Group E (Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Ireland): Page 2 - The Arsenal discussion community: One More in the Tolly

Group E (Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Ireland)

Rex

Yeah, I don't really watch the NT as well. They are pretty unwatchable, unfortunately.

Biggus

Good, Ireland should beat them then.

mentalvortex

Italy declare 30 man provisional squad.

Goalkeepers - Buffon (Juventus), Sirigu (PSG), Marchetti (Lazio)

Defenders - Astori (Fiorentina), Barzagli (Juventus), Bonucci (Juventus), Chiellini (Juventus), Darmian (Manchester United), Ogbonna (West Ham), Rugani (Juventus), De Sciglio (Milan), Zappacosta (Torino)

Midfielders - Benassi (Torino), Bonaventura (Milan), Candreva (Lazio), De Rossi (Roma), Florenzi (Roma), Giaccherini (Bologna), Jorginho (Napoli), Montolivo (Milan), Motta (PSG), Parolo (Lazio), Stuaro (Juventus)

Forwards - Bernadeschi (Fiorentina), Eder (Inter), El Shaarawy(Roma), Immobile (Torino), Insigne (Napoli), Pelle (Southampton), Zaza (Juventus)

Not impressed with this squad. Quite unremarkable midfield and forward line.

Clrnc

What an underwhelming squad. No Giovinco is the most retarded decision ever.

jones

Several odd omissions and picks, no way Eder deserves his place instead of Pavoletti and if we're talking about taking a talented youngster Gabbiadini should be ahead of Bernardeschi.

Still a lot of talent to work with if Conte has the balls to play a young and nimble forward line with the likes of Insigne and El Shaarawy. Losing Verratti would be a massive blow to every team in the world but I fear Italy's biggest problem will be what I expect to be an uninspiring lineup by Conte

ElGeniodeOviedo

Weak selections at FB, but every side bar Spain is. The forward line could actually be quite good if Conte was tempted to make El Sharaawy his center forward, as Jones has pointed out, but I fully expect he will shoehorn Pelle or Zaza in there. Still expect them to beat the likes of Sweden and Ireland very, very easily and are even odds against the Belgians for me.

jones

Yeah, he should aim to emulate the way Roma play under Spalletti especially in his first few weeks, an interchangeable frontline of El Shaarawy, Insigne and even Zaza as a Vardy type would work very well I think. Giaccherini as strange as it sounds always performs for the NT as well for some reason, the Italian Welbeck.

Their midfield badly misses Marchisio and Verratti but they could cope if they built on a solid intelligent three man CM with Motta, Jorginho and maybe even Candreva. I'm a fan of Florenzi but it feels ages I've seen him actually play centrally, he's been a right back for the majority of the season I think. Back line picks itself depending on whether you play Florenzi at CM or RB

Anyway, watch Conte fuck it up by going 3-5-2 and playing Pelle and Eder and a midfield that Sunderland would be proud of

Bryant

how in the world did Franco Vazquez not get into that provisional 30?

jones

Completely forgot about him, embarrassing, both for me and Conte. Read an interview of the latter where he said that for players to get into the squad who weren't part of it already when they qualified they'd have to be twice as good as his current batch, all you need to know about how he's looking at this tournament really

Klaus

Saponara, Vazquez and Berardi should all have been included in my opinion. Pirlo too since they're going to miss Verratti and Marchisio.

Personally I would have picked Pavoletti ahead of both Zaza and Pelle too.

Klaus

jones wrote:
Their midfield badly misses Marchisio and Verratti but they could cope if they built on a solid intelligent three man CM with Motta, Jorginho and maybe even Candreva.

De Rossi surely?

jones

Saponara certainly, we were talking about him just the other day. I'm a big fan of Berardi but he didn't have the best of seasons to be fair.

De Rossi has had a horrible season, was injured a lot and even when fit Spalletti has left him on the bench a couple of times most notably in the recent game vs Napoli which was more or less a cup final for them. Roma looked a lot better without him, even the ancient Keita looks more comfortable for them than he does

Klaus

I know he's had a poor season, but still. He tends to do well for the national team. I wouldn't leave him on the bench when they didn't pick Pirlo and are already without Verratti and Marchisio.

