Italia: La Nazionale II

Not to mention a majority of the defence and MF will be of Juve players, and they've spent 3 years working in the system Conte wants to play so Italy are automatically one of the most gelled teams out there.

Some of the moves Italy pulled off last night were straight out of the Juve manual.

GK: Portieri: Buffon, Perin, Sirigu;

Defenders: Bonucci, Chiellini, Ogbonna, Ranocchia, Rugani;

Centrocampisti: Aquilani, Bonaventura, Candreva, Darmian, De Sciglio, Florenzi, Marchisio, Parolo, Pasqual, Poli, Thiago Motta, Verratti

Attaccanti: Destro, Giovinco, Immobile, Osvaldo, Pellé, Zaza.

Interesting. I like the Ogbonna, Ranocchia, Rugani, Bonaventura call ups.
Thiago Motta, Pasqual, Aquilani, Giovinco, a bit of a shock. In Conte we trust though, can never complain about this guys call ups until I see performances I don't like.
we'll see how pelle does.

Even if I disagree with some of the names, I'm at least happy that he's experimenting and rewarding current form. With a major tournament so far away, such a selection policy is a positive in my eyes. My only major complaint is Criscito's exclusion from the first two squads. Particularly glad that he's included Motta and Rugani, the former for some grit in De Rossi's absence and the latter to begin blooding some young talent in defence which has been absent from our central defensive selections for quite some time now. If not for the U21s having an important game I am fairly confident Romagnoli would also have gotten a call.

why is cigarini not called up still? am i the only one who thinks he has been the most consistent performer at atalanta and yet he has gone totally unnoticed..??

he puts up a great fight, great in spreading ball, his set pieces are equally impressive.

Would be ok as a barely used bench player but he hasn't got a hope in hell of breaking in to the starting XI or even a first choice sub when Monto returns.

Friend from fb just posted: "Conte, Oriali, Tavecchio, Bonucci, Osvaldo, Chiellini, Buffon... forza chiunque giochi contro! "

Just awful against Malta. 3-5-2 looked slow and booring, possesion but nothing more. Contes subs were weird also - lots of new players on bench, but he selects Aquliani, Ogbonna and Giovinco.

yeah i agree but we keep getting results which is important ahhaa

Conte has recalled Mario Baloteli and Alessio Cerci to the squad. I'm indifferent to Cerci however I'm glad that he's shown Mario that he's certainly not excluded from the project arbitrarily. If he works hard he stays, if not, he has only himself to blame. Good management. El Shaarawy also returns from the wilderness after his long injury lay off.

He was expected to call Okaka and Gabbiadini from Sampdoria but instead it was Soriano who got the nod in midfield, with Bertolacci and Moretti also getting their first call ups.

GK: Buffon (Juventus), Perin (Genoa), Sirigu (Paris Saint Germain);
D: Chiellini (Juventus), Moretti (Torino), Ogbonna (Juventus), Ranocchia (Inter), Rugani (Empoli);
M: Bertolacci (Genoa), Bonaventura (Milan), Candreva (Lazio), Cerci (Atletico Madrid), Darmian (Torino), De Rossi (Roma), De Sciglio (Milan), El Shaarawy (Milan), Marchisio (Juventus), Parolo (Lazio), Pasqual (Fiorentina), Soriano (Sampdoria), Verratti (Paris Saint Germain);
F: Balotelli (Liverpool), Giovinco (Juventus), Immobile (Borussia Dortmund), Pellé (Southampton), Zaza (Sassuolo)

Giovinco

Also putting both Cerci and De Sciglio on the midfield list. If you put them both on the pitch they'd have an average separation of 50 yards.

Such is the way with the 3-5-2 ffs

Same on fifa

Lichtsteiners rating is calculated in the same way as Robbens

I for one am completely baffled that Balotelli was called up, being in the expectation Conte would only do so when he has actually done something this season if not actually bust his ass.

Balotelli was copiously rewarded with Prandelli's faith and threw it back onto his face as if he does not perform for Italia under Conte or at least wears the shirt without his attitude then he can get the *bleep* out.

We all knew Puma is the motive behind it yet I couldn't care less about him anymore as Immobile at the moment is three times the footballer he is.

Also puzzled by the calls of Moretti, Rugani and Parolo, the latter being incredibly overrated. Giovinco? We all know Conte is a Juventino to the bone.

Like the call of Bertolacci who is quite underrated.

If Giovinco attempted to murder Conte's family, he'd still be in Contes good books

I cant even watch Italy anymore. Seeing a lineup consisting of Giacherinni, Zaza and Pelle is extremely unappealing.

Dominated by Croatia at home. Even Conte knows he must change his ways

Knowing Conte I wouldn't say that, however the team is rumoured to be starting with a four man defence against Albania. The speculation is that he'll play a 4-4-2 but with Cerci on the right wing and Bonaventura on the left it might easily warp into a 4-3-3.

Did rwo put a curse on our goalkeepers or something?

I'll do a full write up later but at least we won.

I would never put a curse on Gigi Buffon or Mattia Perin

So you were behind Sirigu's dribbling.

Forgot to mention Abby there, rwo

What was the score, more importantly what was the line up

Tomwin Lannister wrote:What was the score, more importantly what was the line up

1-0

Sirigu; De Silvestri, Bonucci, Moretti; Cerci, Aquilani, Parolo, Bertolacci, Antonelli; Destro, Giovinco.