Tonali with another incredible performance for Newcastle hit the post and completely dominated the midfield. It is hard to say who is better as a B2B Mezzalla in the world and he's basically playing as a regista for them so he kind of does both roles. He is maybe too good for Newcastle I don't see him staying there past this season. City Real Liverpool Juve Bayern Barca would all want him.
Savona and Calafiori both featured in Arsenal vs Nottingham Forest. Calafiori started and played 68 Minutes. Savona was a First Half substitution On. Suggesting injury to the player Savona came on for.
Calafiori is class .... Inter Juve was insane no Italians really stood out though Di Marcos quality in his left foot again proved worldly it's really too bad about the rest of his game. Locatelli was pretty good on the ball him and Thuram have formed a strong partnership. Gatti is an option if you want to play him as RCB/RB that stays home to form a back 3 but I think Scalvini Leoni Comuzzo Del Prato and even Savona will pass him shortly.
Im not sure I didn't see the whole game maybe he misplaced some passes but Arsenal were water tight as usual. Overall his ratings for Arsenal and Italy this year have been very high he was their player of the month.
Not sure why Fiorentina thought Pioli would be a good replacement for Palladino, team is in shambles already. Meanwhile the Napoli italians are having a pretty good game, that assist from Spina was great, I honestly wouldn't mind him back on the NT.
Yes I would bring Spina back he is not too old for a world cup. There is something in this Napoli back 4 with Spina Buongiorno Buekman Di Lorenzo. Also agree Palladino was doing so well I think it was personal because they threatened to fire him in Jan and then he kept winning and then they fired him anyway. He created patterns of play that brought goals. Pioli was a one season wonder with Milan he is neither solid at the back or very creative going forward. Very flat play. Let's see how they go.
Buongiorno is the hard man at the back we've been looking for whether he plays in the centre of a back 3 or in place of Bastoni at LCB in a back 4 he is a must when healthy. Along with Tonali Donnarumma Barella Calafiori Kean he should be a guaranteed starter for me.
Pioli is another Spalletti he is even playing his 352 with possession play against a counter attacking Napoli. 3 small CBs at the back on their own trying to cover 5. Dodo and Gosens don't offer much in ways of defending. Bright spot is that Fazzini and Cavaglia have out played Sohn and Fagioli there is no reason for Fazzini not to be starting he completely changed the midfield. Fagioli just passes the ball backwards he lost his confidence and thinks he's a regista now.
I'm all for Italians seeking playing time, but Coppola's transfer to Brighton does need to be the cautionary tale. Think twice before you head to a mid to low tier premier league side. Don't let the mid-table premier league teams fool you into thinking they are better and will play you. Coppola was much better continuing to be a feature back in Serie A. Sad. Raspa unable to get minutes at atleti is madness.
the thing is these players are letting their agents dictate their careers not that they also don't want the best salary possible but if the top Serie A clubs want to pay you a comparable salary then you will be a centrepiece for them so they can't really take a chance on a Coppola or a Leoni they go for Bremer or an Akanji etc. Raspadori gong to Napoli was chasing a salary bump and going to Athletico is to stay at that rate. Same with Chiesa going from Juventus to Liverpool he can make the same he made at Juventus actually a small bump to be a rotation player. If he wanted to go to a club that was his level like a Roma he would take a small paycut not a huge one but these players and agents only want to see the line go up. It started with Balotelli and then Verratti and then Donnarumma and now it is becoming the norm. If you are Barella or Bastoni or Locatelli you are safe but to go from a mid table Serie A club it is much easier to get a salary bump going to a mid table Premier League club and if you perform well then you become too expensive for Inter Milan Juve and if you flop you either chase a salary somewhere else or go to Atalanta or Fiorentina something like that. hopefully Como can suck up some of these players with big salaries when they are able to raise their revenues. Coppola is a bad example because he's actually on a modest salary of 1.3m at Brighton the fact that Milan is paying Gabbia 3.3m and had no interest in Coppola when they are playing a back 3 is just madness. His transfer fee was something like 13m. That should have been a no brainer.
1966877624178737485 is not a valid tweet id It would be amazing if he came to a top team but he is so loyal, I doubt it'll happen.
People here don't want to hear this, but I truly believe a lot of Italians are also leaving Serie A bc they recognize our league is nowhere near as competitive as it used to be. Inter has made 2 CL finals, Milan made a CL semi and that's it, Napoli has done squat, Atalanta had a special Europa run but then got embarrassed in CL just like Milan and Juve did, Roma made some noise in Europa and Fiorentina some in Conference League, that's it. Our teams can not match up with the heavyweights of La Liga and Premier league. Serie A is similar to Ligue 1 but at least PSG won it all. I could care less about Napoli, but I want them to make it far in CL bc other countries look at our teams like we are pushovers, which besides Inter has been proven.
