Same, but thankfully we have some promising youngsters that will take over the reigns in Buongiorno, Calafiori, and Scalvini. Bastoni is still young and already a superstar.
@Vieri#9 Camarda could very well play World Cup Qualifiers. But he won't do it by playing for Milan's U19 team. So Giroud is likely gone after this season. Talk of MLS. I'm hearing Milan are in the running to get Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting who is absolutely raking in the Portuguese league. If what Rafael Leao has hinted is true, it's pretty much a done deal. No idea how he adapts to a different team and league. Camarda and Colombo (who is on loan) for that matter need to go into the off-season with the intention of making the Milan roster for next season. If they do, they will have 6 months to put up numbers to start the WC cycle that starts in March. Camarda won't play on the Italy team without making Milan's team first. Unless Spalletti does what Mancio did with Pafundi and called him up without actually deserving it.
Yes, I agree. He needs to be on AC Milan or loaned to another top flight team in order to be given a chance at the national level. For me, if he is on Milan but not a starter, he still should get a chance just like Zaniolo has gotten unlimited chances. Now if we flame out of the Euros bc our strikers didnt deliver, there will prolly be a ton of pressure for Spalleti to give him a chance.
It won't change. They sent him to the U17's, Senior team is a pipe dream without first team football from Milan. We have 4 or 5 serviceable CF's all aged 24/ 25, most of which have different characteristics. This is who they will lean on in the WC cycle. Forget what Spain does. In Italy young players don't get chances for the most part.
Napoli sees the Juan Jesus-Acerbi situation as a chance to make their fans forget about the bad season they have and deal with this matter! This is very bad! It’s better everyone on club works to make the team better and stop commenting about Acerbi and racism! It’s impossible to ban someone without evidence! If evidence was there I am with them! Every racist behaviour must stop!
I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from the tribunal's ruling in the Juan Jesus-Acerbi situation. This was decided by a sporting tribunal; not a court of law. To say there is no evidence of racism would be incorrect because presumably Juan Jesus's account corroborates racist statements. On the other end, to conclude that Acerbi is guilty of what he is accused would also be unfair. All we can say for certain is that this particular body found no wrongdoing--and to that end, Acerbi should not be prohibited from playing for the national team for this reason.
In the few remaining Away matches that Inter have, if Acerbi hears it from opposition fans it could become a distraction that Spalletti may not want to have in the team. Agreed with the earlier comment that Gianluca Mancini played just fine and could be taken.
Tonali Tonali Tonali SMH! In some good news, UEFA will be listening to coaches about the possibility of raising Euro squads from 23 to 26.
Spalletti wants to play a 3-4-2-1, so: Donnarumma Darmian* Acerbi Bastoni Bellanova* Barella Jorginho Dimarco Chiesa Pellegrini Retegui* RCB other options: Mancini, Scalvini, Calafiori (left footed tho), Di Lorenzo RWB other options: Di Lorenzo, Cambiaso CF other options: Scamacca Raspadori should not be our CF, he can play as a second striker behind but Zaniolo will prolly be first sub there. Chiesa moves to the right to give that side more of an attack. He played wonderfully there for Azzurri in the past and we already have Dimarco and Pellegrini on the left. Much better balance overall. What do you guys think?
I like it!!! I'd also add Frattesi or Bonaventura as super subs for Chiesa and Pellegrini. Chiesa and Pellegrini to be starters.
