Yes, but also some of the players we lost...we don't really necessarily need right now. We have Kessie/Bennacer/Tonali. Also, they needed time to grow like Cristante (whom I don't think is amazing), Locatelli..Sure..Donna is a big miss but we can't compete with clubs like PSG come on.

Speaking of Cristante, I think Mancini completely bottled last night's changes. Subbing in the mediocre Cristante, Berardi and Bernardeschi within regular time explained why they lost their total domination which they had for most of the game (at some point in the second half ball possession was 71%-29% in favour of Italy).

No idea why Locatelli was subbed in only in ET, or why Pessina was completely snubbed.

I think they could have won it in ET had the changes been done better.

I disagree. Barella was piss poor and had a yellow card which usually means trouble. Pessina played badly against Spain, so it was logical to go for Cristante and he did good. The offensive options Mancini had on his bench were limited: all players bar Berardi out of form. Insigne was exhausted, Immobile quite ineffective for the second or third time in a row and Chiesa being injured was not expected.

Taking form, exhaustion and injuries in account, Roberto did good. Look at England, they had players like Rashford on the bench.

Disagreed. I didn't say he made a mistake with relation to the players he took off, but the players he subbed in.

Pessina payed badly against Spain? I didn't think so. And one bad game does not exclude the fact he's been otherwise excellent in the whole tournament. Locatelli was also available, who for some reason after two superb first games has been ignored for the most part.

Bernardeschi also was a bad sub, but that's Mancini's own fault for selecting him over the excellent Politano who had a great season with Napoli. Bernardeschi is a Juve benchwarmer for crying out loud.

I also have to say, that this tournament has made me rethink my evaluations of Berardi. I don't think he's that good, and I hope we don't go after him for the right wing.

Rematch Demand for Italy V England

After the France-Switzerland one, this one is even better. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

What kind of IQ must a person possess to start a petition in the hope that UEFA will replay a Euro final simply because Chiellini pulled Saka's shirt. I wonder...

Gazzetta have no clue on what's going on at Milan. At this point I don't think anyone does tbh. Even the usually very reliable guys like Di Marzio and Romano only seem to know once a deal is practically done and dusted

I'll wait. But if we even have an inkling that Kessie does not want to renew, we need to sell him now. The Donnarumma case was made even more obvious following the Euros. We could have gotten a 100m for him after this tournament had we renewed with him for what he wanted. Seeing him be so colossal for the Azzurri (who are the NT I support and love almost as much as Milan) made it so bittersweet for me. Should have never let it get this far. The moment we went into last season with his future unclear, we shot ourselves in the foot. We must never let this happen again

And here I'm not just talking about Kessie who is going into his last year of contract. Romagnoli is in a similar situation. We shouldn't let him walk for free. Either sell him now, or renew him. Simple as

Same goes with guys like Theo and Bennacer. Just tie them down to long term contracts now. Why do we keep letting players run these contracts down? We lose all the negotiating power in these scenarios


But going into the new season with an AM who is not familiar with the system is a risk imo. The management have had plenty of time now. They should have prepared for this even before Hakan jumped ship knowing there was the possibility of that happening.

I don't know. Now that the Euros are over I want to see us get moving. We haven't even closed the Diaz deal which has supposedly been agreed for weeks now

Btw. Huge NO to Berardi. He's not what we need. He'll never be a big game player. Watching Chiesa in this tournament and last season for Juve makes me want to tear my hair out. He'd have been perfect for our right side and I harped on about that all of lat summer. To see Juve take him on such an advantageous deal makes me nauseous.


Calabria needed surgery though.

Obviously I think he's miles better than Di Lorenzo but it is what it is. He'll continue to improve and hopefully will be the starting FB for Italy in Qatar


I'm a lifelong Azzurri fan and last Sunday was hugely emotional

That being said, for me, nothing tops 2006. Maybe it's the fact that I was younger or that Milan players were integral parts of that teams. But nothing tops that for me in terms of sheer joy. Aside from when Milan win that is


Cristante is average at best. Locatelli or Pessina should have come on instead of him imo

Especially when Italy were in such control of the game. There was no need of a more defensive midfielder imo.

