His 2nd goal and his pass to set up the 3rd goal were elite! Scamacca has 13 goals in 17 starts with 0 goals in 16 games as a sub this season. We all remember how horribly he played as a sub vs Ukraine. Retegui is such a hard worker off the ball, while Scamacca is slow and lazy at times. He either needs to play as a starter or not at all imo. Just rotate them as starters if one doesnt perform.
That second goal was on his off foot! Damn...not too many 6'5 guys who can move with that kind of skill. I really hope the light is finally consistently on because he has everything it takes physically to be a world class 9.
I don’t think there is a clear cut #1 between our CFs. Knowing Spalletti he’s going to play either guy in accordance to who the opponent is
Interesting. So, Scamacca isn't a great option as a super-sub. Does Retegui do work off the ball? I guess I need to watch him more closely. It feels like he's not out there, but it seemed like the trade-off is "If we get him the ball at his feet within range, he's probably scoring," which is a pretty acceptable trade-off. I must be missing what he's doing.
Scamacca On the 3rd goal, right before that he was thinking of hammering one from distance but 2 Liverpool players were closing in on him so he made the correct decision to slip one into Ederson, who unsurprisingly messed up. Not to get on my soapbox about foreign players but Atalanta can't find a better player than Hein? Brutal performance. Nice to see the ex-Chelsea (Zappacosta) and ex-West Ham (Scamacca) combine for the first goal. Liverpool had their chances at 0-0 but the damage may be done.
Liverpool had a lot of chancles. Could have been a completely different result, but Atalanta weathered it and then converted their chances. That first half was pretty dicey for Atalanta, though. Is Italy going to ride Mancini, Scamacca, and (gasp) Zaniolo to a deep Euro run? All the confusing guys unite like Voltron and lay waste to France. Who else is on board?
I swear if you are an Italian player your market value is 30%-40% just based off association. Your telling me a player like Caicedo from Chelsea is better or worth more than Barella? Luis Diaz on Liverpool is better than Cheisa or worth more than him...I don't buy it. Mason ********ing Mount is better than Pellegrini. Didn't believe this fake epl hype...shitty ass Marcus Rashford? Please. It's just market manipulation to excel the EPL. Ricardo Califori should be just as much as Ruben Dias or Gravdiol.
Donnarumma wasn't good, but I'm not sure I can blame him as much as others. Yes, he came out aggressively on the first goal...but PSG had been sliced open and if he didn't, it looked like a tap in. On the second goal, it was a crappy clearance from him, but the PSG D still went to sleep again. On the third goal, more terrible marking and the corner was well taken. Could he have come out? Maybe. But it was a blistering corner so he might have missed it.
Scamacca was great at Anfield. Looks like he must have taken his medicines before the game. That's Gianluca Scamacca in a nutshell. When he's on, he's on. Then he'll frustrate you and break your heart (and his own). Second goal was fantastic on his weaker foot. I was most impressed though by his assist on the 3rd. Drawing 2 defenders and slotting that pass through was the stuff of a seconda punta (which he's capable of if he ever gets his head straight).
Mancini is playing well and scoring timely goals. He's definitely got a bit of Materazzi to him. I think he's earned his spot. I wish Scalvini would have been healthy for Anfield. Would have loved to see how he dealt with Liverpool's pace.
Scamacca has made tremendous progress on his weak foot. At this point if he continues to perform well he needs to be the starter in June.
Oh it's a joke. Barella is a $150M minimum and has been since 2020. In 2019 I told my father, if you had a fantasy draft of all serie a players Italian and Foreign, and you had the #1 pick, you'd be insane not to pick Barella #1 overall. A once in a generation player you build a club around and you move mountains to keep happy. Priceless even. Imperative to any lineup for any time at any level.
