We're not going anywhere, no need for the "If's". Unless I'm living on a different planet, what is everyone seeing that gives us even the slightest glimmer of hope in qualifying? I'm willing to bet some serious money that we're staying home, are we just going to forget how we performed during qualifying against some bottom of the barrel narions? N. Ireland is going to come out guns blazing, hard relentless press that we'll struggle to cope with because we don't handle pressure. Some of y'all are seriously delusional with these hypothetical lineups, formations, knockout rounds talk about who we might face. Adding insult to injury we have a rocks for brains head coach that has never had any success.
After Salah comments, I wouldn't be surprised if they sack Slot this week. He is pissed that he is sitting on the bench, lol.
I am kind a with you on this, a lot of ppl here saying we are scoring a lot of goals. We literally have been playing piss poor teams, the only decent team we have played is Norway and we only scored 1 goal on them in 2 games and that goal was during a time Norway literally weren't even running for the ball bc why would they when they had a 10 goal advantage. Anyway, I do agree with people here we definitely have more issues in defense then in attack and I am hopefully we can turn things around in March, but right now there is a ton of work to be done and I wouldn't be surprised if we miss the World Cup again, our will/passion never seems to translate on the pitch.
Because these are the teams they are having Italy play. OK prior to Qualifiers the weak teams: - 4 Goals in 2 matches against Germany. - 4 goals in 2 matches against France. - 3 goals in 2 matches against Belgium.
We played good ball for the most part in the Nations League. That was already a long time ago. We played horrendous in the WC quals. Put the Norway games aside, why the f we were NEVER close to a GD with them when playing all these bottom feeder teams. It was a struggle after a struggle, all around.
It''s the defence, not attack. 21 Scored, 12 Conceded. Top 2 teams in other Groups with 5 Teams: The Netherlands: 27 GF, 4 GA. Poland: 14 GF, 7 GA. Austria: 22 GF, 4 GA Bosnia: 17 GF, 7 GA Belgium: 29 GF, 7 GA Wales: 21 GF, 11 GA. England: 22 GF, 0 GA Albania: 7 GF, 5 GA. Croatia: 26 GF, 4 GA. Czechia: 18 GF, 8 GA. I'm not going to dissect the value of the 4th and 5th Placed teams. Ie: Moldova to San Marino. So. 21 Goals scored puts Italy in relatively OK standing. Mid-pack, right? Can we agree here? But at 12 Goals Conceded they are the very worst Defensive team of the top 2 teams in Groups of 5 teams. Scoring 5 versus Israel is not outlandish. But conceding 4 against them is. Even more, the manner in which they did (Locatelli own goal, horrible play by Bastoni on another). If you can't see that their sore spot is Defending (and mentality, which is related) and not scoring I got nothing for you.
Northern Ireland aren't good... what are you talking about? just look at the last 12 months of results from them. Has anyone said we will easily beat N.Ireland or Wales or Bosnia? The only people saying this out in the world are people that don't support/watch Italy because Northern Ireland Wales Bosnia have not been very good the last 12 months so they assume looking at our results the last 12 months that we would be favourites which we are despite our concerns. Italian fans are very pessimistic despite the favourable playoff draw.
Reverse Uno Card, y'all. Let's see if they can have 2 days in February to sort things out. IMO, it will go a long way. Doubtful the other 3 in Path A are as desperate as Italy to be there that they will have a mini camp to discuss each other's feelings.
We scored 3 against France in Paris scored 3 against Germany scored 8 against Israel in two games. Relative to other teams we are scoring a decent amount in the last 12 months.. not a TON but we are not in the situation we were in with 2017/2022 where we were not scoring at all.
It's sort of funny when we look a little further... NO, I am not saying this team is 2006 level, or even in the same area code, but consider this. Believe it or not, we had both Moldova and Norway in our qualifying group for the 2006 WC. Check out these results: Norway: Home Leg: Italy won 2-1 (conceded a goal in the first minutes believe it or not) Away Leg: 0-0 Draw Moldova: Home Leg: Italy won 2-1 Away Leg: Italy won 1-0 Remember. This is the 2006 group who had attacking talent falling out of the sky on that roster. I know we all have rose colored glasses for that 2006 team, I know I do, I can't even express the emotions I felt as a kid watching that, but the point remains -- we as Italians love to suffer, make things more difficult, and have always had trouble scoring goals. It just is what it is. Italy will always find the path of most resistance so to speak. We have never been a team to beat a team into submission and embarrass them when we have them down. I am a bit confused at why so many people are concerned with our attack. I am bullish if anything with the rotation of Kean, Retegui and Pio. Again, nevermind Chiesa. We have been hurt and stung before - it is naive to overlook anybody, sure, but for those thinking it's a foregone conclusion we do not qualify, you should go get your bets in. Vegas doesn't seem to agree. Italy is a considerable favorite to get out qualifying group A and you will be making nice profit on any of the three other teams if you back them. People can feel however they want to feel about this playoff in the Spring. It ********ing sucks going through this again, I concur, but let's at least look at things a little bit rationally here with the task ahead and our chances realistically to get to the WC.
You guys are right we have been scoring a lot more than we have in the past years and yes our defense is what has been bad. I think what worried me though is when we played Moldova especially the last game where we almost went an entire game without scoring a goal. It was feeling like the North Macedonia all over again and that should not be happening.
Was a ********ing horrible watch, but... Look at the starting XI dressed for that game, man. That won't even be remotely close to what we see in the playoffs come Spring. Just need to be fair and honest.
