Italy once again fell in the World Cup qualifiers, missed the World Cup for two consecutive times, and this time was eliminated at home by North Macedonia, which is absolutely unacceptable to the fans. But compared to the World Cup qualifiers 4 years ago, which was eliminated ugly and ugly, Mancini's failure to lead Italy to success this time is not so unforgivable, why do you say so? See the instructions below:
1. Excellent record endorsement, UEFA Nations League third place, European Championship to win the championship
Mancini's transformation of the team after taking over the Italian national team was quite clear, and in the 2018 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers, Italy played two games against Sweden, with Verratti and Gioginho each serving as the midfield core of one of them. Mancini put two midfielders with excellent organizational skills on the field at the same time, strengthening the team's ball control ability, supplemented by Niccolò Barrera, who has strong midfield running ability, so that the team's defensive ability in midfield is not too bad.
Although the main 433 formation is played, in attack, the left-back will become a left-wingback, forming a three-centre-back position, whether it is Leonardo Spinazzola or Emerson on the field, Italy's position is clearly left-wing. Italy also relied on this formation to play a stunning performance at the European Cup, becoming the first country in the history of the tournament to win all three games in the group stage and concede 0 goals, and finally won the three strong teams of Belgium, Spain and England in the knockout stage.
Of course, there are many people who say that Mancini's Italy won the penalty shoot-out in the match against Spain and England, there is a certain element of luck, this is indeed an undeniable fact, in such a strong showdown, the country with both luck and strength can win the championship, which is why it is so difficult to take the World Cup and the European Championship, the glory of the international tournament is so important to footballers, not to mention, Italy still hurt the core of the attack Spinazzola, and can also connect Spain and England, It's hard to say it's all about luck.
2. Jorginho's two penalties are not the sole responsibility of the coach
The reason why Italy will fall into a life-and-death qualifier, injuries and player status decline after the European Championship, so that they only have a record of 1 win and 4 draws in the World Cup qualifiers after the European Cup, the most critical thing is that the two games for Switzerland are all tied, everyone knows that Jorginho has the opportunity to win penalties in these two games, but neither time has scored, once directly confiscated by Swiss goalkeeper Jan Somore, the other directly kicked, as long as the two goals are kicked in, then the person who plays the qualifier will be Switzerland.
Penalties are not so easy to play, especially in key games The penalty is more stressful, but it is not common for the same player to face the same team to lose two consecutive penalties, in the penalty matter, the coach can only do to assign players, in and out of the game is almost not the coach can decide, nor is the tactical design can change the result, you can question why Mancini let Jorginho play for the second time, but Jorginho himself is a player with strong penalty ability, Once again choosing to believe him does not seem to be an outrageous decision, if the result of the temporary substitution is still a loss, public opinion may review why the penalty shooter should be removed.
3. The content of the qualifiers is not bad, and it is unfortunate to lose in the world wave
Fans who watched the day's game know that Italy actually played not badly, the state of the players has also rebounded a lot from after the European Cup, in spinazzola and Chiesa Jr., two players with strong breakthrough ability are absent due to injury, Italy is still relying on team strength and cooperation to create a lot of scoring opportunities, 32 shots compared to North Macedonia's 5 times, 16 corners to 0, such a gap is very huge.
But football is like that, it's better than whether there are points or not, and when there is bad luck, it is difficult to convert more shots into goals. Let's think back to the Goal of Italy in the European Cup Final, the corner kick was picked up by the far point of Bonucci to play the key tie, that goal can be said to be a great component of luck, the ball just happened to come to the side of the Italian players, but in this game against North Macedonia, whether it is a sports war shot or a set-piece, the ball that bounced out did not have the luck at the time, but the opponent played a super difficult long-range shot under the opportunity of not a chance, and it was unfortunate to be killed by the super world wave.
4. There are many wounded soldiers, spinazzola and Chiesa are absent from the two major breakthroughs
After the European Championship matches, everyone knows Spinazzola and Chiesa, Spinazzola is a very important role in Mancini's tactics, his back-in assists and excellent sense of rhythm, can cut inside, after cutting inside, you can choose to shoot or pass high-quality passes, the European Cup relies on his pass, assisting Chieza to knock on the opponent's door in the round of 16 against Austria.
In the match against North Macedonia, due to the difference in strength between the two teams, Emerson almost attacked in the front court throughout the game, but he did not perform too well, and Insigne and Immobile were the lowest rated players in the game after the game.
On the right, Chiesa's ability to break through is lacking, and under the opponent's dense defense, Italy has no way to tear apart North Macedonia's disciplined defensive strategy and cannot create enough space, so it is often seen that Inmobile and Berardi have repeatedly shot with their feet, but most of them are blocked by opposing defenders, and they have not really threatened the North Macedonian goalkeeper.
5. The league does not cooperate with the postponement, and it is difficult to practice the second set of tactics
After the success of the European Cup, in addition to injuries and the decline in the status of the players, the teams also studied the way Italy attacked, and the Italian side lacked two players who could bring about a change in rhythm and make it difficult for the other side to predict, resulting in the flow and transfer of the ball on the field not fast enough.
