Like I said, this England team may go down as the most dominant team in history to never win a trophy. They never won a Euro and their only World Cup championship was in the 60s when of course it was played in England. BTW, you wanna guess where all England's Euro 2028 games will be played at?
That U19 team wasn't even that strong, I had them missing 6-7 starters. When you miss that many, your not going to win. You then have Spain who was starting Thiago who started a 1/3 of the season for Real Madrid. Really not fair. I hope the U21 tourney is not like this.
I think you are on the right track here. But, I think you have to first fix the defense. 4 goals against Israel. 7 against Norway. Yes the 3-5-2 sucked but our CBs are not good. Bastoni sucks. Mancini sucks. Scalvini is slow after his ACL. Buongiorno is inconsistent. We have to pray Leoni comes back strong and that Comuzzo's good health puts him over the top. Obviously we have to keep watching others like Chiarodia and Ghilardi.
I 100% agree, we have to fix our defense. I think guys like Scalvini and Coppola could be reliable starters but they have to be given a chance, which they really haven't. Leoni l, can't wait to see him again, he was a beast before. Bastoni would do good to a move to Spain in a back 4, if he joined Madrid he would be an instant starter, problem is the holdup with the underage girl case.
You don’t snap your fingers and magically “fix the defence”. The CT is not going to teach defenders to defend properly seeing them 5 times a year. If we do have issues of personnel, then the fix is tactical. We have shit defence now because Italy as a whole decided playing good defence is as good as producing good defenders.
They never beat anyone really. In world cups since 2018 their two major scalps are Colombia Norway in Euros they beat Germany Netherlands which fair play but in 2020 and 2024 the two best teams faced in the semi finals of the opposite bracket. Portugal from 2000-2006 were better than this England in terms of major scalps. Netherlands 94-2000 were also better than this England.
Yes again Bearzot Vicini even Maldini Zoff did better than Trappatoni Sacchi. Lippi was an exception in our history really as even Vittorio Pozzo was brought in to reform the federation for the Olympics from the inside out not as a mercenary club manager. Post Lippi we keep jumping from name to name hoping they can bring something from the top down rather than n the bottom up and it means we start from zero every two years or often less!
Yes we are very much in a similar situation to where we were pre Pirlo minus Totti/Del Piero where we have Christian Zanetti Gatusso Zambrotta Doni Di Livio Di Biagio and lets say Albertini is Verratti retired young. We can hope Ricci/Rovella/Fagioli can step up as a temporary regista. Fagioli could play the DiBiagio role until someone better emerges but we need to balance our midfield and defence humble ourselves and slowly move back up the pitch. As we are we should be defending deep against teams like Norway etc until we improve or younger players emerge as serious options hopefully quickly but we can't really throw them in the fire yet.
On Ricci and Rovella I’ve given up hope that either of these guys will ever reach top class. Ricci made the right move to go to Milan, but unfortunately for him it wasn’t because the club needed him, but because Paolo Busardo needed to make a commission. Now he is limbo. Rovella might be the more skilled of the two but has dealt with injuries. Now he is stuck in mid table hell with Lazio. Fagioli is one of the great talent tragedies of this generation. He should have been a staple of Italy for years now but because of self sabotage he stunted his own career. My point is that if you don’t have a player of high quality in this position, why even play with one? Gasperini never played with this type of player. De Roon, Freuler, Ederson were all good on the ball, but these guys are work horses. The play maker is further up the pitch: Papu Gomez, Lookman, Samardzic etc
Yes, was thinking about this yesterday. There is no reason why Pirlo cannot work at the Federal level. - Teach the kids coming through how to play properly. High emphasis on individual skill, flair, knowing how to read the game, learning how to take set pieces. What a better teacher than him. I know players never stop learning, but if he has to teach Senior team players then not good. - Bide his time with the Sub Teams and then there absolutely won't be any blowback if he gets the Senior Team job. - He will then be managing the some of the same players he had previously.
You still need a regista even if they are not top class and even if you play deeper for me. I would rather play Fagioli/Ricci/Rovella than Locatelli who is not a real regista. Yes the other option is a 3421 where we use two work horses and then two attacking midfielders ahead of them maybe a Liberali/Inacio/Venturino but none of these are fully proven yet either so we need to sacrifice somewhere or we come to the same 352 conclusion that suits our "best" players again. To me we have to stabilize even if we lose games. Create the structure we think is best and use the players that fit those positions even if they are not top class and slowly as better players emerge you swap them in. Making any 11 to suit our best 11 players will be the same issue of 2024/2026. Better to regress even further short term than do that for me. 3421/433 are the move Im sure we can test both out depending what options we have but a regista that can break a press and centre backs that can organize the team is most important.
Hi guys, Just wrote my latest Substack: "Is Messi Italian?." It's about Messi's Italian roots. f you like it, I'd really appreciate a subscribe. Thanks for reading! Forza Italia- lets hope we don't bring on Pirlo as CT (imo). https://zonacalcio.substack.com/p/is-messi-italian
I visited Buenos Aires and Montevideo last year it was remarkable how comfortable I was there I was expecting them to feel way more South American whatever that might mean. Buenos Aires especially truly feels like a a hybrid Spanish/Italian city. They drive like people drive in Rome they stay out and eat late like the Spanish but they are warm loud and friendly like people from Southern Italy.
