AGREE! Just go back to what works and the players will modernize it for you with their play on the field. Italy is never known for possession football. We do not have the capabilities to do it and we certainly do not have the players to make it happen.
Well we do have the players to do it but what good is possession based football with no direct attack? Holding the ball in the midfield as a sole objective with nothing else sucked. Teams have been successful at the WC and in CL without dominating possession all game. A more direct attack based on quick turn over and pace without compromising defense would have been better. Build on the possession based approach by eliminating side ways passing and implementing the attacking players that will move into space quicker and attack the net more. Dribbling the ball into the net never worked for Spain and should be dropped.
Kind of works for Germany. Not exactly the same but they are brilliant at making the extra pass in attack rather than panic-shoot.
No, just the first part. They've been doing it for 6 years now-- where they always make one extra pass in attack. It helps to have unselfish players up front and midfielders pushing forward to give multiple options.
Grazie @secretariat89 for the suggestions..hopefully, you can keep us updated on new prospects for Gli Azzurri. I've added your suggestions. LATEST UPDATE JULY 13 TOP PROSPECTS - ITALIA **** GOALIES: Simone Scuffet -18 Nicola Leali -21 Francesco Bardi -22 Mattia Perin -21 Simone Colombi – 22 Luca Lezzerini -19 Pierluigi Gollini -19 DEFENSE: Mario Sampirisi – 21 -rcb Giulio Donati – 24 –rb Luca Caldirola – 23 –lcb Matteo Bianchetti – 21 –rcb Cristiano Biraghi – 21 –lb Vasco Regini – 23 –lb Davide Santon – 23 –lb/rb Mattia De Sciglio – 21 –rb/lb Matteo Darmian -24 -rb Federico Ceccherini -21 –rcb Alessio Romagnoli -19 –lcb Nicola Murru -19 –lb Cristiano Piccini -21 –rb Luca Antei –21 -cb Daniele Rugani –19 -cb Michele Camporese -21 –cb Marco Capuano -22 –lcb Alberto Masi -21 –rcb Davide Zappacosta – 22 –rb Michele Fornasier -23 -cb Edoardo Goldaniga -20 –cb Alessandro Crescenzi -lb CENTRAL MIDFIELD: Daniele Baselli -22 Marco Benassi – 19 Marco Verratti – 21 Federico Viviani – 22 Fausto Rossi – 23 Danilo Cataldi – 19 Lorenzo Crisetig – 21 Luca Marrone – 24 Nicola Sansone – 22 Marco Crimi – 24 Andrea Bertolacci – 23 Andrea Poli -24 Bryan Cristante -19 Jorginho -22 Cristian Battoccio -22 Stefano Sturaro -21 Antonio Romano -18 Jacopo Dezi -22 Roberto Gagliardini -20 WINGERS: Giacomo Bonaventura – 24 –LW/LM Alessandro Florenzi – 23 –RW/RM Lorenzo Insigne -23 -LW Riccardo Saponara –22 -RW/LW Ezequiel Schelotto – 25 –RW Stephen El Shaarawy – 21 –LW Roberto Insigne – 20 –RW Simone Verdi – 21 – LW Federico Bernardeschi – 20 –RW/LW Cristian Galano -23 –RW/LW Salvatore Molina -22 –RW Luca Rizzo -22 –RW/LW Federico Ricci -20 - LW STRIKERS: Andrea Belotti – 20 Ciro Immobile -24 Domenico Berardi -19 Simone Zaza -22 Manolo Gabbiadini -22 Mattia Destro -23 Fabio Borini -23 Mario Balotelli -23 Samuele Longo -22 Alberto Paloschi -24 Gennaro Tutino -18 Giuseppe De Luca -22 Christian Pasquato -24
sorry for the late reply, he played for avellino last season in defence (CB) and had a sold season, theres a good chance napoli could regret not paying that extra 200k needed to take full ownership, as off right now he certainly has the potential to join a top club but we will see how he fairs in srie A this season with genoa. in other good news samuele longo has signed on loan for cagliari i.e zeman is his teacher,
Alessio Gragno, a goalkeeper who turned 20 last month, has signed for Cagliari on a 4-year contract from Bescia. HE is part of the under-21 squad.
Zeman is snappin up a lot of young talent, i expect Lorenzo Crisetig to have a break out season with them this year.
Thanks...hoping Izzo drvelops into a top defender..we definitely need more of those. CAGLIARI IS THE TEAM TO WATCH THIS YEAR. Zeman is the King of developing prospects...hoping a few shine this season.
i just hope he doesnt get them relegated lol. I also hope that cagliari stick with him if they lose a few in the 1st half of the season whilst playing good football, it will eventually pay off like it did with sasuollo, lecce made the mistake of sacking di francesco when they were playing good fotball, the results would have come as they got to know eachother better, especially when you have muriel and cuadrado. another play to have high hope of is trotta, man city (detest these wankers) poached him from napoli when he was 15, he's had a few good seasons in england and now also doing well for the u21's, he needs to go to zeman lol. not sure where he's playing yet but he's looking for a return to italy
Trotta is at Fulham, but he said he'd come back to Napoli in a heartbeat... Not sure if he does or not
If I was manager, my starting 11 for our next match, a new era. Wide, attacking football. Verratti and De Rossi sitting back, helping defensively while creatively pushing the ball forward. Having Berardi cutting in, attacking the open spaces. Rossi tracking back to help defensively while being a central support for our lone striker, a reference point that can pressure defenses. Have Santon acting as a LWB while Insigne provides creativity from the left and helping to defend the wing. Bench: Sirigu, Scuffett, Bianchetti, Caldirola, Darmian, Antonelli, Florenzi, Galano, Gabbiadini, Belotti 15 names from the TOP PROSPECTS LIST!
