Roberto Mancini maintains Italy do not need a radical rehaul of their squad after the EURO 2024 qualifying defeat to England. ‘They are not 36 years old, they can still give us a great deal.’
The Nazionale had won EURO 2020, then failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, reached the Final Four of the Nations League and have now started the EURO 2024 qualifiers with a shock home defeat.
It seems as if Mancini’s Azzurri are on a constant yo-yo of form, from elation to depression and back again.
“The first half started well, even though they got back into it and scored two goals from set plays,” said Mancini in his press conference.
“I saw an extraordinary team after the break, unfortunately we didn’t get the 2-2, but so far we had always won and so statistically it had to happen eventually.”
Declan Rice bundled over after a corner, then on another corner Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s handling offence allowed Harry Kane to convert a penalty to give England the 2-0 lead going into the break.
“We conceded two goals that were completely avoidable, we need to be more concentrated on set plays, especially as England are good in the air. We absolutely dominated the second half, without them having a shot on goal, whereas the first half was more balanced and we had difficulty building out from the back. They always found a way out.
“However, after the break we decided to do something different and that was better.”
Mancini is eager to point out the substitutions were not necessarily behind the change in tack from the Italy squad after the restart.
“We changed the game with the players who were already there, then clearly fresh legs help eventually too. I think this is the positive, that we got angry at losing the game. We had always started strong in these qualifying campaigns and ended struggling, now we hope to do things the other way around.
“There are still nine games to go. Italy-England can end in a defeat, there are other teams in the group, more matches to be played. We aren’t used to building momentum, but it might be a positive for us.”
The coach was accused of putting too much faith in the players who won EURO 2020, such as Jorginho, and not bringing through fresh faces.
“Our players are still valid, they are not at the end of their careers. They are not 36-37 years old, this is a top level game and we needed players who were accustomed to this sort of situation. They can still give us a great deal.”
Retegui was a risk to receive his Italy debut in the starting line-up, but repaid it with a goal on Lorenzo Pellegrini’s assist.
“He is young, has been with us for only three or four days and knows nothing about European football. He struggled in the first half, it is not easy to play against the England defence and his teammates didn’t help him much either. The wide players had to be more active. He moved much better after the break and got his goal too.”
Dude, no. Let the veterans go
The fact that Mancini didn’t step down after the World Cup is beyond me. He keeps playing the same garbage over and over and getting no results.
4-4-2: Vicario; Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Bastoni/Scalvini, Spinazzola; Chiesa, Frattesi, Pellegrini, Zaccagni; Zaniolo, Scamacca/Retegui this should be the line up but you’ll never see it.
No Mancini they need to go. After the break the subs made the difference. Stop saying they didn’t and the vets are needed.