I really believe that Abate should be first choice RB for Italy. He's surely good enough for international football and is better than all other options.
I don't agree with saying that no player improved under Leonardo as i do believe Oddo, Antonini and Seedorf improved(funny as they're all scapegoats) But Abate was a shining light last year, but didn't do enough to make all fans like and trust him. Even i had reservations - Key word there being
had
I now believe that Abate is great, he is extremely close to being WC and is already a top-tier RB. Maicon, Dani Alves, Lahm(?) and Sergio Ramos also fill this category, and although Abate is behind all of them, he has age on his side(Not for SR) and will surely improve. He's better defensively than all bar SR and equals each one in pace atleast.. Only problem is his final product, which can be great as shown previously in his career, and he seems to be improving with it.
So as Abate has improved and proved many doubters wrong, myself included, Antonini has regressed. He was great under Leo and pushing for an Italy spot but he disappeared and was much worse this year. I believe it is down to the differing play styles of Allegri and Leo. Leo gave more freedom to Antonini and we weren't punished by the flanks often.. A lot of problems were from central penetration due to the horrible positioning and working of the midfield. Antonini exploited this and looked good. Now, earlier this season he was terrible. Everyone and I feared him playing as he seemed to atleast guarantee a game ruining mistake every match, but now he's also come on greatly aswell.
I believe Allegri finally drilled the positioning and defensive play which was needed for this system and Anto finally seems to have grasped it - Not as quick as Abate but he's older - Antonini has improved greatly since his horror ridden days of earlier this year and that's a great thing. I would still like a new LB(Unless Urby and/or Didac proves me wrong) but Janku and Anto have certified that we'll be fine until the end of the year.
So props to Allegri for improving them. And props to both WBs for willing to learn and improve for the team... Abate will be great and Antonini will soon be at Juventus.