Roberto Mancini is now forced to make a difficult decision, should he resign following Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup?
The Azzurri coach is currently torn between the decision whether to stay or go, as on one side he’d like to remain in charge until the end of his contract, seeing out the 2026 World Cup. On the other hand, he’s ready to throw in the towel following the embarrassing collapse in Palermo.
As highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, there are pros and cons to both outcomes and a decision will not be made until after the friendly against Turkey next week.
Staying?
Should Mancini stay on, it would be a question of pride above all. The Italian coach would like to remain in charge in order to redeem himself following the failure to qualify for the tournament in Qatar, and he also doesn’t want to completely cancel out four years of hard work.
The coach is convinced of the value of his squad, who are still young and can grow significantly. FIGC president Gabriele Gravina wants to keep Mancini and the players still trust in their coach as well, so there’s no internal pressure to resign.
Going?
The other side of the coin is disappointment and a coach who has been heavily criticised from all angles following the defeat to North Macedonia. The next World Cup is a long four years away and Mancini would need to get through another European Championship first.
There is also a question of dignity regarding resigning, as many fans and pundits felt that Gian Piero Ventura’s failure to immediately give up the role back in 2017 exacerbated the situation.
Mancini o la svolta sulla panchina Italia? La decisione dopo la Turchia: oggi nuovo incontro con Gravina #nazionale https://t.co/eaV7xf4DQt
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) March 26, 2022
Go Mancini go!
You relied too much on the players who won the Euros for you despite the fact that they were performing badly for you!
The failure to realise that Immobile is not international material shows that you do not know what you are doing. He cannot even control the ball.
You allowed Jorginho to take a third penalty, despite having missed the last two.
Do us all a favour and just resign!
Mancini should stay. He did a good job for the most part. The team played good proactive football. The problem is the attack is weak and he was stubborn in his loyalty to the players that took him to the euros. Hopefully he has learnt his lesson and will revamp the front line with some fresh blood, which he should have done during the wc qualifiers.
Only English wants Mancini to be removed.
100%’must stay. This the best football Italy played, dar some bad results.
He trusted certain individuals specifically upfront and they let the nation down ,replacing him now would be a major step backwards the world can see that
Stay.
Afterall, he did REALLY well with the crop of players given. They even set up world record for unbeaten matches, which was topped off by Euro glory. It is unfortunate that he overstayed the reliance to the players who won with him, even though it is abundantly clear that some of the players don’t have the same hunger.
Another reason is, I can’t think of a better person in the job. Sure, NT isn’t like a club, and some managers do really well in club but failed in NT jobs and vice versa. But, so far I am unconvinced by the alternatives.
He needs to stay not his fault Jorginho missed two penalties that would have taken us right to Qatar. Just saying ……
Needs to stay.
Looks at the stats from the game. Dominated the game, but due to a lackluster front line, nothing was converted, which yes, shouldve been addressed by Mancini, but maybe this embaressment will result in a front line overhaul
quiet gel quiet [and your like]. insert your preferences so we can easily tear them down. Mancini was dealt at best a mediocre hand and elevated the NT to some scintillating play. berardi scores on an open goal forcing north macedonia out of their half allowing italy to score 9, similar to armenia. Mancini, is then, what, a genius…only then?
Mancini should stay. Continue the rebuild. Learn from the North Macedonia and Northern Ireland games. Take a different approach when a team plays 10 man defense.
Please stay Roberto. I love watching Italy play. I know it’s disappointing for us but this will make us stronger. Roberto Mancini has been the best coach we have had. I know he would have learnt from this and next qualifications it will be completely different approach. Also he is involved with our new development process.
This person has crushed a million dreams because of hos over reliance on Immobile, Insigne Jorginho,Berardi etc
@ rg – You be quiet!
Mancini looks down upon all those that do not and have never played football at his level as not understanding the game. In his last season in Serie A he was voted the best player by the players in Serie A. He said “This is the best award because it is from the people who really know.”
So what he is saying is that reporters and people like us are inferior in knowledge and understanding of the simple game.
Well I have news for you Mr. Mancini; you know nothing anymore because you insisted on playing Immobile and showed a complete disregard for people’s opinions (who actually knew better than you) and made him captain!
Do yourself and all of us a favour and take your arrogance elsewhere!
He should definitely go as a coach u should not have any sentiment with players aand he kept playing the same players who where not performing we could see that a mile away but didn’t have the guts and especially making one of our most useless player the captain says it all
International coaches have pick of the nation players and should not be afraid of picking on form players Mancini is to nice if your on form u play if not your out
He has this team playing the right way, as a coach it’s not his fault that Jorginho missed two penalties, any one of which would have qualified Italy automatically if it had been scored, or that Berardi contrived to miss an open goal, or Florenzi’s mistake that led to Bulgaria scoring. Yes, he’s made selection mistakes. But some of those have been forced by injury. Where I think he’s been wrong is persisting with Immobile, Insigne and Jorginho, but otherwise I don’t disagree with his system. I’ve been watching Italy for decades now. Italy dominating matches the way they do now, with 30+ shots, would have been unheard of before. Mancini should stay and be allowed to bring in new players. Number one priority for me would be integrating Scamacca, Zaniolo and Tonali and deciding who replaces Bonucci and Chiellini. And quite frankly, Italy won’t find a replacement right now that would do a better job. Sometimes you have to blame the players.