All of this hand wringing and clutching over the playoffs is entirely due to the absolute disasters of missing the last two world cups but the devil is in the details. 2018 - ran through a group with the exception of Spain, despite an incompetent manager. Draw Sweden team that gets a goal early and parks the bus with big physical defenders. Lose 1-0 over two legs. 2022- off the high of winning the Euros, roll through a group with the exception of 2 missed PK's against Switzerland. Win either one of them and we are in. PLay Northen Ireland in the last qualitfying game (although I'm not sure even a win would have gotten us in) and dominate the game but can't put a goal through. In the playoffs, absolutely controlled North Macedonia and outshot them like 20-1 and had 65-70 percent of possession but get caught on a last gasp counter (that probably should have been saved by our world class goalkeeper) and lose. Losing that game was probably a 1 in 50 type event. The point is we cannot dwell on these prior, very unlikely results and extrapolate them to these playoffs. We SHOULD win these playoffs and also should expect to win these playoffs regardless of how unfair it is that we will likely be on the road in the second match despite being ranked int he FIFA top 12. We are talking about Northern Ireland and Wales / Bosnia. I don't care how few Italians play in Serie A, our B squad should be able to win these games.
This is exactly what I'm talking about. Of course N Ireland aren't good but neither are Israel, Moldova and Norway but yet here we are. Are we just going to ignore those performances? N. Ireland are better than all of those teams except Norway, they had key players out too. Going to be a rude awakening for a lot of you in March, at least I'm realistic and prepared for it already.
Yes we are bad but so are the other teams we are facing... do you see the logic? You are speaking about N.Ireland like they will come in as a conquering army.. everyone here has acknowledged that we are in crisis and there is a 50/50 chance of going home. But you have to look at it from a N.Ireland/Wales/Bosnia perspective they to have to win two knock out games and have Italy in their way and all three are not very good teams at the moment. The playoffs are diluted from where they were because of the expanded format. This is a very hard game for Northern Ireland there is no reason to be confident that they will show us all to be fools or whatever your point is. The idea that you can be confident that they will beat Italy is more delusional than saying Italy will win easily. We are all prepared for the worst I am sure after 2 failed world cups. One thing Italian fans are not in Italy or abroad in general is optimistic. Even when Italy is good we know we can and have lost to just about anyone. Ive never dismissed a single opponent even during our peak years. "but neither are Israel, Moldova and Norway" Norway is very good. There is no comparison with them in 2025 and Wales/N.I/Bosnia.
It is a psychological issue for sure. We have also been very unlucky in qualifying draws for going on 10 years now. In 2014 we had Denmark Czech Bulgaria ..in 2016 we had Croatia Norway Bulgaria...in 2017 we had Spain Israel Albania Macedonia ... in 2022 Switzerland ... even back in Euro 2008 we had France ... only Euro 2020 did we get an easy qualifying group. When we played Northern Ireland in 2022 qualifiers we beat them 2-0 in March 2021 and drew 0-0 November 2021 which does not bode well but we have to remember that the 2022 team post Euros simply could not score goals. Insigne was cooked ..Immobile was never going to score and Mancini just rode his guys out. We could have played Macedonia 3 times and we would not have scored.
I understand the thinking of it and I agree as well, partially. After the Norway match what did Gattuso say? That Norway took a Shot at Goal and the Italy players just collapsed and panicked. This is absolutely not normal. Would Northern Ireland/ Bosnia/ Wales players have collapsed in such a manner if they were playing Norway and Norway took a shot at goal? I'm not saying the current crop is brimming with legends but their mentality is weak. If they fix their headspace they will be fine. But absolutely still have to turn up.
It's not the same because they would park the bus which is what Spalletti should have done in the first game. Yes we are psychologically broken. We are giving away goals. For over a year now we can't defend corners or set pieces. We have gifted several goals in comical fashion. We are so bad that we are at the level where a weak N.Ireland Bosnia Wales are in a 50/50 position with us. But they still all three lack the talent to score goals so unless we fail to score they will have to score 2 against us or hope for penalties. This is not Bosnia of prime Pjanic or Wales of 5-10 years ago. These are nations that have done poor in qualifying and nations league for a few years now. We would likely have to beat ourselves. Which we very well might given our current state.
Marco van Basten: Strongly condemns Nazionale Italiana di Calcio Team which is poorly-rated, does not have great players in every position, and shows setback compared to the past famous with strong defense (Catenaccio).
As a sidenote, organizers finalized the schedule and moved matches to suit themselves. There was a potential for 2 England games in Toronto which would have ensured a stadium that gave them 99% support. Problem is BMO Field will be the smallest stadium used so they moved England to a bigger stadium. Potential for 3 Panama matches, lol. But Germany play here and could have a tasty Knockout Game with England/ Portugal.
Bonazolli on 5 goals .. one behind Orsolini for top scoring Italian.... been a slow start for all strikers in Serie A so it does not say much really. Moise Kean seems to hit the post or cross bar every game.
Was looking at this a few hours ago. Many towards the top at 5 and 6 Goals in the top 4 leagues. But unlike Serie A, the other 3 big leagues have fuoriclasse that Serie A lacks that are pulling away (Kane, Haaland, Mbappé) from the bunch.
I share @johnny6 ’s pessimism to some degree. Yes we need to walk into these games with confidence that we’re better, but these games are more of a coin toss than some of you guys are willing to admit.