No De Rossi or Motta? What happens at CM?

I'm hearing Sturaro (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cry.gif)

Ah, the great Sturaro.

Puritan ideology? What does that mean? The message I was trying to communicate is that we can theorize all night long, but in the end Conte (or any given coach) knows much better because he has insight into things we don't. He's not only selecting players by their merit, he's creating a team. And this is part of the job a NT coach has to do. By pure selection, Italy of 2002 was a super-force. But in real terms, the team crumbled too often and didn't convince at all. Examples like that are countless.


You never explicitly said he's a failure, but you said that Conte "was a bad choice" and "a let down".


What exactly do you mean by that? I think he has a fair chance to succeed, yes?


Why wouldn't you? Ireland is by no means any indicator. Italy played with a B side that never even intended to win. Conte has a cohesive unit that cracked open Belgium and Sweden. I'm positive Italy could play against a team like Iceland much more effective then for example England ever did.

You made it sound like had he taken Bona he would have disrupted the team, like it would have been a detriment to the entire group had he gone instead of a Bernardeschi or Sturaro, which imo have both shown themselves to not be good enough, yes, even among this bunch.

By that point the 2006 side should have imploded as well because there were some players who were mostly called on name rather than true merit. Some were even called up because Lippi's son was part of the agency that represented a couple of players I once read (case in point how the likes or Barone and Zaccardo came about).

I don't recall ever calling him a let down, maybe a bad choice sure because of the reason I pointed down above. And btw, this Italy struggled to beat my own country, which are basically a couple of part-timers running on the pitch worse than Iceland. The game against Sweden imo was bad, and it was a representation of how they could struggle when the onus to really create is on them, they could barely string two passes together in that game at times. I won't go into the Ireland game because you'll tell me it was a useless exercise.

Better than England yes (I don't think many teams could fall to such lows aside from England tbh)

And yes, of course Conte will succeed at Chelsea, but it will take time. I think he'll find it difficult at first because of the type of players that Chelsea have

Suprisingly Conte speaks English. And I think after this Euro performance players are going to have a lot of respect for him. I think he won't win the league with Chelsea in the first season, the competition is too fierce but given time (and that's the one thing Abramovich doesn't give).

EPL is going to be the best league to watch this season. Man U, Man C are top dogs but Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal aren't pushovers.

That said, I just want Milan to finish top 3 next season. Too much to wish for?

Depends on the transfer summer.

Not exactly my intention. But still, perhaps. This is the part I wanted underlined. If you create a team, you have to consider many variables. Sometimes it's wise to take a few team players that have a big or at least active role in the locker room and boost team spirit, mold the team together but are inferior in terms of technique or overall appeal. A National team coach always aims for the balance. If it wasn't for the perfect 2/2 start, Bernardeschi wouldn't probably see a minute of the tournament. Same would happen to Bona.


Why do you always have to be so "scientific" about something that isn't. Sometimes big teams implode, sometimes they don't. Nothing is a given empirical truth in football because of so many human variables. Perhaps Lippi found the perfect balance with players like Barzagli, Barone, Oddo, Zaccardo, even Grosso.

I remember very well how Scolari shocked everyone in 2002 by not selecting the likes of Romario (who was old but had an awesome season in Brazil), Elber who had a great season with Bayern as well as leaving out some of the Copa 99 players (Alex, Vampeta, Zago, etc.) and taking a few eyebrow raisers to Japan and Korea (Edilson, Kleberson, Kaka, Anderson Polga). In then end, he won the cup; it wasn't the best Brazil, it certainly had better players to be picked, but it was a winning side nevertheless.



"Conte has been a let down as well imo, even taking into account that he's basically coaching his Juve team and still there isn't a fraction of the same cohesion as there was clearly evident while he was with Juve"


Haven't you learned? Italy usually blow unimportant friendly games and a few Sweden-like matches. I've been watching football for years and this is what makes Italy special, back in the 80s and the 90s as well as now. Take Germany. If you consider the Italian score against them on friendlies, it's most probably a negative one. They played recently, Italy lost 1-4 or even 1-5 if I'm not wrong. But if you look at the knockout meetings between the two; boy, I don't recall Germany winning like - ever.

Stunning performance from Wales! Who would have thought.

Just another reason to be Team Ronaldo in that SF!

It's simply called picking form players. Palermo were fun to watch in the season before the WC. Grosso was arguably one of the most important players in the WC too (Winning penalty v Australia, goal v Germany, winning penalty)

AFAIAC, Conte has done very well for Italy. Traditionally Italian teams do just enough to get through qualifiers and do not do particularly well in friendly matches, so this Euro is his first real test. We are further along than I expected, especially considering talent level in Italy these days. Frankly, I do not think Bona is that much better than the squad he selected, and it seems to me that there is very good team chemistry (which was probably a big factor in his player selection).

I agree that Conte will have a challenge with the Chelsea primadonnas as well as the level of competition he will face in EPL, but he may surprise us all and win it the first year.

I am not a big Ronaldo fan, and would like to see Wales make it through.

Ramsey is a big loss, but I can't see Portugal winning. Wales-Iceland for the final! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Can't see? I can't see Wales get past them.