Message Liked and I understand what you've written, but I'll write the same thing that I wrote back in June when Italy had those 2 Friendlies. Given that their clubs don't play with wingers and so the NT follows suit no Italian player can ever emerge. If 10 Italian teams were to start playing a formation with wingers and Italian players were given chances in these spots then it stands to reason they would emerge.
We did see a trend in the second half of the season last year of teams moving from a 352 to a 3421both in Serie A and Serie B. That is the logical baby step away from the flat 352 where only wingbacks offer an outlet. Likely formations in 26/27 Juve - 4231 Atalanta - 433 Roma - 3421 Fiorentina - 433 Milan - 3421 Como - 4231 Inter - 352? rumour that a 3421 and then a 433 is the long term plan Torino - 433 Bologna - 433 Lazio - 433 Cagliari - 3421 Genoa - 3421 Napoli - 4231 supposedly Then we have Inacio/Tonali/Calafiori/Udogie/Kayode/Leoni/Chiesa/Coppola all likely playing in a 433/4231 and Palestra playing in a 3421. So the good news is very few if any of our players will play in a 352/532 next season.
ATTENZIONE con il 3-5-2 se non hai DIFENSORI A LIVELLO DI CANNAVARO, NESTA, MALDINI o difensori AFFIATATI come ERANO BONUCCI, BARZAGLI, CHIELLINI DIVENTA UN SUICIDIO dato che con questa tattica ti difenderai BASSO e verrai RIEMPITO DI CROSS e appunto se non hai difensori come quelli citati PRIMA O POI il GOAL LO PRENDI vi ricordate LA PARTITA CONTRO ISRAELE(lascio perdere PER PIETA' le partite contro NORVEGIA e BOSNIA)? vi rimetto gli highlight INOLTRE a centrocampo SERVE UN VERTICALIZZATORE come poteva essere PIRLO o COME ANCHE BONUCCI( E NOI NON C'E' L'ABBIAMO) metto le partite dell'Italia del 2016 GUARDATE COME SONO STATI FATTI I GOAL
la SQUADRA per me ERA FORTE, il problema e' legato alla condizione FISICA, quando giochi tornei così ristretti se non hai la condizione fisica giusta diventa tutto più difficile infatti guardando le partite si vedeva che non avevano lo scatto che hanno avuto dutrante le qualificazione metto due partite come referenza qualificazioni spareggio mondiale U20 inoltre quando il dio del PALLONE dice no c'è poco da fare
Of course. But right now the coach can only work with the raw materials he is given. If we’re being given lemons, we can’t make wine. IMO a game based on counter attacking is the best football we can express right now until players emerge that can give us something more. If we want to go into the nations league and compete, this is the best way forward. But if Maldini decides on Pirlo, and Pirlo wants to play an experimental 433 based on possession, then the road becomes more difficult. At least in the short term
Il problema è che NOI DOBBIAMO LAVORARE IN PROSPETTIVA 4 ANNI quindi bisogna già ragionare di preparare i giocatori del futuro perchè tra 4 ANNI quello che abbiamo ADESSO (BARELLA, DIMARCO, BASTONI ecc....) AVRANNO UN ETA' SUPERIORE I 30 quindi GIA' DA ADESSO DOBBIAMO trovare un modo d'inserire i Liberali, Inacio ecc.... oppure nel 2030 giocheremo ancora con i BARELLA , SCAMACCA, DIMARCO, ecc... E INUTILE RAGIONARE SU QUELLO CHE SI HA ADESSO, MA DOBBIAMO RAGIONARE CON QUELLO CHE SI AVRA' NEL FUTURO e dobbiamo utiliizare questi due anni dell'EUROPEO per PREPARARLO e dato CHE TUTTE LE NAZIONALI GIOVANILI GIOCANO CON LA DIFESA A 4 (4-3-1-2 o 4-3-3) serve una ALLENATORE che sappia fare questi moduli (il mio nome lo sapete GIA')
Su Pirlo poi il PROBLEMA non è cosa voglia fare, MA SE E' IN GRADO DI FARLO e il suo CURRICULUM E' UN DISASTRO (anche in serie B e in Turchia HA FALLITO)
@indestructible Of course there could be a small chance that say Pirlo uses a formation that is not 3-5-2 and club managers take his lead. Unlikely but could happen.
Poi sei VERAMENTE SICURO che riusciremmo ad applicare un calcio di contropiede? ripeto ci mancano i DIFENSORI FORTI E AFFIATATI, i VERTICALIZZATORI e anche gli ATTACCANTI in grado di far reparto DA SOLI (insomma niente Vieri e Inzaghi , ma finachè Ravanelli) abbiamo tutti giocatori da costruzione
Yes I would pick a structure at youth level duplicate it at senior level and slowly replace the roles with better players. If we have to use lesser players now and are poor in 2027/2028 that is fine. Set out each position/role and train the players to play it.