Azzurri Thread (30 Viewers)

[zizinho]

Our CL campaign was a huge failure then, considering we were knocked out before Wolfsburg & Benfica

It was

 

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[lgorTudor]

Our CL campaign was a huge failure then, considering we were knocked out before Wolfsburg & Benfica

it was
who would argue with that and why

 

[Seven]

Our CL campaign was a huge failure then, considering we were knocked out before Wolfsburg & Benfica

It was a failure. It wasn't a disgrace, because we played well in Munich, but obviously final 16 is not good enough for us.

 

[zizinho]

It was a failure. It wasn't a disgrace, because we played well in Munich, but obviously final 16 is not good enough for us.

And we have the excuse of refs directly influencing the outcome. But all that aside, we should have beaten Bayern that game

 

[Seven]

And we have the excuse of refs directly influencing the outcome. But all that aside, we should have beaten Bayern that game

We are top four in the world right now though. This Italy team, without arguably their two best players, most certainly is not. In that way they did perform.

 

[zizinho]

We are top four in the world right now though. This Italy team, without arguably their two best players, most certainly is not. In that way they did perform.

They performed well but didnt achieve the goal. I expected a semifinal atleast before the tournament and im sure the players goal was to win this too. If their goal going into this tournament was QF, id be very disapointed in Conte and the players

 

[swag]

People talk like this is some major overachievement. Its a QF exit, same stage Poland, Belgium and Iceland went out in, and one stage earlier than Portugal/Wales. Anything under a semifinal should be considered a failure for a nation like Italy

Conte and 3-5-2 pussy tactics in an elimination tournament: the guy can't help it.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

Oh please italy had the hardest schedule, conceded one goal all tournament(in a game that meant nothing to them) and beat Spain and belgium convincingly. Thats not a success obviously, since only winning is a success but to call it a failure is a total lack of perspective.

 

[JuveJay]

[muppetmode]

Azzurri squad for 2018:

1) Buffon 40
2) De Sciglio 25
3) Chiellini 33
4) Darmian 28
5) Ogbonna 30
6) Candreva 31
7) Zaza 27
8) Marchisio 32
9) Pellè 32
10) Verratti 25
11) Immobile 28
12) Perin 23
13) Donnarumma 19
14) Florenzi 27
15) Rugani 23
16) Jorginho 26
17) Gabbiadini 26
18) Sturaro 25
19) Bonucci 31
20) Insigne 27
21) Bernardeschi 24
22) El Shaaraway 25
23) Bonaventura 28

Others:
Sportiello 26, Sirigu 32, Gollini 23, Padelli 32, Consigli 31, Scuffet 22, Cragno 24
Tonelli 28, Romagnoli 23, Ranocchia 30, Acerbi 30, Izzo 26, G. Ferrari 26
Masina 24, Santon 27, Zappacosta 26, Criscito 31, Calabria 21, A. Ferrari 24, Antonelli 31, Abate 31
Giaccherini 33, Parolo 33, Montolivo 33, Baselli 26, Benassi 23, Bertolacci 27, Soriano 27, Cataldi 23, Viviani 26, Mandragora 20, Sensi 22, Pellegrini 22, Grassi 23
Berardi 23, Saponara 26, Vazquez 29, Sansone 26, Politano 24
Pavoletti 29, Belotti 24, Éder 31, Destro 27, Paloschi 28, Okaka 28, Balotelli 27

[/muppetmode]

Did I miss anyone?

 

[zizinho]

Oh please italy had the hardest schedule, conceded one goal all tournament(in a game that meant nothing to them) and beat Spain and belgium convincingly. Thats not a success obviously, since only winning is a success but to call it a failure is a total lack of perspective.

i expected more before the tournament so from that perspective, it was a failure. for people who were underrating this team before the tournament even begun, and who were thinking "hopefully they can atleast pass the group", this might be a successful tournament.

 

[Hængebøffer]

Talk about being deluded.

 

[Seven]

Oh please italy had the hardest schedule, conceded one goal all tournament(in a game that meant nothing to them) and beat Spain and belgium convincingly. Thats not a success obviously, since only winning is a success but to call it a failure is a total lack of perspective.

Italy will objectively see it as a failure, because the goal is always at least semi final or winning the entire thing, but obviously the overwhelming feeling is that they did very well.

Also, they were desperately unlucky with how the schedule turned out. In normal circumstances they'd have gotten the easy route, because they did great in winning their group.

 

[s4tch]

[muppetmode]

Did I miss anyone?

muppetmode

maybe verde, he looked pretty good in roma for a couple of matches. still to young, might not break into a serie a side's starting lineup until '18, though.

 

[GordoDeCentral]

i expected more before the tournament so from that perspective, it was a failure. for people who were underrating this team before the tournament even begun, and who were thinking "hopefully they can atleast pass the group", this might be a successful tournament.

They went out to the world champs on penalties, lottery, you need luck to win these things

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Italy will objectively see it as a failure, because the goal is always at least semi final or winning the entire thing, but obviously the overwhelming feeling is that they did very well.

Also, they were desperately unlucky with how the schedule turned out. In normal circumstances they'd have gotten the easy route, because they did great in winning their group.

