From Donnarumma to Barella, passing through sticks and tonals: there are four, perhaps five, the excellence in the blue team. And the horizon does not offer reassuring scenarios
Worse than mediocrity, there is not realizing that you are. Commenting on Oslo’s disaster, the president of the FIGC Gabriele Gravina, while underlining the epic fool, said Norway is a battleship. Opinions, respectable even if not acceptable. But in his judgment Gravina took the photograph of that game on the backlight: the problem was not Norway, battleship or good team that it is, but Italy, overwhelmed by its own mediocrity before even from very strong opponents in attack and normal in the other departments. Having said that Spalletti has never seemed the right man and that he made some serious mistakes in his adventure as CT, the fact remains that the group of the blues and also that of the blue ones is of a poverty rarely found in the history of the national team. By hypothesizing with generous optimism the qualification to the World Cup (obviously through the playoffs because the direct pass seems really unlikely), what path could we expect? Net of draws, calendar, positive or negative episodes, there are at least seven teams of a largely higher level: in a scattered order Argentina, Spain, Brazil, France, England, Germany, Portugal. And then another group of national teams that at this moment we would put in front of Italy. We know that the great summer tournaments grant surprises and betray the predictions, but Italy would go to the World Cup to participate. A step forward compared to the last two editions seen on the sofa, but a situation of disarming sadness. Today we miss a coach, because Spalletti’s heir has not yet been announced. Soon there will be, but high -level players will continue. And this is the awareness from which to start for a wide -ranging analysis. Spalletti, leaving the Azzurri, reiterated that he considered them strong. We cannot nor do we want to enter his head, however they seem phrases of circumstance rather than credible technical judgments. Also because the flanges taken from competitive but not transcendental opponents (from Switzerland to Norway) transmit other sensations. And to better frame the problem, just venture an answer to the simplest question: what are the Italian players to consider among the best in the world in their respective roles? Definitely Gigio Donnarumma. And then there are three who deserve the quote and in -depth analysis: Nicolò Barella, Sandro Tonali, Alessandro Bastoni.
Gigio ei (few) other tops
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The goalkeeper is a champion. After the European Champions League he also conquered. In the final it was possible to allow the game to be attended due to the domination of his companions on Inter, but the triumph of PSG depends largely on his exceptional and decisive parade in previous shifts. Donnarumma is a worldwide excellence. Widening the speech to the other roles, however, there are very few blues who deserve insertion in the international elite. Barella grew up a lot under the guidance of Simone Inzaghi, he learned to always stay inside the game, to manage the forward races, to read the development of the race well tactically. There are not many stronger middle ones than him, also because he knows how to raise the turns of the engine and also organize the maneuver much better than he did some time ago. The bad ending must not make the many positive tests forget, even if in the last season it has been less continuous than the previous one. Tonali is adding further intensity because the premier does not allow slowdowns. After the long stop and the recovery, Sandro showed an important potential. He still lacks something to be able to make the last qualitative leap, but he is certainly another great player. This year he has always done the midfield plant, sometimes to two, sometimes alone in front of the defense. Different speech, however, for sticks. The defender often has an excellent performance as the arm of a three -way department, while at four it is more in difficulty. And also in his favorite role he suffers from dangerous amnesias. He is now 26 years old, the age in which defenders begin to reach full maturity and limit errors. The next season, in a different context from the one in which he was at ease, will give us the exact size of his value. The potential is remarkable. In the restricted list we could also insert Federico Dimarco, at least as regards the quality of the left foot and the individual technique. He too has expressed himself under his own possibilities this year and offered a fluctuating performance. But there are not many exteriors able to do up and down many times at high speed and always put inviting balls in the middle. It is true that in a different form from 3-5-2 Inzaghiano Dimarco could find some more problems since in the defensive phase the gaps are still evident.
Other than excellence
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The rest of the painting is bleak and it comes to think that the triumph in the 2021 European Championship was paradoxically harmful because it prevented reality with carefully evaluating. In that team there were players with a talent higher than that of the current rose. Who would you entrust today the last ball of a game in the balance hoping for dribbling, an invention, a decisive play? Here, a credible candidate does not exist. Italy is poor in quality and the need to find some talent also determines some blunders in the assessments. Di Lorenzo is certainly not the disaster of Euro2024, but not even a world -class full -back. Cambiaso is a modern and advanced player, but still looking for identity and too often the protagonist of serious mistakes. Calafiori is following a virtuous path, but is linked to a particular game system. In attack we have been waiting for a great champion for years, Church has been lost after the serious injury and to combat the nostalgia of the cannonieri of the past, it is aimed at the explosion of Camarda to whom it was made a year between benches and series C. The 10 disappeared. And to certify the lack of championship or at least of excellent players there is the inexorable law of the market: who wants the Italian footballers? Nobody. The great European clubs and the whole premier have an economic potential that would allow the purchase of any player in Serie A. If the Italians remain outside the negotiations, there will be a reason. And unfortunately it concerns the technical level. Manchester City has recently demonstrated it. In January he seemed interested in Cambiaso and Juve certainly would not oppose the sale. Guardiola rethought us quickly. A couple of weeks ago he decided to invest in Reijnders and the Dutchman was presented yesterday. Of the Italian footballers, almost no one trusts. And it is a bad feeling, which however must open our eyes: we are the problem, not the opponents, not the coach, not the tactic on which we are prepared. We can also be strong, every now and then: if we run, we help, defend ourselves, optimize the characteristics. But we can’t be good enough because we miss the foundations. We are unable to arrange with quality and when we are tired and confused we can lose with many national teams. Understanding it is the first step to start again.
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