Roberto Mancini was irritated with his Italy side after a 0-0 draw in Switzerland, their second consecutive stalemate. ‘We cannot fail to win with that many scoring opportunities.’
Just like Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, the Azzurri had the chances and failed to take them, with Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile particularly missing sitters, while Jorginho saw his penalty saved by Yann Sommer.
“This is a moment when the ball just isn’t going in. Once again, we had too many chances not to win this game,” Mancini told RAI Sport.
“It’s not the penalty, it’s other situations, we need to be more determined, more clinical, more precise. Just like with Bulgaria, it’s another match we cannot fail to win with that many scoring opportunities created.
“It was tougher in the second half, but we had the chances in the first half and the second, which means the team did play good football.”
Considering this result, does the November showdown with Switzerland in Italy now become decisive for top spot in the group?
“I think so, yes.”
Only the top team goes through directly to the 2022 World Cup, with the runner-up entering the play-offs.
Switzerland now have seven points from three games, whereas Italy are on 11 points from five.
Mancini was also asked if there will be changes in the third qualifier of this run against Lithuania?
“The lads are tired, so there certainly will be some changes. It’s a missed opportunity, exactly like on Thursday. Exactly the same.”
Why on earth would you let Jorginho take the penalty?! He’s soooooo predictable!! All the keeper has to do is wait for him to actually shoot it after that stupid hop step. Just moronic. What a frustrating game. So many mistakes. Now the next time they play the Swiss they’ll have all their starters back. Gonna be tough to win that one! I’m gonna lose it if they have to go into a playoff again…..
Mancini thinking about November showdown with Switzerland, with the sort of strikers in his disposal, he should first worry about the match against Lithuania.
@Fabrizio, jorginho is supposed to be THE penalty taker of Italy and chelsea. Mind it i said supposed to be. I was never a fan of this garbage style of shooting. Why do you need to outsmart gk when you can blast to the top corner and easy score. Italy never had this disease before pirlo started those garbage Panenka shots and now his successor found his own and gifts the goal keepers. I mean anyone doing HW on jorginho will wait till the last moment cause his shot is slow as hell. Also italy needs free kick takes cause insigne wont cut anymore. As for berardi, i never counted him as a top player anyway. Doing some assists is the best thing he can do. I was most disappointed with zaniolo. I have never seen him play before only heard all the potential he has. Potential is nothing if you cant convert it. Today he failed to do the basics like receiving or passing but still went for trick shots. Better give chance to rhaspadori or keane against Lithuania. And always play cheisa unless emergency
Immobile should’ve taken that penalty for two reasons,
A. If he scores, his confidence is restored at least for a game or two.
B. If he misses, Mancini would be justified in dropping him from the team for good!
I somewhat agree with you Sezan, there’s just no pace on the ball with that silly “bunny hop” style. He was also predictably stopped by the England keeper, remember?
Jorghino and his now famous hop skip = 100% predictable!!! So stupid. I couldn’t believe it when I saw him step up for it.
And Zaniolo looked like he wanted to do too much alone, and instead did nnext to nothing.
Berardi is no Chiesa by any stretch!!!
And lastly, Immobile. Mamma Mia.
beh lts just a game of football… 36 unbeaten is a new world record thats a positive and you cant win everything all the time.
Jorginho got faked out by the Swiss goalie on that one.
I don’t mind the bunny hop before he takes it but what I do mind is the strength and placement
If you want to use the hop as a way to fake or freeze the goalie than fine but at least still hit it was placement and enough power
Anyhow onto more important things
If I’m a coach of the European champions and one of the best teams of all time in Italy and my striker Berardi unleashes the most pathetic shot on a completely free breakaway….I’m replacing him at halftime and then dropping him from the team. You have to be world class to play for Italy and Mancini has to remember that
You can’t be calling up a player who hasn’t played a single serie a game for sassuolo just because he doesn’t want to be there
Immobile…what a disaster..,.his shining moment was sheer luck when the Swiss somehow gave the ball up to allow him to pass to berardi for the penalty….lol
Zaniolo..take it easy guys…he didn’t score but you can see the quality that he has and I actually like the fact that he plays hard as well…you give a guy like that the whole game to make an impact and imo he contributes a goal through passing and scoring
Chiesa was pretty quiet but he was open for a potential shot and goal but Insigne refused to pass him the ball which was weird. Chiesa let him know about it which I liked because Insigne needs to be slapped around a bit and reminded to give it 100 percent and to realize your position is not secure. He hasn’t had a good game since Belgium..,that’s a long time ago.
