Italy CT Roberto Mancini admits Andrea Belotti and Nicolò Barella could play against Switzerland tomorrow and believes the Azzurri have room for improvement.
Italy host Switzerland at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico tomorrow in a key World Cup qualifying match.
It kicks off at 19.45 UK time tomorrow.
Italy and Switzerland are the Group C leaders, but the Azzurri have a better goal difference.
La Nazionale must cope without the injured Giorgio Chiellini and Ciro Immobile, who were part of the team that won Euro 2020 over the summer.
Lorenzo Pellegrini and Nicolò Zanilo also pulled out of the squad.
“We feel sorry for Immobile and Chiellini, but it’s the same thing with all the national teams. There could be more injuries at this stage,” Mancini said at a press conference.
“We are in a positive situation, we know who we are as a team and we must remain calm.
“We have two training sessions remaining, but we’ll play well regardless of any tactical decision we’ll take.”
Mancini could use a false 9 or replace Immobile with Belotti and the Torino striker seems likely to start.
“The lads have recovered over the last couple of days and Belotti has a chance to play,” said Mancini.
“He is not 100% fit, perhaps he can’t play 90 minutes, but if he could score in the opening 60-65 minutes, it could be good.
“Barella has trained well and I think he will be on the pitch tomorrow.”
Italy beat Switzerland during a group stage game at the Euros, but all the pressure will be on the Azzurri tomorrow who didn’t qualify for the 2018 World Cup with Giampiero Ventura in charge.
“The lads are calm and focused, they know we must be at our best to win tomorrow,” Mancini continued.
“Switzerland play great football, every game against Switzerland has been challenging, we need to play our way, they’ll do their best, like us.
“We haven’t changed much since the Euros, we have room for improvement and we can become stronger for the World Cup.”
I don’t think playing Belotti is the right option Mancini is looking to take the easy route
Belotti has not been in great form,
False 9 with insigna, Berardi and Chiesa seems a good option and would also confuse the Swiss but we definitely need on form players
FORZA RAGAZZI – FORZA MANCINI – FORZA ITALIA
abbiamo bisogno di questi tre punti
I would go with Insigne, Chiesa and Berardi, and if we haven’t scored by the 60 minute mark, bring on Belotti/Scamacca, or maybe both and switch to a 4312?
Mancini is right. We do have room for improvement, we need to be more clinical. We are like a more solid version of Atalanta, in that we boss many games, create many opportunites and waste them. Unlike Atalanta, we have a better defence and so we end drawing games instead of losing them.
Italy is having a clinical strikers issue since about mid 90’s. We need to modify the training module to address this pressing issue.
It really is a 3 prong factor broken down into three 3rd’s:
1) A players personal life (His diet[did you know that Messi has a Dietician and he’s even Italian], is he happy, does he have a father [Baggio, Del Piero had strong fathers etc] that supports him, for example look at Icardi with the girl she loves me, she loves me not this has a profound affect on a person;
2) The training issue is very serious, I believe Italy is not training to be clinical properly such as would a Spain, Germany, England, France. We need to tweak the module!;
3) Luck factor, there is a reason why a great coach like Lippi would say It also takes a bit of luck, yes it does! And this factor involves metaphysics. For example, do you find it normal for a Spanish striker known to be clinical such as Morata to be in front of an empty net and miss?
We can go on and on but it really comes down to these 3 factors. That is why coaches like Conte, Mancini are so vital in this game, they understand the small details and even search for these.
Also vital is to keep the causeway wide opened between England and Italy as these 2 will dominant football for the next 10 yrs. Juv ripping Ramsey of Wales is unacceptable we need to keep the England-Italy link opened. This England factor has been causing Italy to have grinta in their game.
So it is written, so it shall be done.