Gli Azzurri - La Nazionale, Italy National Football Team

[Polotelli]

Conte tests 4-3-3 for Croatia

Italy tested out a 4-3-3 system in training ahead of the Euro 2016 qualifier against Croatia.

Antonio Conte seems set to scrap his trademark 3-5-2 for the crunch match in Split on Friday night.

His staff already tried out the 4-3-3 during a three-day training camp with new faces earlier this week.

This approach continued on Sunday, using Marco Verratti and Daniele De Rossi to exchange the role of deep-lying midfielder.

The training session was without the Juventus players, who will arrive tonight after the Champions League Final in Berlin.

Sassuolo striker Simone Zaza worked separately from the group, as he has muscular problems and could be released after further medical tests.

Finally !!!! I never want to see this 3-5-2 again

Buffon
Sirigu
De Silvestri - Bonucci - Barzagli - Darmian
De Sciglio - Ranocchia - Moretti - Pasqual
Marchisio - Pirlo - De Rossi
Parolo - Verratti - Bertolacci
Candreva - Gabbiadini - Sansone
?????????? - Zaza - El Shaarawy

Others: Padelli, Astori, Soriano, Vazquez, Immobile, Pell?, Matri
​

Based on this team, a 4-3-1-2 would be more appropriate

 

[Mr. Milanista]

Croatia are too strong at the moment but if there will ever be a chance for Italy to beat them it's this time as the stadium will be empty on friday.

 

[Polotelli]

Why an empty stadium?

I rate Croatia higher atm, but I wouldn't be surprised if Italy beat them

 

[Mr. Milanista]

Why an empty stadium?

I rate Croatia higher atm, but I wouldn't be surprised if Italy beat them

Because of the incidents at San Siro. Croatia fans were being racist. stupid fucks

 

[SpartanMilan]

Is there any story to why Daniel Caligiuri didnt make the final roster?

 

[Polotelli]

They reached the limit of oriundi

 

[Allan_Sombrero]

Finally !!!! I never want to see this 3-5-2 again

Buffon
Sirigu
De Silvestri - Bonucci - Barzagli - Darmian
De Sciglio - Ranocchia - Moretti - Pasqual
Marchisio - Pirlo - De Rossi
Parolo - Verratti - Bertolacci
Candreva - Gabbiadini - Sansone
?????????? - Zaza - El Shaarawy

Others: Padelli, Astori, Soriano, Vazquez, Immobile, Pell?, Matri
​

Based on this team, a 4-3-1-2 would be more appropriate

So Conte finally switched to a 4-3-3? It suits this Italy team well but they still need an anchor/regista since Verratti cannot play that position. He doesn't have the positioning and gets out-muscled in the middle.

I expect to see Italy field a team like this in the future.

Perin
Darmian-Rugani-Romagnoli-DES
Bertolacci-CM-Verratti
Berardi-CF-SES​

The anchor/regista role is a big setback since it would allow Italy to go to the next level and compete with the big teams once again. Italy need to find a successor for that role asap. The CF role is one that can vary since you have Zaza, Immobile, and Balotelli. I had high hopes for Balotelli since he has the technique and physical tools to succeed but he doesn't work hard enough to improve on his weaknesses (making runs, pulling defenders to allow wing-play, and he gets lazy on the pitch). He's 24, which is still very young but he himself has to be determined and focused or he will end up being another Cassano. Honestly it looks like he will never reach his potential due to how complacent he is with the level he is at currently. He thinks he is Zlatan when he is not.

 

[SpartanMilan]

Marchisio has performed well when used as a regista this season and I could see him being played there for Italy going forward.

 

[Allan_Sombrero]

Marchisio could work well as a stop gap till someone younger shows up for that role. However, the only player I can think of right now who can take over that role is Manuel Locatelli, our own youth product who no doubt will be a key player for Milan and Italy. The only issue is Locatelli is still very young (17) so it will be a while till he shows up on the big stage.

 

[Polotelli]

Locatelli who?

anyways, Barzagli & Zaza are out injured and left the team

 

[Sage]

3-5-2 pls

 

[necromancer]

Still looks like such a stupid team..

I wonder when the next good generation will come about. 12 yr world cup final streak probably gonna get broken in 2018.

 

[Polotelli]

and Acerbi is called up as replacement for Barzagli

 

[Allan_Sombrero]

Locatelli who?

Look him up. One of the most talented young midfielders in Italy and he plays in our primavera.

Still looks like such a stupid team..

I wonder when the next good generation will come about. 12 yr world cup final streak probably gonna get broken in 2018.

The same was said of Argentina years ago. Look at them now. Players always pop up and I'm sure Italy will have a very good team by then. A lot can change in 3 years.

 

[necromancer]

Look him up. One of the most talented young midfielders in Italy and he plays in our primavera.



The same was said of Argentina years ago. Look at them now. Players always pop up and I'm sure Italy will have a very good team by then. A lot can change in 3 years.

What about Argentina now?

 

[Allan_Sombrero]

What about Argentina now?

They fixed their non-existent midfield and improved their CBs.

 

[necromancer]

Yes but fixing and improving is something Conte can also do like Argentina has done. Neither midfield or defense would be anything like world beating for either countries.

I'm comparing the current crop of talent to the Italy talent in the 90s and noughties. Compares very poorly.

Look at age group 24-30. Mediocre. That probably rules out any trophies in the next six years or so.

