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Berardi was very good down the right wing for Italy, by far their most creative player. I wonder if he would be interested in a move to England.

I've heard a lot about Barella but didn't think much of his performance tonight. Immobile was similarly pedestrian outside of his goal.

Hard to read too much into this one though because Turkey were absolutely toothless.

Edit - I forgot to mention Spinazzola at well who I thought was tremendous. Given his age and position, not sure we would poach him from Roma, but maybe we can hope Fonseca will work with Regy the same way.
 
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Smogz said:
You won't have a chance against Italy
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Talking out of your hole. Even when England have been shocking in the past, it's always been close games against Italy in tournament football. To say an England side that's now much better, at least on paper, doesn't have a chance against what is the poorest Italy side in many years is absolute nonsense. The last time England played and lost to Italy, in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out, the only real difference was Andrea Pirlo, and he's retired. And England were generally garbage then. Give your head a wobble.
 
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TylerB said:
Talking out of your hole. Even when England have been shocking in the past, it's always been close games against Italy in tournament football. To say an England side that's now much better, at least on paper, doesn't have a chance against what is the poorest Italy side in many years is absolute nonsense. The last time England played and lost to Italy, in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out, the only real difference was Andrea Pirlo, and he's retired. And England were generally garbage then. Give your head a wobble.
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It's not 2017 anymore. This Italy side, while lacking superstars on paper, is a well-oiled machine with some pretty decent talent like Pellegrini (missing yesterday), Spinazzola, Barella, Sensi (injured just like Zaniolo), Raspadori etc. And not to forget, more importantly of all, it's still Italy, so they can still play for a penalty, and be happy with a 1-0 while you're trying to get past a Bonucci-Chiellini-Bastoni defence with Donnarumma in goal. Elitism never works against Italy, just ask the Germans...
 
Darnswim said:
It's not 2017 anymore. This Italy side, while lacking superstars on paper, is a well-oiled machine with some pretty decent talent like Pellegrini (missing yesterday), Spinazzola, Barella, Sensi (injured just like Zaniolo), Raspadori etc. And not to forget, more importantly of all, it's still Italy, so they can still play for a penalty, and be happy with a 1-0 while you're trying to get past a Bonucci-Chiellini-Bastoni defence with Donnarumma in goal. Elitism never works against Italy, just ask the Germans...
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And your point?

It's still the worst Italy side I can remember. I've not said that they aren't still a pretty good side, a difficult side to play against, so I have no idea what you're really rambling about as if I've said differently.

If England play them I'd quite fancy our chances, certainly more than I did back in 2014 when they beat us on penalties and Pirlo put on a masterclass. Italy can win it, as can a number of sides, but I certainly wouldn't put them among the top few favourites. And turning over a dog shit Turkey side that looked like they would rather be anywhere else last night isn't going to change my opinion.
 
TylerB said:
And your point?

It's still the worst Italy side I can remember. I've not said that they aren't still a good side, a difficult side to play against, so I have no idea what you're really rambling about as if I've said differently.

If England play them I'd quite fancy our chances, certainly more than I did back in 2014 when they beat us on penalties and Pirlo put on a masterclass.
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That was 2012. In 2014 they beat you 2-1, and were even a worse side than the 2012 version, while England were better with Sterling-Rooney-Sturridge. If this is the worst Italy side that you can remember, then your memory doesn't go further than 2018, because the 2010 and especially the 2017 version under Ventura was actually dreadful. Names don't make squads in international football, it's been proven by the belgians, portugese, english etc. It's why if I had to pick between Italy and Portugal in a knockout fixture, I'd always pick Italy even if Portugal have incredible talent.
 
Darnswim said:
That was 2012. In 2014 they beat you 2-1, and were even a worse side than the 2012 version, while England were better with Sterling-Rooney-Sturridge. If this is the worst Italy side that you can remember, then your memory doesn't go further than 2018, because the 2010 and especially the 2017 version under Ventura was actually dreadful. Names don't make squads in international football, it's been proven by the belgians, portugese, english etc. It's why if I had to pick between Italy and Portugal in a knockout fixture, I'd always pick Italy even if Portugal have incredible talent.
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Sterling was hopeless then in an England shirt, and Sturridge was often played out wide, and never shone for England anyway for all his talent. That attack, on paper, was nowhere near as strong as it is now. Regardless of how Italy played this year or that year, you're not going to change my mind that this is the weakest looking Italian side I can remember off the top of my head. They don't have anything like the amount of world-class players they generally have had over the years. That's not to say that you can't still have a good team and do well in tournaments if you're not littered with genuine world-class players.
 
TylerB said:
Talking out of your hole. Even when England have been shocking in the past, it's always been close games against Italy in tournament football. To say an England side that's now much better, at least on paper, doesn't have a chance against what is the poorest Italy side in many years is absolute nonsense. The last time England played and lost to Italy, in a quarter-final penalty shoot-out, the only real difference was Andrea Pirlo, and he's retired. And England were generally garbage then. Give your head a wobble.
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The poorest Italy side that has 56-3 in goals in their latest 17 games, only 3 draws and the rest wins. It's the best Italy side in many years. But we'll see.
 
I'd put Italy in the same boat as England. A couple of world-class players and a lot of very, very good players, and young players who have the potential to be world-class. You can definitely make more of a a case for them having a better manager than us, and also being more of a cohesive unit than ourselves.
 
Smogz said:
The poorest Italy side that has 56-3 in goals in their latest 17 games, only 3 draws and the rest wins. It's the best Italy side in many years. But we'll see.
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Not on paper it's not. And if you want to go with records outside of tournaments , England would also be right up there, as we often breeze through qualifying for both the Euro's and World Cup.

Man for man this Italy side is nowhere near as strong as previous ones. They don't have a Maldini. They don't have a Pirlo. They don't have a Totti.

When they inevitably get knocked out by a better side than them I won't bother saying told you so.
 
TylerB said:
Not on paper it's not. And if you want to go with records outside of tournaments , England would also be right up there, as we often breeze through qualifying for both the Euro's and World Cup.

Man for man this Italy side is nowhere near as strong as previous ones. They don't have a Maldini. They don't have a Pirlo. They don't have a Totti.
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On paper isn't really interesting. Look at how they play and the results. That's what matters. Should have known you were a, on paper - guy already at the first post and not wasted my time with your posts.
 
Smogz said:
On paper isn't really interesting. Look at how they play and the results. That's what matters. Should have known you were a, on paper - guy already at the first post and not wasted my time with your posts.
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Well I already said I was talking about how strong they looked 'on paper' many posts ago, you daft Swedish imbecile. Now go away and fawn over Italy like a little weirdo.

P.S, Love you really.
 
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I loved watching Italy yesterday. I was expecting a similar level to Conte's 2017 side, and honestly I think this one is slightly better (but certainly not tournament winning material, and nothing to worry teams like England , France or Portugal of course).
I had fun watching the attitude of this team and I am going to enjoy this expectation free tournament. Let's hope to go through the group ... nothing should be taken for granted for the level we are

I may have written Mancini off too soon. I always thought he is the most successful useless manager on the planet, but I think he's doing a good job with the quality he's got ... certainly pleasant to watch. I loved the passing

Avanti cosi' 👍 🇮🇹
 
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