No doubt Balo has issues. However when you look at the facts - at the National level - he has done very well... Don't know what happened in the dressing room at half time - but the fact Prandelli replaced him with a midfielder speaks volumes- The vets didn't show good leadership at the end of the game either by dumping on the young players....who were the young players they referred to anyway? Darmian? Verratti? DeSciglio ? Balo ? Ciro? which form a good nucleus going forward ...the rest were all Vets...Its time for the Vets to move over and give the youngsters a chance... Balo did not have his best game against Uraguay, far from it...he was over psyched...and got a stupid yellow card...not excusable...but it happens..remember Maradona getting kicked out in 1982 in a game against Brazil... Balo cannot be thrown away to the wolves...he has scored 12 or 13 goals with the National team and would have more if Pirlo allowed him to take free kicks, which is a big part of Balo's game.... We know he cares and wants to play for the Azzurri's....he has a baggage on his shoulders....needs to get rid of it...he s his own worst enemy...
With Balotelli, and I believe @Nek Sanalet and I share the same idea, it's not about on field production primarily - it's about the off field issues, the maturity level, Mario's mindset and his dedication to training and being part of a team. He comes off as a primadonna in all aspects - whether its him pouting after diving to the ground or not being given the ball, to him not tracking back to help defend in small doses, to reports of him causing problems in the dressing room, and then seeing images of him being lazy in practise. No thanks to Mario...he's caused so much distraction the last several years...let's try something new and evaluate him at a later time. Great talent, but the maturity level isn't quite there (yet) and his on field production isn't enough to ignore that aspect.
It wasn't always this way in Italy. Scirea debuted at 21 for Gli Azzurri. Baresi was 22. Beppe Bergomi got tossed into a World Cup at 18. I know what you guys are going to say. They were legends and cream rises to the top. That is true, but sometimes the cream needs someone to believe in them....someone to have faith in their abilities. That is why Zeman is great. He'll never win anything, but when it comes to developing youth, he throws caution to the wind. To him, you either sink or swim. Did Verratti become a world class midfielder on his own, or did he need someone to believe in him, let him struggle through some tough games, and still push him forward? When I look at that list, I can already see the players that are "persi per strada". For example, why the fck do we loan out prime youth players to Serie B clubs? With the bidoni we have all over Serie A, you can't tell me these young guns couldn't contribute in Serie A. Darmian is a prime example. He was a shining star of the Milan youth system. At age 20, why the fck does he need to be loaned to Padova in Serie B. Why must we insist on discarding our youth into some sort of purgatory until they can finally crawl their way back to relevancy? This short sighted attitude is killing our clubs and our national teams.
The big clubs have no faith in younger talent. They'd rather look to more established names that they believe to be more reliable. Do I agree with this idealogy? No. But I understand it.
First game for Euro 2016 Qualification: Sirigu//Santon, Rugani, Bonucci, Darmian//Verratti, Marchisio, Florenzi//(wingers)El Shaarawy & Gabbiadini//Immobile I have to hand the keys to the future generation right away. No more Buffon, Pirlo, De Rossi, Chiellini, and...yes...Balotelli. I have to give Darmian the right back spot because of his performances in the WC ensures me he is worthy of the Azzurri shirt. Balotelli had enough chances. His rotten actions far out-weighs the positive play he displays on the field. It's ridiculous how many chances do we need to give Balotelli when there are massive amount of strikers to choose from. Sorry, but after what Daniele De Rossi did after the World Cup he does not deserve a place on any of my Azzurri squad going forward. I understand where he was coming from because many of us also expresses that similar feelings here in this forum, but to sell your teammates publicly is something I would not tolerate. I'd go for Marchisio, for now, because of the runs he makes while waiting for Cataldi, Crisetig, and Baselli to get more Serie A games under their belt. Because Giorgio Chiellini is so clumsy with the ball, you need to pair him with a player who is comfortable with the ball with in his feet, like Camporese or Bonucci. I have much respect with what Rugani accomplished last year with Empoli, but I really do not know if his abilities do compliment those of Chiellini.
Just wondering what prospects we have for a ball-winning DM? I guess in the mold of Gattuso, Mascherano, Vidal etc.
Mario Pugliese of Atalanta is a guy to keep an eye on in that mold... Let's see if that's his trajectory
100% in agreement with everything you say when it comes to Balotelli. He is not worth the headaches. We have a slew of other players we can turn to now before the Euro's in two years. Lets give other talent a chance. I would completely exclude him until after the Euro's. You can't leave Berardi out of the starting XI IMO if we are going to rebuild and create a young nucleus. Lets see what El Shaarawy does this year, but I'm not sold on him as part of the national setup. Weak willed and often injured, I have major doubts when it comes to him playing for the Azzurri.
Although I wouldn't be calling up Balo early on, it wouldn't be right to just exclude him if he starts performing and showing a better attitude at club level (however unlikely). Oh and the troubling thing about @secretariat89's squad - First game for Euro 2016 Qualification: Sirigu//Santon, Rugani, Bonucci, Darmian//Verratti, Marchisio, Florenzi//(wingers)El Shaarawy & Gabbiadini//Immobile -- is the lack of leadership. The 2 most experienced (Bonucci-Marchisio) aren't certain starters for a best 11 so they really need a strong manager or things will unravel quickly. The Age 23-29 group of players Italy produced is pretty sad.
Is Balotelli still playing for the national Italy team? The coach need to work on this boy attitude, even though he is a great fotballer, but I find it hard to love him as a person. But I say keep him though since he still young, just love 2 goals in the semi-final (Euro 2012) that crush Germany EC trophy dream as well as their streak. I like De Rossi, what happened? Can anyone fill me in on what did he do after the World Cup to his teammates?