Regarding Donnarumma, in actuality that game was not his fault. He had to go for the first ball in on the first goal, if you want to hold your keeper accountable for not smothering that cross, than have at it, but that goal objectively is not his fault. Third goal I question that he should have gone for that corner. I refuse to blame any GK for any expectation to play two positions at once. Expecting goalkeepers to be prime Andrea Pirlo while guarding the goal/penalty area is joke to me. Whoever started the modern movement of making goalkeepers have to play 2 positions at once needs eradicated from the game. Goalkeepers are meant to be the athletically superior on the field and to save shots, not worry about being gd field players. Goalkeeping is so cringe to watch these days, you have 2/3 of the world's goalkeepers who don't even know how to move their feet and dive for distance because they are expected to concentrate on being Franz Beckenbauer, Pirlo, and Paul Scholes all at once, while if one pass goes awry stupid field players can just switch off and complain their keeper isn't pinging passes like a metronome. On 1 v 1s, they all spread their arms like a blind starfish b/c they have to train to have the highest passer rating on the pitch at any given moment. Now it is started to seep into long shots, where I literally see professional goalkeepers save longer shots with their chest because they don't know how to set their hands, likely because they are going to the Xavi school of goalkeeping. I refuse to blame Donnarumma for being forced to spray passes all over the field while 10 field players can just doze off and take the blame off themselves since his pass didn't land perfectly to them. Gutless tactics. I love seeing teams concede goals week in week out because their gd #10 is a keeper.
A convincing starting #9. Given the lack of options I think everyone can agree he has to be there. I had though Retegui was making a push to start but it appears Scamacca is locking it up.
How is it possible that we are in mid April and Provedel has more goals than Kean in all competitions? Who would have had this on their bingo card Sept 23?
That Provedel goal was awesome, too. Timed his run perfectly and buried the header like a seasoned striker.
Chiesa was feeling it today. He made a beautiful run and cross from the right wing which shouldve been a goal. Reminiscent of his runs and crosses from the Euros, mb he should play over there again as he was one of our best players of the tourney. Pellegrini and Dimarco on the left to balance it out. Bellanova and Mancini looking good lately, both are my favorites right now to start.
Yeah Manicini is extremely underrated by the NT coaches for some reason despite being one of the better Italian CB's for 5 years now. Roberto Mancini basically never called him and Spaletti only called him this last time once Acerbi pulled out after the racism row. He's a great option to have because he has familiarity in both a 3 or 4 line back. It kind of speaks to how deep the CB pool is right now that there are a lot of quaiity options at big teams but Mancini definitely deserves a spot in the Euro
Mancini actually almost made Euro 2020 squad. He was one of (if not the last cut IIRC). He was even part of the pre tourney "Notte Azzurra" special.
It's going to be harder and harder to ignore Politano. Another stunner today and his season tally is 8 goals 5 assists. Tell me how Zaniolo deserves to go over him? Makes no sense...
Gianluca Mancini wasn't being hard done by. He always was/is fringe especially when Bonucci and Chiellini were incumbents. Obviously with them moving on and Mancini now in his prime he is getting his chance. Even if he was only brought in after Acerbi was sent home last window can't overlook that he can be rash at times. Even the very well written message by another poster ahead of the Ecuador match explained why having a grunt like Mancini as the last man back wasn't a good idea. This was only last month. If Mancini continues to peel back the fouling as he's been doing then he'll be on the team and likely even in the Starting 11. Even if I have written before that on occassion you need that shithousery on the team as it offsets the other teams at the tournament that employ these players (Rudiger, Pepe).
Didn't see the derby. Saw extended hi-hites on DAZN. Any other day that is an Assist or two for Chiesa if Vlahovic had his scoring boots on. Allegri will get blamed of course but those needed to be goals. Not sure what prompted Allegri to go Chiesa on the Right but it could be a good reminder for Spalletti that such an option exists. Politano option was always there. Obviously Spalletti knows him well from their time at Napoli. If Zaniolo is preferred I'm not sure who looks worse off, Politano or Lucio. We'll see if Zaniolo does anything in a few hours when Aston Villa play Jorginho's Arsenal.
@Azzurrifan87 Just saw the Napoli vs Frosinone goals. After seeing the first Frosinone goal, I couldn't help but think of your recent comments about GK's and their new roles. I really don't understand why they didn't have Meret start the play by giving to Rahmani (looked like him) instead of the other way aroud. Even if Meret got his pass out without getting it cut out the player he was aiming for was well covered.