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brakbrak

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Forza Italia! Onto the next one : WC 2022. Kean better get his shit together as we can see that Italy can't rely on Ciro fucking Immobile and Belotti. Anyway, happy for the boys!
 

brehme1989

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So proud of the project Mancini has created here! I had high expectations and even had a bet for Italy to win this from late 2019!


Do not expect World Cup glory, but I do expect the team to finally take the Euro more seriously than in prior years rather than World Cup practice. Next one's in Germany, we like winning in Germany :)
 

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The player no one has mentioned yet who I would like to see grow into a larger role is Pellegri. He hasn't been able to get fit for Monaco, but he's only 20. If he can shake his injury woes he would be an extremely dynamic option in Mancini's 4-3-3.
 

Choppin Onions

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Can we talk about how Milan lost player of the tournament Dollarumma for nothing? Only 22 too (even though he looks 42) and likely to get better. What a shit club lol
 

brakbrak

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Can we talk about how Milan lost player of the tournament Dollarumma for nothing? Only 22 too (even though he looks 42) and likely to get better. What a shit club lol
How can you justify the 10m salary demand at his age for a goalie? How much is he gonna make eventually? Granted they probably should have sold him last year but they got a pretty solid replacement.
 

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The player no one has mentioned yet who I would like to see grow into a larger role is Pellegri. He hasn't been able to get fit for Monaco, but he's only 20. If he can shake his injury woes he would be an extremely dynamic option in Mancini's 4-3-3.
Hard to still consider him a talent at this point no? He’s missed out on some prime development years.
 

Universe

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I know right. When I read the name “Pellegri”, I tilted my head to the side like a quizzical dog before asking myself if I’d just been trolled. Pellegri is barely an active professional player right now.
 

Alex de Large

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It was weird to support England in the penaltis as i dislike them, but i dislike bonucci/chiellini/chiesa etc.. more
 

brehme1989

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Maradona took care of business up there.

As for Italy, big summer.

Discounting the Eurovision nonsense, at least it kickstarted the whole winning cycle:
Men's football Euro
Men's 100m sprint Gold (Olympics "main" event)
Men's High Jump [shared] Gold (otherwise rather irrelevant, but it was too damn iconic]
Women's Volleyball Euro
Men's Volleyball Euro
and a bunch of great achievements in the Olympics


Cannot recall when we've last had the same country win 3 Euros in the same year. At least when taking into account normal sports where participation is legit and not just between 5-10 countries alone, so essentially football, basketball, volleyball, handball and water polo. Rugby is split into two groups of a very few countries, Field Hockey has very few participants, Ice Hockey tournament is probably extinct. Probably the Soviet Union achieved this or better somewhere between the 60s and late 80s.

Plus, they don't really get to play on the same year.
 
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ADRossi

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Immobile has ruled himself out of the Nations League. I wonder how Mancini approaches this. Insigne as a false nine against Spain seems most likely. He could also start Raspadori or Kean (assuming he's called up to place Immobile).
 

Batman

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I’m sure everyone wanted to see Italy without Immobile, but couldnt because of his name/status.
 

Ethor

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Italy vs Spain is on TUDN and ESPN 2, Wednesday, 6 October @2:45pm EDST in the US.
 

Bluenine

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Mancini needs to try out some new fullbacks before the World Cup. Surely he can find some better ones than Emerson & Di Lorenzo.

Its a pity that Raspadori / Kean did not grab this chance as CF. I guess Italy will go back to Immobile now. These 3 are the weak spots for Italy, at least till Spinazzola is injured.

On the bright side, good to see Barella and Bastoni have a good game.
 

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Mancini needs to try out some new fullbacks before the World Cup. Surely he can find some better ones than Emerson & Di Lorenzo.

Its a pity that Raspadori / Kean did not grab this chance as CF. I guess Italy will go back to Immobile now. These 3 are the weak spots for Italy, at least till Spinazzola is injured.

On the bright side, good to see Barella and Bastoni have a good game.
I don't think there are much better options at fullbacks for Italy. On the right you have Di Lorenzo, Calabria and Florenzi. And then you have options like Darmian, Zappacosta and Faraoni. There's also Lazzari but the guy can't defend to save his life. The situation is more or less the same on the left. With Spinazzola out, the options are Emerson, Dimarco, Biraghi and Augello. There's no one else worth a mention.

They simply don't have the talent in fullbacks and there's nothing they can do about it.
 

Bluenine

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I don't think there are much better options at fullbacks for Italy. On the right you have Di Lorenzo, Calabria and Florenzi. And then you have options like Darmian, Zappacosta and Faraoni. There's also Lazzari but the guy can't defend to save his life. The situation is more or less the same on the left. With Spinazzola out, the options are Emerson, Dimarco, Biraghi and Augello. There's no one else worth a mention.

They simply don't have the talent in fullbacks and there's nothing they can do about it.

Calabria is quite promising, and Spinazzola when fit is very good as we saw in the Euros. Hopefully by the time of the World Cup Calabria will improve further and these two will be the starting fullbacks. If Dimarco improves a bit, hopefully he could replace Emerson for the back up role for LWB. Florenzi is a decent bet for the RWB role. But you are right - Italy need better options at wingback. Some kid needs to have a breakthrough season, Mancini is not afraid to gamble on youth.
 
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thatdude

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There is also Luca Pellegrini as a leftback option assuming he gets decent minutes at Juve.
 
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Il Drago

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There is also Luca Pellegrini as a leftback option assuming he gets decent minutes at Juve.
Pellegrini needs to leave Juve to get playing time. Allegri doesn't rate him at all and he's even behind De Sciglio in the pecking order.
 

Ethor

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Italia match vs Switzerland is on ESPN2 and TUDN in the US @2:45pm Friday 12 November.
 
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