Locatelli other then the defenders was an MVP…his assists today should have counted for at least 2 goals…his passing is much more decisive than Verratti who I feel slows and the game down for us
Mancini had another poor coaching performance today.
I’m worried the more people criticize immobile the more he will dig in and play him and harm the team
Waiting until the end of the game to sub out barella and Insigne was irresponsible. You have to use your subs and let him have an impact
Thank god Immobile got subbed at 55th minute so Italy could at last win the game….Oh wait…
Not sure why Immobile continues to start? and this nonsense of penalty kicks where you don’t just blast it to the corner needs to stop. End of the Chiesa is their best offensive player and he needs to start
1) Now on Bonucci shud take penalties
2) Need a tall strong targetman in the box
3) Pellegrini is in excellent form, can score frm any angle, left-foot, right- foot, long rangers, free-kicks, penalties .. shud play
4) Against strong opposition, Chiesa must start (was a blunder not to start him today, he would’ve buried one or 2 of those Locatelli’s superb goal scoring passes) so should Locatelli (if he’d started against Empoli or brought on earlier Juve wouldn’t have lost!!)
5) Scamacca or Kean in place of Immobile
6) Zaniolo not yet in peak form .. but shud play 15-20 mins regularly
7) Calabria, Bastoni and Mancini shud get game time to be prepared
Every remaining qualifier now a must win and Goal Difference too could come into play!! Lithuania next must win match … and had we not faltered in this round of Qualifiers the Nation’s League would have a different meaning. Now with qualification in the balance .. and NL victory having no consequence on WC qualification .. will the team be up for it ?? Should R. Mancini try out different players, give more opportunities to Bastoni, Mancini, Kean, Scamacca Raspadori etc ??
Thought we’ll go through with the WC Qualifiers this time round without any tension .. just relax and enjoy .. but no .. we have to suffer .. we are Azzurri supporters na 🙄❗❗ Anyways Forza Azzurri always 🇮🇹👍👊💙🍀
Relax people, we just won the Euro’s, they will win the next game. Switzerland will stumble in at least one of their games. Even Messi and Ronaldo miss penalties, if they would have buried one of their chances it wouldn’t have mattered. At least they didn’t lose. Move on from Immobile, Lucatelli played great, no? You can’t win all of the time. The Nations league is just practice, no one cares about it.
@joel del monte Thanks for the comforting words 🇮🇹👊🍀
Zaniolo or Sensi should replace Barella, he is the weakest link in the team. He is good player but we need more creative player in his position.
@ab you need to sleep
Agree with most of the seven points in Roy’s post.
Just to add that the last two subs to be sent on with just a couple of minutes of added time left was a bizarre decision from Mancini.
In a very similar game v Austria at Euros this summer Pessina was the winning contribution with his runs inti spaces in the box from midfield and he should have come on much earlier last night too.
All three forwards had a poor game but Insigne stayed on almost till the end and hampered the attack more than helped when Chiesa was on.
At least Mancini did not send Crystante on when Italy needed a goal – that was another strange sub he made v Bulgaria!
@AZZURI2006 THANKS. I think Cristante was used as he is tall and can help when teams are deep defending in the box like in Euro Final. Agree that the 90′ substitution was pointless .. Pessina and Raspadori should been brought on much earlier. Also Pellegrini should’ve been subbed in instead of Verratti to replace a tired Locatelli. What a pity that Locatelli’s excellent goalscoring passes were wasted .. and Chiesa wasn’t there to finish those!!
Off to the playoffs we go!