 

[Allan_Sombrero]

Well yes comparing Italy now to the older days does make the talent today look mediocre next to the great players Italy once had. But you don't always need a world class team to win a world cup; if you can form a strong team who complement each other well then you have a good chance of going far. The thing that is really killing Italy and won't let them compete against the big guns is the lack of a regista/anchor.

As for Argentina their midfield is very strong now. This is their midfield now:
Lucas Biglia, Roberto Pereyra, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Javier Pastore, and Angel Di Maria.

This will probably be their starting midfield:
Di Maria-Mascherano-Pastore/Banega

They also have great young midfielders coming up in Matias Kranevitter, Lucas Romero, and Jose Mauri. The defense has some talents, mainly CB, but they still need to find a good RB to replace Zabaleta. That midfield will do well to cover Argentina's defense and aid their world class attack.

It's the same case with Italy now. There is a lot of great players coming up but they need a consistent CF and anchor to truly be a great team.

 

[necromancer]

Well yes comparing Italy now to the older days does make the talent today look mediocre next to the great players Italy once had. But you don't always need a world class team to win a world cup; if you can form a strong team who complement each other well then you have a good chance of going far. The thing that is really killing Italy and won't let them compete against the big guns is the lack of a regista/anchor.

As for Argentina their midfield is very strong now. This is their midfield now:
Lucas Biglia, Roberto Pereyra, Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, Ever Banega, Javier Pastore, and Angel Di Maria.

This will probably be their starting midfield:
Di Maria-Mascherano-Pastore/Banega

They also have great young midfielders coming up in Matias Kranevitter, Lucas Romero, and Jose Mauri. The defense has some talents, mainly CB, but they still need to find a good RB to replace Zabaleta. That midfield will do well to cover Argentina's defense and aid their world class attack.

It's the same case with Italy now. There is a lot of great players coming up but they need a consistent CF and anchor to truly be a great team.

In Argentina's case, apart from Pereyra (and ignoring the youth - which I'll always ignore for reasons I'm stating in the last para), the other players have been involved with the setup for ages. There's nothing new there. 5 years back if you looked at the Argentina 'likely' players, it was the same bunch of guys. We knew their level then and the level is the same now. I dont see any surprises really.

So apply the same logic to Italy. The age group of 23-30 that you're seeing now will be the core of the team involved for 2018 WC and 2020 Euro with at most one or two exceptions of younger players.

And none of these chaps inspire much confidence.

So the 'great players coming up' that you mention are largely youth in the 18-21 age group perhaps. That's 'great' for their age group, but in football there's no guarantee that any of them will improve linearly as they get older. Never happens in real life, but only in FM.

 

[Sage]

marchisio and verratti as 2 of a potential 3 man midfield for the next 2 competitions (euro 16 wc 18) is really good for italy.

question is who'll be taking that 3rd spot. I think pirlo will still be a starter for euro 2016 which is why I think he's staying with juve next season.

 

[necromancer]

Verratti is probably too young to be decisive for Euro 16. I dunno actually; depends largely on how his next season goes.

Marchisio is one of the three as things stand. Pirlo will definitely be too old to start.

Conte is probably thinking Marchisio-Verratti-X. Bertolacci, Soriano or something. Not really world-beaters. Perhaps competitive for Euro.

 

[Sage]

marchisio should obviously be the regista if pirlo isn't considered and if it's not marchisio then it should be de rossi if he picks up his form for the euros.

verratti plays his best football as a rcm, his work rate is great and I think it would actually limit him to play as a regista.

I'm sure pirlo will be starting for italy next year unless he gets an injury or decides to move to qatar/MLS.

 

[necromancer]

If 37 yr old Pirlo starts for Italy at the Euro, you know how poor the current generation is.. Which is my point.

 

[jammin]

What happened to De Rossi?

 

[necromancer]

Decided to not give a damn and be shit in general. Dunno if he'll change his mind.

 

[Mario]

Conte already stated he isn't going to play both DDR and Verratti

His 3 man midfield must consist of 1 player in front of the defense and 2 runners, he sees Verratti as a player in front of the defense

Ideally it'd be Verratti-DDR-Marchisio, that's a damn strong midfield

 

[Sage]

If 37 yr old Pirlo starts for Italy at the Euro, you know how poor the current generation is.. Which is my point.

italian pundits and fans are usually negative on every upcoming italian generation.

let's not forget that italians are late bloomers anyways. I thought marchisio was a below average player in his early 20s and now I highly rate him.

we all know age doesn't mean shit with pirlo, so it doesn't really say much if he's starting for italy next summer as long as he's playing at a high level.

I like to troll about it but conte should ditch the 3-5-2 as italy's main formation, he doesn't have the players for it and it should be used to close down games like how allegri used it in the CL.

 

[necromancer]

Pundits being negative is a separate thing. Italian media just likes to criticize everything. And typically Italian national teams get under-rated globally as most people hardly know/watch individual players since they are largely all from Serie A.

But I'm not usually negative. 2006 - I had bet so much money on Italy against this senior in college that people thought I was crazy. But then,

This generation just does not inspire confidence. I do agree that coaching and tactics typically makes Squadrazzurra perform better than actual constituent talent, but even then..

 

[Polotelli]

Now Bonaventura is also called up, since Verratti isn't 100% fit

 

[milanoldfarts]

The same was said of Argentina years ago. Look at them now. Players always pop up and I'm sure Italy will have a very good team by then. A lot can change in 3 years.

Argentina?
Completely unimpressive
They rely on Messi...a guy who chokes outside of Spain
They also had no business being on the World Cup Final last year

And where did Argentinian Players pop up exactly? Cuz guys like Mascherano have been playing for years and years