Capello said Italy should not go through the control flow, but play the oppressive fast conduction that German coaches like. In fact, Italy really can't come up with too many world-renowned superstar players now, but the two major midfielders Verratti and Gioginho are one of the few superstars in the team, and the Italian kicking and control flow with these two people is difficult to say that there is too much of a problem, not to mention that this set has proved feasible in the European Nations League and the European Championship.
So do you need to abandon the original way of playing? Personally do not think it is necessary, but there is indeed a second set of copies, but the time left for Mancini is not enough, there has been news that there has been news that I hope serie A can make way for the national team, the league postponement of the previous week does not play, let the national team train early, but in the end it did not materialize, so we see that before the important World Cup qualifiers, the Roma derby is still playing on the night of the 20th, di Lorenzo is also injured in the round of the league, from the end of the 20th team matches, to the 24th game, Some players have less than 3 days left from registration to the game, can the team spare time to practice new tactics?
6. The selection of youth training materials has indeed encountered bottlenecks
After Italy was eliminated, a wave of voices reviewing the Youth Academy of Serie A re-emerged, and the Milan Sport newspaper took out the data as evidence, hoping that Italy could improve the youth training system.
Compared with Spain, Germany and France, which won the World Cup in 2006, the proportion of foreign players in Serie A in the second half of 2021 was as high as 64%, 54.1% in the Bundesliga, 41.5% in La Liga and 39.4% in Ligue 1. In August last year, Cies announced the top league TOP100 U20 players, four each from Spain and Germany, three from France and 0 from Italy.
In the second half of 2021, the local youth training accounted for 17.5% of the team's first-team appearance time, 17.5%, Ligue 11, 10.1% of the Bundesliga, and only 7.4% of serie A.
Serie A is really reluctant to give young players too many opportunities to play, especially in the big teams, all teams have record pressure, coupled with Italian players do not like to go abroad, many young players may have to be loaned to Serie B, in the most important stage of growth, there is no better way to cultivate. Some media say that Italy does not lack talented players like Foden, but they are often stifled before they shine.
Do the unfinished business
After staying behind by the FA, Mancini decided to stay and complete the unfinished business, saying that although the exit was disappointing, he was still happy to have been affirmed in the past 4 years, and everything needed to start again.
After the World Cup elimination, Mancini can be said to be back to the original point, and then through the UEFA League to find a way to help Italy succeed in the European Cup, this is the same situation as he took over the team 4 years ago, the difference is that he has built the team style in the past 4 years, injecting his own DNA into the team.
There are still two years to start now until Euro 2024, when the two major midfielders Jorginho are 32 years old and Verratti are 31 years old, neither of them is the age to be replaced, but if the two are still present at the same time, the team's midfield running ability will indeed be worrying, not to mention the World Cup, the two players are basically too old, so Mancini really has to start over, and the midfielder should consider how to make Tonali, Pellegrini, Locatelli and these two main players work. These players are indeed not the organizational style of Jorginho and Verratti.
The shortage of forwards is a problem, because Mobile and Belotti are not as good as the league in the national team, and the difference in tactics is also a reason. Young players are too young, although there are many good players on the wing, but they are in the center, and there are not many people with good back-to-back ability to carry the ball.
But from the perspective of the European Championship, the second set of play outside the ball control is indeed necessary, the reality is that the Italian forward can currently stand on the table the only thing left is Skamaca, Mancini obviously knows this situation, is expected to make Kamaka start in the friendly match against Turkey, how the effect is to be observed, there is news that he will leave the team this summer, see if he can go to the giants to exercise.
On the one hand, his age is also 32 years old, and it is reasonable to withdraw from the national team to concentrate on club competitions, plus he has not received much affirmation in the national team in recent years, and indeed in terms of data, Bemobile has not shown his performance in Serie A.
In addition to the forwards, the biggest problem is the defender, the current Italian center-back is seriously faulty, especially there is no good mesozoic player, this time the central defenders who are called into the national team, in addition to the 3 old Chiellini, Bonucci and Archerby, there are two 25-year-old Mancini Jr., Luis Felipe and 22-year-old Bastoni, this age distribution can clearly feel that the Mesozoic defender does not exist.
In the match against North Macedonia, Mancini chose Bastoni with Mancini Jr., of course, part of which can be expected that the team will dominate the possession advantage, allowing Chiellini and Bonucci to rest and prepare for the possible match against Portugal later. But frankly it is a bit risky, after all, Mancini Jr.'s national team does not play much, Bastoni played in a three-back formation at Inter, fortunately the two played well in the game, except for Mancini Jr. who had a major mistake, there were not too many problems in the defensive line, and Bastoni also continued to maintain his frequent attacking characteristics.
But the opponent is North Macedonia after all, the position of central defender especially needs the cultivation of experience, in the face of a truly world-class team, Bastoni, Luis Felipe, Mancini Jr. after all, the competition experience is not enough, but also need more competition training, and in addition to these 3 people, whether Italy can find new good seedlings will also be the key to the future of the Blueshirts.