Yeah this euro was a big Fail, and the schedule thing was a big part of that

 

[Bianconero_Aus]

[muppetmode]

Azzurri squad for 2018:

1) Buffon 40
2) De Sciglio 25
3) Chiellini 33
4) Darmian 28
5) Ogbonna 30
6) Candreva 31
7) Zaza 27
8) Marchisio 32
9) Pellè 32
10) Verratti 25
11) Immobile 28
12) Perin 23
13) Donnarumma 19
14) Florenzi 27
15) Rugani 23
16) Jorginho 26
17) Gabbiadini 26
18) Sturaro 25
19) Bonucci 31
20) Insigne 27
21) Bernardeschi 24
22) El Shaaraway 25
23) Bonaventura 28

Others:
Sportiello 26, Sirigu 32, Gollini 23, Padelli 32, Consigli 31, Scuffet 22, Cragno 24
Tonelli 28, Romagnoli 23, Ranocchia 30, Acerbi 30, Izzo 26, G. Ferrari 26
Masina 24, Santon 27, Zappacosta 26, Criscito 31, Calabria 21, A. Ferrari 24, Antonelli 31, Abate 31
Giaccherini 33, Parolo 33, Montolivo 33, Baselli 26, Benassi 23, Bertolacci 27, Soriano 27, Cataldi 23, Viviani 26, Mandragora 20, Sensi 22, Pellegrini 22, Grassi 23
Berardi 23, Saponara 26, Vazquez 29, Sansone 26, Politano 24
Pavoletti 29, Belotti 24, Éder 31, Destro 27, Paloschi 28, Okaka 28, Balotelli 27

[/muppetmode]

Did I miss anyone?

A pretty good group of players TBH. If they can keep the same team spirit, unity and togetherness that they showed at this past Euros, they can go places.

 

[zizinho]

They went out to the world champs on penalties, lottery, you need luck to win these things

but i thought you shouldnt care who you play, that your winning mentality should forbid you to complain about the strength of the opponent, because sooner or later you will have to face the best teams anyway. atleast thats what ive been told here when i explained why it was stupid to get a win vs Sweden in the group stage. so now that Italy is out, it suddenly does matter who they played

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Talk about being deluded.

Wales is in a semifinal, this tournament is not as strong as people think

 

[GordoDeCentral]

but i thought you shouldnt care who you play, that your winning mentality should forbid you to complain about the strength of the opponent, because sooner or later you will have to face the best teams anyway. atleast thats what ive been told here when i explained why it was stupid to get a win vs Sweden in the group stage. so now that Italy is out, it suddenly does matter who they played

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Wales is in a semifinal, this tournament is not as strong as people think

You have me confused with someone else, and once again they were a coin toss away from the semis

 

[s4tch]

Wales is in a semifinal, this tournament is not as strong as people think

that's an insanely unbalanced draw. just like the cl this year: real had to overcome wolfsburg and city, while atleti had bayern and barcelona en route to the final. france, germany, italy and probably spain would have an easy way to the final if any of those were drawn against england, wales, belgium and portugal.

 

[Seven]

but i thought you shouldnt care who you play, that your winning mentality should forbid you to complain about the strength of the opponent, because sooner or later you will have to face the best teams anyway. atleast thats what ive been told here when i explained why it was stupid to get a win vs Sweden in the group stage. so now that Italy is out, it suddenly does matter who they played

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Wales is in a semifinal, this tournament is not as strong as people think

Almost every tournament has at least one surprise in the semis. Copa had the USA, WC 2014 had Holland, WC 2010 had Uruguay, Euro 2008 had Russia and Turkey... The schedule does depend, sometimes the two strongest teams meet in the 2nd round or the quarter finals. Obviously Italy had at least the semis as an objective, but you also have to recognise that with the squad they had, they were facing an uphill battle, especially considering the fact they were given Spain in the 2nd round and Germany in the quarter finals.

 

[zizinho]

You have me confused with someone else, and once again they were a coin toss away from the semis

i wasnt talking about you, sorry if i made it sound like that, but when i was saying this a lot of people here told me that it was stupid to complain about a win and that Italy shouldnt make these calculations but go for the win in every game. that win backfired now, they could have been playing a semifinal vs Portugal now with great chances to reach the final, too bad.

they obviously played a great game vs Germany, Conte set the team up very well made them play great and they were equal to the Germans (apart from subs, but we talked about this already 2 days ago), but when looking at the tournament in general, i cant see how anyone would be satisfied with a QF exit

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Almost every tournament has at least one surprise in the semis. Copa had the USA, WC 2014 had Holland, WC 2010 had Uruguay, Euro 2008 had Russia and Turkey... The schedule does depend, sometimes the two strongest teams meet in the 2nd round or the quarter finals. Obviously Italy had at least the semis as an objective, but you also have to recognise that with the squad they had, they were facing an uphill battle, especially considering the fact they were given Spain in the 2nd round and Germany in the quarter finals.

this one had Wales and Iceland, and maybe Poland could be considered a surpirse too. apart from them, N. Ireland, Ireland, Hungary also made it out of the group. Germany, France and (based on performances in the group stage) Croatia were the only stand out teams. Spain came with a new team, Portugal and England are crap, a lot of teams that shouldnt even be here, so this tournament wasnt really that strong