Roberto Mancini continues to ‘believe Italy are a great team’ after dropping into the World Cup play-offs, although they seem a shadow of the side that were crowned European Champions in July.
The Azzurri knew they had to beat Northern Ireland in Belfast and hope Switzerland didn’t bump up their goal difference against Bulgaria, but a 0-0 draw at Windsor Park and the Swiss 4-0 domination made it a clear-cut case.
“I am disappointed,” said the CT in his press conference in Belfast, where no opponent was able to score in this World Cup qualifying group.
Northern Ireland end the campaign with a 1-0 win over Lithuania and three 0-0 draws in their home stadium.
Ultimately, qualification was lost during the two draws with Switzerland, in which Jorginho failed to convert two penalties.
“We made life complicated for ourselves and qualification should’ve been sealed at least two games ago. We had the chances and didn’t take them, now we’ve got to keep our feet on the ground, because there is still the possibility of qualifying for the World Cup.”
Just four months after impressing everyone by winning UEFA EURO 2020 and setting a new all-time world unbeaten run record of 37 games, Mancini finds himself dealing with a depressed Italy.
“I continue to believe that we are a great team. This is a difficult moment, we threw away qualification that we had in our hands.
“We’ve got to rediscover our calm for March and continue playing, because today we were up against a Northern Ireland team that only defended.
“It will be different in March, these are knockout fixtures, and so there will be far more opportunities to play and win.”
The route to the 2022 World Cup is far more complicated than in 2018, as only three of the 12 teams entering the play-offs will get a ticket to the tournament.
There is a seeded draw, then a semi-final and Final.
“I believe we will go to the World Cup, as we have two games to play and will be sure to do it right.”
Mancini had some excuses to fall back on in Belfast, because he was missing 11 players, including key figures like Marco Verratti, Giorgio Chiellini, Ciro Immobile, Leonardo Spinazzola, Nicolò Zaniolo, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Davide Calabria.
“I think everyone is dealing with a lot of injuries at this stage of the season, but despite that, we had the wins in hand both against Switzerland and Northern Ireland. We’ve been in football too long to deny there are moments when it just isn’t working. Fortunately, we can still qualify.
“There’s no point looking for reasons now why we are in this situation, all we can do is prepare for March.”
What a goal that would have been! 😩
Northern Ireland 0-0 Italy 👀
📺 Watch live on Sky Sports Premier League pic.twitter.com/hhTMBtE9Y5
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) November 15, 2021
“There’s no point looking for reasons now why we are in this situation.”
Really??! Over the next few months that is exactly what he should be doing. Identify what went wrong and attempt to rectify it. It sounds as if he’s going down that stubborn road that’s led us to many failures/embarrassments in the past. I don’t expect him to try alternatives to Insigne, Di Lorenzo, Acerbi and even Jorginho who appears to have let all the hype surrounding him get to his head.
I blame Allegri. Since his return Mancini has been to several matches at the Allianz and seen the ghosts of catenaccio. How does he not play Di Marco instead of Emerson. Kean is the only centre forward with pace and can get in between the defence, unlike Immobile who is not mobile. The midfield is being changes too often and for god sake do not let Berna take any more corners. If you cannot beat the first man there is no point having bodies in the box. Berardi is Berardi, never had the fortitude to move to Juve or Inter and is good in less pressurising moments like Sassuolo, but not at the highest levels. Insigne can be frustrating always looking to curl the ball and bend it in. Sometimes you just have to put your laces through it and smash it. I just hope Portugal and we can get through as England must be stopped from fluking it with another easy draw in Qatar.
Was it me or did this Italy go into the game with no real belief of winning. There was no urgency right form the word go. Switzerland were never going to lose and clearly we’re going to score 3 or 4 goals. It should have been get at them from the word go with long balls and crosses. Instead we passed forward, back and then back again. No urgency, no belief and worst of all no passion. Mancini you really do need to look at a terrible qualifying campaign and ask questions. I fear this is two world cups we will now miss, no way we will win with this attitude. How the mighty fall
It’s a real shame that Mancini continues to rely on the Euro 2020 champions instead of freshening up the team, when it is so obvious that is what is needed. Emerson, Acerbi and Insigne should not be playing, replaced by DiMarco, Mancini and Scamacca. Based on his early season form El Sharaway deserved a recall, as did Politano. Calabria when fit is the best right back in Italy.
Belotti should not be picked for Italy moving forward and the less said about Bernadeschi the better. Esposito is currently scoring in the Swiss league and Pinamonti has also started the season well. Based on how dejected he was after the penalty miss, Jorginho should also have been benched. Cristante is not Roma or Italy quality.
Italy hasn’t played well in the last 3 games. Not bake to beat Bulgaria should have sounded the alarm that this team does not work anymore. I think Manicini is great but his lineups amd technical prep have not been all that great.
Why insist on a false 9 when we already know it doesn’t work?
