EURO 2020 - Group A

BarcaLearning wrote:Never a Italy fan but appreciate the change in their football nowadays. Although ppl forgetting France? Their midfield is also so good, and Mbappe, I dont see how old Bannuci amd Chellini can contain him?

italy has Bastoni ! that guy is monstrous man marker!
plus italy is never gonna let only defenders keep in check they do that as a unit with extra layer of support from midfield anyway. that being said if italy were to face belgium and france late stage italy is better off being underdogs. they are capable as a unit.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:By the way, how has no one mentioned Austria is Italia's opponent in the Round of 16?

Its on the 26th and can anyone tell me how Austria is and their chances against Italy if so, why?

Austria aren't in a great place atm, team lacks balance, Alaba being their leader and driving creative force means they always stand deep and look for the pass backwards, arguably they'd be better if they ignored him a bit.
Their forwards aren't really having a great time these past few weeks.

Should be a cake walk for Italy, though obviously knockout games are almost never a joke, and if Austria decide to sit deep completely, it could take a while to break them down. They're not a bad side. I'd say comparable to Switzerland, just worse balance? They lack the punch of a Shaqiri or Embolo, but have pretty good control with the midfield around Sabitzer, though I assume that won't matter against Locatelli etc...

is it just me or everytime austria has this moment to counterattack and has this ample space and time, instead of going forward and being direct they are just looking for sideaway passes!

i mean i was so frustated to see them against dutch . watch space for Sasa Kalajdzic - i think he is going to be one of those talked Forward in upcoming seasons....
he has a dzeko like style holds ball well able to bring others to play and can create and score goals. Alaba is another threat as always.

and i agree they have a good midfield but if they also do a similar side way pass to bring midfield and try to do head to head against italians then im afraid Austrians wont make progress ... italians cover spaces too quickly

Jesp wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Never a Italy fan but appreciate the change in their football nowadays. Although ppl forgetting France? Their midfield is also so good, and Mbappe, I dont see how old Bannuci amd Chellini can contain him?

italy has Bastoni ! that guy is monstrous man marker!
plus italy is never gonna let only defenders keep in check they do that as a unit with extra layer of support from midfield anyway. that being said if italy were to face belgium and france late stage italy is better off being underdogs. they are capable as a unit.

Chiellini and Bonucci already dealt well with Mbappe at Monaco but he was a teenager and he has grown. I agree with you on Bastoni, he looks immense, Italian De Ligt, hopefully Mancini starts to prefer him over Acerbi.

Against Mbappe I think that no matter who you have at the back you always risk a goal. He is too fast and too good. He adds tension to every match.

Similar to Lukaku and De Bruyne together for Belgium. I'm confident about our team against Belgium as a hole, but with those two you can always lose a match.

rincon wrote:

Jesp wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Never a Italy fan but appreciate the change in their football nowadays. Although ppl forgetting France? Their midfield is also so good, and Mbappe, I dont see how old Bannuci amd Chellini can contain him?

italy has Bastoni ! that guy is monstrous man marker!
plus italy is never gonna let only defenders keep in check they do that as a unit with extra layer of support from midfield anyway. that being said if italy were to face belgium and france late stage italy is better off being underdogs. they are capable as a unit.

Chiellini and Bonucci already dealt well with Mbappe at Monaco but he was a teenager and he has grown. I agree with you on Bastoni, he looks immense, Italian De Ligt, hopefully Mancini starts to prefer him over Acerbi.

Against Mbappe I think that no matter who you have at the back you always risk a goal. He is too fast and too good. He adds tension to every match.

Similar to Lukaku and De Bruyne together for Belgium. I'm confident about our team against Belgium as a hole, but with those two you can always lose a match.

i guess then best way to approach france is accept that Mbappe is going to be blazing no matter what and italy play their own game they know, instead of being succumbed to pressure of how france plays . thats how i would do it

lukaku can be contained i think. if chellini makes it, and i also confident about bastoni doing job against lukaku. its de bruyne that worries me most.
but i agree in that respect also that belgium as a whole italy can do it. or even if it means that lets say lukaku or de bruyne or yannick went on to score ... as long as italy utilize their ability of the front and midfield to do one better by scoring more lol

i think that is possible because belgian defense is weak

Thank you Viva and Farfan for the assessment.

Austria bar Sabitzer and Arnautovic and of course Alaba I know close to nothing about them along with little interest if I am honest so little they produce.

Another mild test for Italy which will only increase my cynicism when the big test comes but hope they dont take this lightly.

Jesp wrote:

VivaStPauli wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:By the way, how has no one mentioned Austria is Italia's opponent in the Round of 16?

Its on the 26th and can anyone tell me how Austria is and their chances against Italy if so, why?

Austria aren't in a great place atm, team lacks balance, Alaba being their leader and driving creative force means they always stand deep and look for the pass backwards, arguably they'd be better if they ignored him a bit.
Their forwards aren't really having a great time these past few weeks.