I agree with Pele what si annoying is that Mancini buit a good squad and playing style and he let himself and a nation and fans around the world down badly unable to win against
Bulgaria , N Ireland, Switzerland and N Macedonia not sure what came over him and kept making excuses why we didn’t score
Italy is a legend in football we need a new coach
It’s a tough decision for anyone to make
But I’m on board with him staying once he learns not to be so loyal to senior starters
His concepts are truly remarkable as you can see in all games they take the fight to any opposition. It’s the lack of finishing that got us screwed loyalties to immobile and maybe influenced by the senator players.
A next 2 years at the helm will compound what the younger players learnt.
After a frantic Thursday with me gathering my thoughts I believe he should stay
He should stay. He’s done well overall, and they’re playing the best brand of football we’ve watched for a long time.
And if the nobodies being linked to the job are anything to go by, Italian fans should be hoping he stays.
Do we really want someone else who might be negative and go back to scared old Italian style?
The league and the production of youngsters is what needs to change, not this constant, mindless changing of managers.
It’s no wonder Italy is a laughing stock sometimes, especially Serie A.
My thoughts are we need a coach who thinking is if u perform your in if u don’t your out
Mancini is not the type or else he would have already done it
and ain’t going to change
I still can’t believe how loyal he was to some underperforming players
Needs to go
Gasperini would be a fine replacement for me. His teams at least are efficient and play well.
He should go simply because it was his stubbornness that resulted in not winning in key matches. How can everyone see that the attack system that included Immobile wont work in a million years. Italy have a good midfield and can afford to play with a target man who is a finisher especially in matches when teams play ultra defensive tactics. To start both the front three with Insigne, Berradi and Immobile is only good when playing counter attacks. I think if Mancini was asked to repeat the match he would start the same three players and have a similar result.
Anyone who makes Immobile a captain must be senile was Mancini tthinking it would wake him up don’t think so the only thing that would wake him up , is to groom his hair
For making the most obsurd decisions Mancini out
We need to stop with midfield new attacking one no more the 3 dwarfs we need power and legs , and we need number 10 play maker likes of baggio some one can open up defence and striker with power like a toni will they Listen no
Were you guys at the trianing ground? No? Pretty sure Macini could see there were no better options in his line up. Kids tend to freeze under pressure. Unbeaten record and euro is no fluke! All the other names are not even half as qualified, experienced and as good as him. He should stay.
from hero to zero in just 6 months
this may be had been asking too much but as great as it was for Italy winning euros they should of won nations league as well, and qualified going to Qatar as favorites to win.= whilst still undefeated.
had it been Spain Brazil o Germany they would have. seems like Italy always blow most opportune golden chances.
Let him go.
His stubbornness and arrogance has cost us dearly. Immobile has been useless for Italy and to make him captain to inspire the team is totally clueless and a two fingers up to the Italian tifosi.
We were lucky to win the euros after Spinazzola and Chiesa were injured.
Choosing Immobile and Belotti upfront means he’s totally clueless or an arrogant idiot. His pride has cost us dearly so please go as Italy is more important than your arrogance.
Good riddance.
Give Piamonti ,and Kean ( Juve don’t play him hardly ever, let him transfer) a shot at forward …I don’t ever want to see Insigne,Jorhingo Immoblie again on the National Team . I really like the poise that our 2 young centre backs played with …
Do a special academy for clinical finishers, this was even in a 900 pg report Baggio submitted to the federation and then they did nothing and this is the end result.
We need to address the clinical finishes.
As for bite in the last game, this last one had he have thrown in Balotelli and Zaniola just those 2 bad boys would have attacked vertically and even galvanized the adjacent players like Bedardi.
Mancini by leaving out Balo and Zan is poor judgment and putting in CM, Insigne, Jorgi was very bad judgment.
Please stay
The non-selection of Calabria by Manicini was a bad error. Calabria should have been the clear 1st choice at right back, he could have provided more creativity going forward as a deeper threat. The type of deep lying threat that Italy lack since losing Spinazolla. Lazari would be better 2nd option at right back. Florenzi and Di lorenzo are inferior to to Calabri and Lazari. Di Marco and Biraghi are better options at left back compared to the limited Emerson. Mancini made errors in selection on both full backs choosing on loyalty rather than merit. Mancini also lacked tactical imagination and had no plan B formation to the 4-3-3. The 4-3-3 has been worked out by opposition team and clearly was not working in the few games after Euro 2020. He lacked the courage and flexibility to find a different formation to trial with for example 3-5-2 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 against teams that defend deep. Perhaps the congested fixture schedule did not allow him to make a plan B and trial different formations. Mancini deserves to continue despite the selection errors and his reluctance to evolve from past winning formula that clearly stopped working or did not work as well following the absence of Spinazolla . He needs to however learn from his mistakes and be more tactically flexible, innovative and evolve when the paradigm shifts. He also needs to be sharper in selection and promote better players like Calabria in to the team rather than relying on loyalty and sticking to average players like Di Lorenzo, Emerson, Florenzi just because they did a job in the past. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to do this to keep Italy relevant in the world stage but he deserves a chance after the Euro 2020 success.
SE you’re right… it’s a mystery… why Calabria was never selected. It’s almost as if Mancini got annoyed with the constant questioning over the omission of Calabria.