Roberto Mancini sent out a clear message to Italy’s players, especially those not part of the current squad: ‘They must feel the desire to be here also in difficult situations.’
The Azzurri are preparing to face England in the Nations League and Mancini has addressed the media at a press conference today.
He also released an interview with Sky Sport Italia, where he explained his choices: “Players must feel the desire to be here also in difficult situations. It’s not that sometimes they come and other times they don’t because they have other things to think about.”
It sounded like a warning to those who haven’t made the team, especially after La Repubblica newspaper reported on Wednesday that Mattia Zaccagni and Nicolò Zaniolo hadn’t been called up for disciplinary reasons.
The Lazio winger, in particular, annoyed Mancini in June when he didn’t join the team, along with his teammate Manuel Lazzari, due to a minor injury which, according to Italy’s team doctors, would not prevent them from training at Coverciano.
Zaccagni was not called up for games against England and Hungary despite a convincing start to the season with one goal and one assist in seven Serie A appearances.
Manolo Gabbiadini has replaced Matteo Politano who has been ruled out due to an injury that will force him to the sidelines for at least two weeks. The Sampdoria striker has returned after knee surgery and hasn’t featured for the Azzurri since the infamously known Italy-Sweden World Cup play-off in 2017.
“We were looking for a left-footed striker. There aren’t many. We wanted to call him before, but he wasn’t fit,” the coach explained during his press conference.
The players have lost the want to continue to play under Mancini. After failing to make the World cup for the second time in a row, regardless of being euro champions Mancini should’ve stepped down. Italy basically have to win the next Euros to make up for this disaster and bring confidence back into the team if he chooses to go on. The new national team starting 11 should consist of a 4-4-2: Meret; Lazzari, Buongiorno, Mancini, Spinazzola; Chiesa, Barella, Frattesi, Zaccagni; Zaniolo, Balotelli/Scamacca.
@ Carletto
Spot on
Sadly Mancini is so stubborn he appears to be making the same mistakes
@ Carletto
You mean he should have been fired after failing to make the world cup. The FiG is total mess. Italy is rapidly becoming a minnow.
Italy deserves to be in the world cup Mancini is the problem.