instead of Locatelli and Orsolini instead of Politano. Raspadori could be tried instead of Kean but i like him off the bench in place of Kean 2nd half. Di Marco is the biggest question mark he is undoubtably a threat going forward as no one has his left foot but Israel have some wide quality and it's so hard to trust him in a back 4. With Politano working so hard on one side and Di Lorenzo tucking in maybe it is fine but he is not the horse that Spinazolla was where he could pinch up the field and run back in time to defend.