Going to talk about our players now: *Kean and Retegui proved they work well together and our the starters. *Tonali too, he is our best midfielder. *Locatelli was awful, he is too erratic. Ricci needs to be picked, he is the most composed and a great distributor. If Gattuso doesn't pick him, then Rovella must start, they are similar players. Gattuso needs to wake up and pick the best players. *Barella at times looks exhausted for us, we can always give more time to Frattesi especially when we play 2 games back to back. *Dimarco CAN NOT play in a back 4 and Bastoni has looked awful there too. We need to seriously start thinking about moving back to a back 3 Mr. Gattuso. *Orsolini seriously disappointed me even though he wasn't given much playing time. Then you have Zaccangi on Politano on the wings. Enough of these guys, I MUCH RATHER play Cambiaso/Bellanova and Calafiori/Dimarco on the wings. We do not have elite wingers, so let's play to our strengths. *No matter what the defense is, Calafiori should be our LB/LWB starter. He literally was Arsenal's player of the month over there. Sure we always play him as a CB, but he is way too aggressive to be playing there and looks elite as a LB, which for whatever reason we was never tried. Stop mix and matching Bastoni and Calaifori in the CB roles, play them where they play at their clubs for the love of God please! *If we go to a back 3, then Bastoni can play in his world class LCB position, we can have the general Buongiorno in the middle, and Mr. Gattuso IT IS TIME to bench Di Lorenzo. We literally have Scalvini , Leoni, Coppola who are better defenders then him there. And don't you think for a second putting Di Lorenzo as a RWB. That was Cambiaso's position for us before and he should've never been benched. Shame on you, bench Spalletti's son or else he will be your son too, we have better players!
If Gattuso continues starting guys like Dimarco, Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Locatelli, Zaccagni, Politano when we literally have better players sitting on the bench or even at home, then he is literally picking favorites like Spalletti did and we are screwed. These players remind me of who started our Euro elimination game vs Switzerland. SES, Fagioli, Cristante, Mancini, Di Lorenzo, and Darmian. What a joke.
I think if you are a talented player in Serie A Italian or not on a smaller team you are still interested in Juventus Inter Milan Napoli and to a lesser extent Roma etc. The problem is there are only so many spots at the big 4 clubs and you are not going to get as big a salary to play off the bench as you would in England. Serie A is still by every metric the second toughest and best league in Europe. We pay the best salaries on average after the Premier League and offer the best projects in attractive cities. Juve Inter Milan and Napoli have not been able to become powerhouses in Europe the way a PSG Bayern or Real Barca have but in part that is because our league is more competitive Juventus tried to be a Bayern and eat the league but it did not work. Barca fell from grace but their league is not strong enough for them to fall out of the top 4 and really plunge the way Milan Inter have at times. It's a catch 22 Serie A is just strong enough to be super competitive but we lack a true European giant. Our co-efficeints show that we are competitive in europe. Even look at our records again Premier League clubs in recent years. We've seen Roma smash teams like Brighton. Yes of course the best of the best are now open to looking to go abroad but I think this is more because the Champions League has become the European Super League and if you can't play for Juventus you want to play for Arsenal or Athletico Madrid. In many respects the mid-week CL is becoming the real league slowly but surely. I also think that because our top clubs don't have the financial power to have a strong second team for Europe that we struggle to reach finals. It's not surprising that we do well but can't get over the final hurdle. When you look at the starting 11s of most Premier League clubs outside Liverpool they are not that impressive but what they do have are another batch of quality players on their bench and in the stands. If we want to say Juve Inter Milan Napoli are below PSG Real Madrid Barca Bayern in continental Europe that is true despite Inters recent success but then you could also say Spurs United Chelsea Newcastle even City at the moment are below PSG Real Barca Bayern at the moment but still like the EPL Serie A is stronger than those leagues. I think the Super League was needed but I am optimistic that Juve Napoli Milan Inter will continue to grow their projects. Only the premier league has a top 9 comparable to Juventus Napoli Milan Inter Roma Lazio Atalanta Bologna Como both in terms of on paper talent spending and positive projects. It's a funny thing. in 2023/24 Serie A was ranked first in co-efficent while Ligue 1 went from 7th the previous year to 4th.
I don’t think Gatusso will use 3 in defence. He prefers 4-2-3-1 against weaker teams and 4-3-3 against better opponents. The problem is where to fit mainly Bastoni and Di Marco in these systems. Calafiori and Cambiaso can adopt in any system in my eyes.
Bastoni Di Marco only work if we play 3 centre backs we can play a CB at RB and make a back 3 when attacking with a lopsided 442 but I don't think we can have Di Lorenzo at RB Di Marco at LB and Bastoni at LCB at all it leaves the RCB alone more or less. Calafiori Buongiorno is the obvious solution for a back 4 with Bastoni Di Marco on the bench for a formation change.
If Italy are to play 4 in the back the 2 called up for LB really should be Calafiori and Spinazolla. Just would worry that both are injury prone. Cambiaso would then be a must. But as written by TC, Dimarco would be useful if you have to switch tactics in-game or in tournament.
DiMarco just doesn't have the completeness to this game of a player that the formation should be tailored around. Especially when we are in a dogfight against quality opponents. He's in my mind a player that can be used against minnows, or a player that can be used in a pinch when chasing the game and needing a goal. That left foot is still out of this world. But he is not a certified, lock starter, and most definitely can't be playing in a 4.