The first half was a total waste. A possession game with balm passed around and nothing created in the box. Chiesa tried but couldn’t get much done amd should have moved to the false 9 position. Insigne should have been in his usual spot amd stretch the defense instead of playing in the middle where he is not helpful.
Strategically this was just a mess.
Please can anyone tell me how the playoff groups work?? I thought In each of the the playoff groups each team will play the other 3 and the number 1 team will play the 4th in one SF and the 2nd vs 3rd in the other SF. So every team has to play atleast 4 matches?? But only 2 matches is mentioned .. so how does that work??
Mancini has to take load of the blame. He should’ve taken off Jorghino from penalty duties after 2 misses in a row. He made a big mistake of not starting Chiesa in the away match with Swiss. When anyways we are not scoring with the forwards we have why not try Lucca or give Scamacca a proper chance?? I think Destro and Politano should’ve been given a chance. Team is too predictable and with many players off .. new hungry energetic players should have been brought in. Fratessi?? Di Lorenzo is a defensive liability .. Calabria, Darmian, Di Marco should play instead. But who will replace Bonucci and Chiellini going forward with current stop gap Acerbi another liability! Can Mancini and Bastoni pairing work??
I don’t know how the playoffs work but to look from a positive point of view just qualifying after last misses wouldn’t suffice and then go and perform badly in the tournament .. so instead having to work hard to get there .. sorting out all the issues will only be helpful going forward. Hopefully we don’t have so many injuries going into the Playoffs and get back Spinazzola in top form along with the likes of Pellegrini and Verratti, also with Chiellini back!
Very disheartened and upset .. but still hopeful we’ll qualify 🤞Forza Azzurri Sempre 🇮🇹👍👊💙
Roy the way it works is 6 teams will be seeded so far confirmed seeds are Portugal Italy Scotland and Russia . So these teams can’t meet in first game . However if they win first game against non seeded teams they could meet each other in next game . So it like 3 groups of 4 teams and in each group will be 2 seeded teams . Example Portugal v Austria semi 1 plays Russia v n Macedonia semi 2
Essentially Roy Italy are royally screwed . So first fe would be at home but 2nd game is a draw for home advantage . This is way more complex than 4 years ago
THANKS @Tom. Hopefully we still make it 🤞
Amazing how just one spot kick can change everything! If he made just one out of two spot kicks against Switzerland, everybody would be talking about how great Italy was and everyone would be certain that Italy will win the World Cup!
Yup.
Or if in the Bulgaria match played in Florence, Florenzi doesn’t slip and Acerbi knew how to defend properly, we don’t concede and end 1-1.
Or if in the match in Basel when Locatelli sent Berardi in for a 1 v 1 with Sommer and he did anything else besides shoot weakly directly to the gloves of Sommer, we wouls have picked up 3 Points there.
He could have shot left, shot right, or went around him and slotted it in. Instead Sommer was relieved to see the ball being PLACED directly into his welcoming hands.
To me, Jorginho, Berardi, Florenzi, and Acerbi directly damaged our qualification.
100% dangerboy these guys blew chance after chance . They could have sealed qualification 2 games ago . But who knows we miss another World Cup maybe we win another euro in 2024 , it seems that the only tournament they like since 2006
Can bitch and moan why Bulgaria couldn’t turn back the years to 1993 when they eliminated France at the death, and do the same today.
When Italy messed up and then had to rely on another team, then you know you’re in trouble.
It would have been all to easy for Bulgaria to pull off an upset. But that would have seem us advance with 4 of the 8 matches as Draws. Hardly something to get excited about.
The failure is Mancini falling in love with Spain style possession, never realizing Spain does the possession thing with much quicker passing and constant movement off the ball. This game was just aggravating, to just see Italy content to tap the ball around the horn back and forth as if a 0-0 score was what they needed. No urgency whatsoever. They should have poured forward at the get go to try and score, which would have opened Norther Ireland up to create more space. Mancini has no plan against teams that sit back. A shame because the playoff looks too much a hurdle for them t get through. Especially if they get there in this shape with injuries and form.
The playoffs are going to be difficult to get through. Our only hope is if we don’t get significant injuries leading up to the games and have a fit Chiellini, Verratti, Pellegrini, Zaniolo, Spinazolla, Kean and Calabria.
Hopefully by then, Acerbi, Di Lorenzo, Bernadeschi, and Bellotti will be out of the squad.
come on….
It’s pretty sad considering how well they played in lead up to euro winning all their qualifiers and even beating teams like Czech Republic 4-0 prior to Turkey opener . Seems like a complete regression.
Incredible how Italy never follow up one good tournament to the next- finalist 94, 1st round euro 1996. Finalist euro 2000, 2nd round
wc 2002, winners wc 2006, qfinal euro 08 (scrapped the group stages), finalist euro 2012, 1st round wc 2014. Winners euro 2020, wc 2022 not qualify? So historically it is par to the course
I am still trying to get over the Fact that Half (4) of the Italy Qualifiers ended with Draws !…and all Italy needed to do was score …only one more…Goal in *any one* of the first three Draws and they would have booked their Place in the Finals.