Should be a cake walk for Italy, though obviously knockout games are almost never a joke, and if Austria decide to sit deep completely, it could take a while to break them down. They're not a bad side. I'd say comparable to Switzerland, just worse balance? They lack the punch of a Shaqiri or Embolo, but have pretty good control with the midfield around Sabitzer, though I assume that won't matter against Locatelli etc...

is it just me or everytime austria has this moment to counterattack and has this ample space and time, instead of going forward and being direct they are just looking for sideaway passes!

i mean i was so frustated to see them against dutch . watch space for Sasa Kalajdzic - i think he is going to be one of those talked Forward in upcoming seasons....
he has a dzeko like style holds ball well able to bring others to play and can create and score goals. Alaba is another threat as always.

and i agree they have a good midfield but if they also do a similar side way pass to bring midfield and try to do head to head against italians then im afraid Austrians wont make progress ... italians cover spaces too quickly

It's not just you, it's exactly what I meant. Every time they could launch a proper attack, they kind of try to wait for Alaba to catch up, and then remember he's a CB and by then it's too late.

Jesp wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Never a Italy fan but appreciate the change in their football nowadays. Although ppl forgetting France? Their midfield is also so good, and Mbappe, I dont see how old Bannuci amd Chellini can contain him?

italy has Bastoni ! that guy is monstrous man marker!
plus italy is never gonna let only defenders keep in check they do that as a unit with extra layer of support from midfield anyway. that being said if italy were to face belgium and france late stage italy is better off being underdogs. they are capable as a unit.

Apparently Mancini doesn't rate him much, probably he consider him as a defender proper for 3 defence system, if Chiellini doesn't get back.. the name might be Acerbi..

Anyway not worried about Austria, Ukraina was more fearable on paper for some talented players, that Malinovsky from Atalanta etc

But It will be nice to play against Austria , it remembers me one first Italy matches watched by me , France 98 vibes. In short, grey first half. Then Roberto Baggio enters pitch and he resolves this. 2-1.

VivaStPauli wrote:

Jesp wrote:

VivaStPauli wrote:

Austria aren't in a great place atm, team lacks balance, Alaba being their leader and driving creative force means they always stand deep and look for the pass backwards, arguably they'd be better if they ignored him a bit.
Their forwards aren't really having a great time these past few weeks.

Should be a cake walk for Italy, though obviously knockout games are almost never a joke, and if Austria decide to sit deep completely, it could take a while to break them down. They're not a bad side. I'd say comparable to Switzerland, just worse balance? They lack the punch of a Shaqiri or Embolo, but have pretty good control with the midfield around Sabitzer, though I assume that won't matter against Locatelli etc...

is it just me or everytime austria has this moment to counterattack and has this ample space and time, instead of going forward and being direct they are just looking for sideaway passes!

i mean i was so frustated to see them against dutch . watch space for Sasa Kalajdzic - i think he is going to be one of those talked Forward in upcoming seasons....
he has a dzeko like style holds ball well able to bring others to play and can create and score goals. Alaba is another threat as always.

and i agree they have a good midfield but if they also do a similar side way pass to bring midfield and try to do head to head against italians then im afraid Austrians wont make progress ... italians cover spaces too quickly

It's not just you, it's exactly what I meant. Every time they could launch a proper attack, they kind of try to wait for Alaba to catch up, and then remember he's a CB and by then it's too late.

LOL i noticed that a lot in that game. even with dutch wingbacks being completely out of position for the whole initiative to happen they were just waiting for one another ur right lol
their team work is good from the back but their direct football or inability to take advantage on counterattack is what i thought the reason behind unable to cause any problem to dutch team and i i think its going to be even more so against italians

alaba had too much of work too do that game ... even got like yellow card at 15 or 16min to the game right? cuz he had too much back and forth.

Robespierre wrote:

Jesp wrote:

BarcaLearning wrote:Never a Italy fan but appreciate the change in their football nowadays. Although ppl forgetting France? Their midfield is also so good, and Mbappe, I dont see how old Bannuci amd Chellini can contain him?

italy has Bastoni ! that guy is monstrous man marker!
plus italy is never gonna let only defenders keep in check they do that as a unit with extra layer of support from midfield anyway. that being said if italy were to face belgium and france late stage italy is better off being underdogs. they are capable as a unit.

Apparently Mancini doesn't rate him much, probably he consider him as a defender proper for 3 defence system, if Chiellini doesn't get back.. the name might be Acerbi..

Anyway not worried about Austria, Ukraina was more fearable on paper for some talented players, that Malinovsky from Atalanta etc

But It will be nice to play against Austria , it remembers me one first Italy matches watched by me , France 98 vibes. In short, grey first half. Then Roberto Baggio enters pitch and he resolves this. 2-1.

Nesta was injured early in the game. Then Bobo Vieri scored. Then Roberto Baggio replaced Del Piero and scored the second. It was nice for him as he scored penalties to bury the ghost of 94 and played well in his last major tournament. Beautiful times