Roberto Mancini is considering his future in charge of Italy and Lorenzo Bettoni highlights three errors the CT made during the World Cup qualification path.

It’s all over for Italy again. They’ve missed out on two successive World Cups for the first time in history. Last night’s loss against North Macedonia means the Azzurri won’t travel to Qatar in November and will be watching the competition from their sofas.

While Italian media and FIGC President Gabriele Gravina defend Mancini, the former Sampdoria star is considering his future and could decide to resign despite having a contract until 2026. Personally, I expect Mancini to leave after Tuesday’s third-place play-off against Turkey. Whether that’d be a good or bad decision, there is undoubtedly something Mancio got wrong during Italy’s qualification path. Let’s see three of them.

No alternative to Immobile

For one reason or another, Ciro is unable to replicate his Lazio form with the national team. It’s no longer a coincidence, it’s a fact. This is not to say that he should have been replaced after the Euros or that he shouldn’t start last night.

Immobile remains the most prolific striker in Serie A in the last five or six seasons and deserves massive respect for that. However, the feeling is that Mancini didn’t have a clear plan B. Gianluca Scamacca wasn’t even called up to the 23-man squad for the match with North Macedonia because of a slight injury. Andrea Belotti was also left out and Joao Pedro was the only alternative to Immobile. The Brazil-born hitman entered the pitch in the second half, making his Azzurri debut. Is he everything Italy can produce in terms of strikers?

Gratitude isn’t always good

Sixteen of the 23 players available last night were the same as the Euro 2020 squad. The only additions were Alessio Cragno, Mattia De Sciglio, Gianluca Mancini, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Sandro Tonali, Joao Pedro and Matteo Politano.

Mancini largely remained loyal to the group that won Euro 2020 in the summer. It’s understandable that he didn’t want to change the system much, but some of the players were clearly not fit and have produced inconsistent performances this season. The most notable is Lorenzo Insigne who hasn’t been anywhere near the Euro 2020 standards this term. He is not the only one at fault, but Italy needed something else on the left. Nicolò Barella also looked exhausted with Inter and both Sandro Tonali and Lorenzo Pellegrini have probably shown enough with Milan and Roma to deserve a starting spot against North Macedonia.

Limited alternatives in attack and wrong subs

Italy’s main issue has been their capacity to score goals. Even when things were running smoothly, their attacking record has somehow been a problem, especially over the last year. This is not only down to Immobile.

Mancini didn’t have enough attacking options yesterday. He sent Mattia Zaccagni to the stands despite the Lazio star being one of the most in-form players in Serie A at the moment. As already mentioned, Joao Pedro was the only striker available. The choice on Nicolò Zaniolo is debatable as the Roma star is not at his peak right now and Mancini doesn’t see him as a winger but as an attacking midfielder or Mezzala. However, the 22-year-old’s late runs and quality with the ball at his feet could have helped the Azzurri at some point in the second half when the ball didn’t want to get in and fear was rising on and off the pitch.

The use of subs was also debatable. Why did he introduce Giorgio Chiellini in the stoppages? Surely, Mancini wanted to give more certainties to his defenders in the final part of the match and prepare for extra time. On the contrary, players may have felt that time was over already. Unfortunately, Aleksandar Trajkovski didn’t think the same.

7 thought on “Three errors made by Mancini in Italy’s World Cup fiasco”
  1. Insigne out. Jorginho out. Immobile out. Veratti out. Chiellimni out. Bocucci out. I bet Italy would have scored with a Kean, Balotelli ,and Palitano second halve subs. Berardi should have had at least 2 goals. I hope he stays. He tried going with the tried and true. Should have injected some youth. And Serie A is as much to blame. You can’t piecemeal a team in a week. Gravina is as much to blame. Also a sign that the youth system needs to be upgraded to bring in home grown talent.

  2. In italy the clubs and the youth academic should more focus on the attacking fase of the game. Goals wins games
    Italians are to proud of defending and that is hurting the national teams. Teams as N.Macedonia it should have been a goal fest for Italy.
    Comfotably waiting for Portugal to come.

  3. Stop Please Stop
    You miss easy shots in front of goal and its the managers fault.. Please stop.

    Finish in front and your an easy winner.

  4. with Torre 100% – with Mancini as CT i feel like we would grow a team that reach that ultimate level – strong in D and Mid and an attack with real bite is possible with the return of chiesa, the further development of rasp and scamacca and other uncut gems that i trust Mancini to unearth

  5. Mancini is still the best option at the moment. People may argue about the failure, but for this, he is not entirely at fault. We need to look at the role of Italian clubs and Serie A. Italian clubs hardly play any young Italian players, rather they prefer ordinary foreigners. And how on earth did Seria A only give the coach less than a week to prepare for such important matches? Under Mancini, Italy started playing better football and looked like a team. Mancini had over-reliance on some players who let him down. With the inclusion of Scammacca, Raspadori, Zacagni, Tonali etc, Italy will bounce back soon. Let’s focus on a team rebuilding for Euro 2024.

  6. Immobile is a complete loser for the National team and Mancini should have seen what the rest of the world knew long ago. In that sense Mancini is to blame for last night. The same goes for Insigne. Doubly so. Loyalty be damned. We needed to win and the coach screwed up badly. He could have fixed this in the second half but didn’t. He should stay with the team but learn from these mistakes.

  7. Leaving out Balotelli, Zaniolo, Zaccagni, Sensi, Frattesi, Calabria and Dimarco/Biraghi were Mancini’s biggest mistakes. That same line up hadn’t worked the past 4 games. What made him think it would work now. What a disgrace.

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