- Jack probably played himself off the team. The Venezuela match, giveaway aside and the other time when Chiesa admonished him for a bad passing decision, he only found himself back on the team in the autumn of 2023 due to his great form in the Andata. He's been nothing special since Christmas. IMO, the only thing that likely grants him a spot at the tourney is if UEFA increase the roster size to 26. - Formation. Chiesa best suited to a 4-3-3. Dimarco best suited in a 3-5-2. Dimarco in a flat four Defence takes away what he is good for. Unless of course Chiesa just appears to look average in this formation because of Allegri. I like how we switched formation in game at the end of the Venezuela match. Shows that Spalletti is not rigid and not set in his ideas. - Zaniolo. No kidding where Attacks go to die. IMO, the reason is that he has poor movement. Absolutely no need to hold up the ball as much as he does. Keep it moving and stop trying to dribble standing still. Just doesn't have the body type of a football player, not agile enough. Where I believed this past window was going to be an opportunity to showcase Orsolini, Spalletti gave more Minutes to Zaniolo. - Something tells me only 1 of Cambiaso/ Bellanova will be taken (again, depends on roster sizes). Earlier suggestion was that it could be both and Udogie left off. Could very well be. But it won't be because of the turnover that caused the PK, that was on Scalvini and then Buongiorno. It was a shame Bellanova went off at HT, because he received good marks on all match reports. One of the more higher rated players, in fact. - Really not sure if expanded rosters are an advantage to teams with good depth or teams that rely heavily on a few players (ie; maybe Hungary or Georgia). On that note, are Italy a team with good depth or not? - It won't happen but if it's only 23 players, it would be quite something if both Di Lo and Darmian are off and Bellanova and Cambiaso in. - Other player that earned his fair share of good reviews in the Ecuador match was Mancini. He's seemed to put his goonery away with Roma. - As for Retegui. In his post match interview Spalletti was glowing about how we did so well in his defensive duties. Only at the very end did he mention his brace, lol. - When we play Spain, need to keep that animal Rodri away from the PK spot. Ruthless player. Power, precision. This is the player that I will fear this day. As for other teams: Austria are quite impressive lately. Want to avoid. My darkhorses. France's Defence ain't all that with Upemecano and Pavard. With Mbappe that doesn't track back. The Netherlands and Austria will test France.
Our defense favors a 3 man back line as well as Dimarco and Bellanova. I prefer a 4-3-3, that won us the Euros, however we have no quality winger opposite Chiesa. Berardi was the only one but he is out. We can compesate that tho by using Dimarco and Bellanova bombarding the wings. If need be, we can revert back to a 4-3-3 for WC quals when Berardi recovers. Gnonto, Baldanzi, or Pafundi might be quality wingers in the future as well. Bellanova and Cambiaso would be taken over Udogie, since Cambiaso can play that side. He will definitely take Di Lorenzo and/or Dimarco too bc they are the versaltile a la Toloi defenders. We have great depth in defense and midfield. Fringe players like Mancini, Scalvini, possibly Calafiori, Cristante can now be picked. We have 4 guys that could play RWB as well, lol. Its our attacking front that is lacking, we do have a ton of backup wingers but none of them ozze quality to me. Retegui, Scamacca, and Raspadori should all be picked. When I saw Austria beat Italy 2-0 last time they played, I know they were legit. They got strong players. No Alaba tho. France's coach is insane if he doesnt start Saliba, plus he has Konate and Kounde as well. Those 2 you mentioned should not start. Mbappe does not track back but he is best player in the world for me. Germany are looking scarry tho and home field is massive for them. For us, Spain has a special kid playing RW in Lamal, 16 years old but will be giving Dimarco all kinds of problems. Bastoni will have to help.
While Napoli is still dealing and talking about racicm, the team loses 0-2 to Atalanta, two Scamacca goals!
Right before the goal, commentator says Scamacca hasnt done anything all game, Scamacca then bullies defender gets it and blasts a beautiful goal outside the box, doesnt celebrate, then commentator says surely he will start for Italy if he scores like that. The story of Scamacca
My mistake! One goal, not two! He then talked about Italy and Lucio! I hope they get along well and everything is fine between them!
There's no way a healthy, in form Scamacca does not go to the Euros. He'll replace Lucca and rightfully so. There's no Italian striker with the potential of Scamacca and probably the best we have had since Luca Toni if he can get his head on straight
Respectfully, that's a stretch. Toni was a monster in his day--as prolific an Italian striker as we've seen in the post Pippo/Vieri era (who actually scored when it mattered unlike Immobile). Scamacca has never even approached those numbers. If you want to argue that he should be there, I get that--but I'm hardly convinced by our #9 options. Frankly, Retegui has every right to be in the conversation for the starter, and that's not saying much about our options at this level.