Roberto Mancini had important words of advice for Nicolò Zaniolo, who was substituted at half-time in the 3-2 win over Turkey, warning the Roma talent must ‘learn to play with others.’
Bryan Cristante’s header cancelled out the Cengiz Under opener, before a brace from Sassuolo forward Giacomo Raspadori.
The first question was naturally not about the game in Turkey, but rather the failure to even reach the World Cup play-off final, let alone the tournament itself in Qatar.
“We’ll have regrets all the way until December. At least this evening we played a good game with some lads who hadn’t had much playing time,” said Mancini in his press conference.
There was certainly something that went wrong. We had so many problems from September to March, we had to send 10 players home the week of that crucial match against Switzerland.
“The coach always takes the blame, we have to accept this is football, people want to point the finger of blame at someone.”
Giacomo Raspadori scored two goals this evening, along with Bryan Cristante’s header, while Gianluca Scamacca and Nicolò Zaniolo were not even on the bench against North Macedonia due to minor injuries.
Should they have been given a chance earlier?
“It’s always easy to say that with hindsight…”
Having said that, Roma forward Zaniolo showed many of the issues he has already had at club level, receiving an avoidable yellow card and taking shots from various angles when a pass would’ve been more suitable.
“Nicolò is a player with a lot of quality, he just needs to learn how to play with others,” replied the coach.
“He can make the most of his strength and quality to score goals after that. He put the effort in, I cannot complain, but he was booked so I preferred to take him off.”
Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali was given the keys to the Italy midfield this evening.
“It’s not easy for him, as he hasn’t played many games with us, while at Milan he has a slightly different role. He struggled a little at the start, then found his position and improved. He needs time.”