Bonucci has been sh!t for Juve as well though. Him and Chiellini are just the type of players who bring their A-game for the Nazionale. Especially when they play together, it's magic imo. He was never really that great for us.

As for Locatelli. Yes of course looking back at it now, it's devastating that we lost him so we could play the likes of Biglia and Monto instead. But he was too raw to be starting for us and he wanted to go somewhere where he would be a starter and did not want to be loaned. The only mistake we made there was not including a buy-back. We really need to learn how to start managing these situations with these young players. We did the same with Pessina who I think would be a great utility guy instead of the awful Krunic


Bottled is a big word considering Italy still won the tournament. But yeah, I do agree that Italy should have killed England off in the second half had he made a more progressive sub then. Barella had to come off. He looked absolutely gassed out there. He's endured a season under Conte so he's basically ran on fumes all tournament. Just had to come off. Would have preferred Pessina or Loca over Cristante who I really do not like


None of the Italy subs made an impact against Spain though because they rarely had the ball. The Cristante sub would have made more sense when England were really giving Italy trouble with Kane dropping deep and playing in the wingbacks. But from minute 30 onward, it was all Italy and I think bringing on a player like Pessina would have killed the game off quicker and we wouldn't have had to go through the shootout.

I agree on Barella though. Simply had to take him off. Kid was running on empty

Anyway, this is all a moot point. Mancini has been pretty much inch perfect all tournament and he brought the cup home. You can't really do much more than that

We're being heavily linked with Vlasic in Russia right now. What do you think Filippo? Would he fit in at Milan?

I would be super happy with Vlasic, but apparently CSKA want 35M. That's a big no-no. Some rumours say there's an opening for a loan of 5-6M, with right to purchase which might become an obligation in case certain conditions are met.

But these are just rumours. I think he would be a perfect replacement for Capanoglu. Plus he's quite young, 24 in October, and can also play as LF/RW.

In other news, Giroud will be in Italy on Thursday and have his medical on Friday. Whereas Ballo-Toure is almost a done deal.

What do you think about the Giroud deal?

I've watched some vids of him and I agree that he would seem to fit into the mold that Pioli prefers for that position.

Looks strong, fast, great foot and decent vision as well. I also read that he's only missed 5 games with injury throughout his career which is insane if the numbers are accurate

I think we need to spend the money in this position rather than the RW position now that we've been backed into this corner. If we can do something similar to the Tomori deal I think it would be perfect for us. Maybe front load it a bit more on this summer so we won't have to pay the majority of the fee on next summer. Something like 10m now and extra 15m + 5m bonuses next summer.

@CorSport: #PSG has made an offer of ?40M for #TheoHernandez!

Huge LOL and a big f@ck you to PSG!! 100m and you can have him. Anything lest and Leo can go f@ck himself.

Cannot believe this club and their audacity. And UEFA is allowing this!! Bring on the Super League FFS and F@ck UEFA as well

Vla?ić would be a great addition, surely.

Not so hyped about the other mentioned signings. Giroud is okay and should provide the classic target man. But we still need much more.

I think Giroud will be a perfect replacement for Ibra and what he provides this team in terms of bringing other into play and not just being a target man. He's better at that than the actual goal scoring...

Yeah, the management have a lot of work to do.

We still need 1/2 backup FBs
Another CDM
A RW
And most important the AM

Another striker would be just a bonus at this point. I think we should be fine with Ibra and Giroud.

Have you not learned anything from last season? Giroud and Ibra surpass 70 years combined, we most definitively cannot rely solely on them. No, we need a third striker option as well, especially if we sell Leao.

I'm divided. On the one hand, we're getting an experienced player basically for free.

On the other hand, I'm not crazy about the player. His scoring record throughout his career is pathetic, and he's 35. Not to mention he'll be earning second to Zlatan in terms of wages, which I don't think he'll be able to justify.

As Fillipo said, we can't rely solely on those two. We need a third option. AFAIK, the management's idea is to sign another young prospect who can lean from Ibra and Giroud and be ready to start games for us next season. Or at least be a full-proof option in attack. Kaio Jorge, perhaps?