Berardi had a bit of a mixed season, agreed. I can see why he was left out too. I reckon you want players in a Euro squad who can do something extraordinary when it really matters though. Guys like Bernardeschi and Zaza are just pointless fillers by contrast. I have no idea what they're doing on the short list.

ElGeniodeOviedo

De Rossi is pretty much past it at this point, from what I've seen and read. Italy's strongest position is defensive/box to box midfielder as well. Jorginho, Motta, Sturaro, Montolivo, and Florenzi can play there as well. Not really a lot of pace/offensive nous in those options though which is where there miss someone like Veratti or Sapponara. Playing Motta plus two work horses is fine, but not ideal given Italy's lack of firepower up top. Montolivo fits the need based on profile but is a bit shit in my opinion. I haven't seen much of Bonaventura but Italy will be much better off in terms of balance if he can do even a 7/10 Pirlo/Veratti as he occupies that sort of role/space on the pitch.

Bryant

Based on that squad list, we're going see the stereotypical Italy that's going to heavily rely on catenaccio and parking the bus.

jones

Klaus wrote:
I know he's had a poor season, but still. He tends to do well for the national team. I wouldn't leave him on the bench when they didn't pick Pirlo and are already without Verratti and Marchisio.

Berardi had a bit of a mixed season, agreed. I can see why he was left out too. I reckon you want players in a Euro squad who can do something extraordinary when it really matters though. Guys like Bernardeschi and Zaza are just pointless fillers by contrast. I have no idea what they're doing on the short list.

The whole responsibility for the extraordinary is basically on Insigne and El Shaarawy. Bit of a shame as Italian football is certainly on the up at the moment

And I know you don't rate him (like you barely acknowledge him as a fellow human :lol🙂 but I think Zaza should probably start centrally looking at their other options. He has good work rate, knows where the goal is and can run faster than 10km/h which is more than you can say about the other central options. Pelle is a good little player for Southampton but give me a break, there's a reason he's spent his career in Holland and fucking Southampton.

Clrnc

Pelle reminds me of Iaquinta and he will probably fulfill such a role for them in Euros. Only needed when chasing a game and where they need a plan B.

Thinking about those days Italy squad was amazing compared to the dross now. I actually fancy Sweden and Ireland giving them a good game.

Gurgen

I'll be supporting Belgium this Euros. If they don't walk this group I'll be very surprised. That Italy squad 😆

Klaus

jones wrote:
And I know you don't rate him (like you barely acknowledge him as a fellow human :lol🙂 but I think Zaza should probably start centrally looking at their other options. He has good work rate, knows where the goal is and can run faster than 10km/h which is more than you can say about the other central options.

He got more yellow cards than goals this season playing as a striker. And he still only managed 6 cards. He's a houseboat footballer. I'd start Eder up front . He's had a terrible 5 months at Inter but at least he's a class footballer.

Looking at the squad closer I notice that Acerbi didn't make the cut either. Way to go Conte. This is going to end worse than Prandelli's last tournament.

jones

Klaus wrote:
jones wrote:
And I know you don't rate him (like you barely acknowledge him as a fellow human :lol🙂 but I think Zaza should probably start centrally looking at their other options. He has good work rate, knows where the goal is and can run faster than 10km/h which is more than you can say about the other central options.

He got more yellow cards than goals this season playing as a striker. And he still only managed 6 cards. He's a houseboat footballer. I'd start Eder up front . He's had a terrible 5 months at Inter but at least he's a class footballer.

Eder looked absolute horseshit, tbf most attackers do under Mancini but the couple Inter matches I caught he was beyond disgraceful. He's a good footballer and had a decent first half of the season but I don't think he'll amount to anything for Italy the way he played the last six months

Zaza scored just five league goals but barely saw any playing time, and even so that's just two goals less than your boy Morata. I don't even rate him that highly but he'd be a better choice than the other blokes Conte nominated and if it's just because he can run and open up spaces for Insigne and El Shaarawy.

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