Conte picked his favourites for Italy over the best

Date: 3rd June 2016 at 11:26am
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On Tuesday evening Italy coach Antonio Conte selected his squad for the European Championship in France and he has stuck to his guns with his choices in personnel.

italy squad

A coach that has a desire for players who work hard and show determination, Conte has picked his 23 favourite players instead of the best players available for the Azzurri.

He has had to deal with number of issues such as injuries to key players, having limited time to work with the squad, and having a smaller talent pool to choose from like the coaches of yesteryear but he has failed to develop clear style of play and bring the best out of the players at his disposal.

Starting with the goalkeepers, Conte has made some questionable choices. Salvatore Sirigu struggled to play in goal at Paris Saint-Germain while 17-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma has been a revelation for AC Milan. Even at third choice, going to EURO 2016 would have been a great experience for the youngster.

romagnoli italy

Giorgio Chiellini battled with injuries in 2015-16 whereas Daniele Rugani and Alessio Romagnoli did not have such concerns. The duo played together in the Azzurrini defence and could be future stars for the Azzurri.

Rugani did well in the second half of the season when he deputised for Chiellini at Juventus while Romagnoli played regularly for AC Milan and performed better than his experiences teammates in defence.

There is a lack of creativity involved and injuries to Claudio Marchisio and Marco Verratti have not helped the situation but Conte has selected Daniele De Rossi and Thiago Motta in their place.

De Rossi did not have a great season for Roma and although Motta played well for PSG, he is a 33-year-old, never been an outstanding performer for the Azzurri, and he flopped in the 4-1 defeat against Germany. Jorginho starred for Napoli this season and this could have been his chance to control Italy’s midfield.

jorginho napoli

Domenico Berardi is one of the best young talents that Italy has but Conte has largely ignored him. He could play as a right-winger in a 4-3-3 formation but he also played some games as a support striker in a 3-5-2 for Sassuolo in their first Serie A season back in 2013-14 and performed well in that role.

Although he only scored seven goals in 29 Serie A games in 2015-16, Berardi has already shown over the previous three seasons than he can score in big matches against strong opposition.

Conte has taken Eder, who has failed to score regular since leaving Sampdoria for Inter, and he has ignored Leonardo Pavoletti and Andrea Belotti, strikers that scored more goals than the Italo-Brazilian. Conte should hope that Eder’s partnership with Graziano Pelle still works at the Euros.

Emanuele Giaccherini - Azzurri

Emanuele Giaccherini is the type of player that Conte likes because of his pace, stamina, and versatility but there are a few players who perform better in his natural role as a left-winger.

Lorenzo Insigne and Stephan El Shaarawy were selected in the final 23 but AC Milan midfielder Giacomo Bonaventura did not make the final cut and Nicola Sansone has not won a senior cap yet despite a fine season at Sassuolo.

Historically Italy can do well when they are written off like at the 1982 and 2006 World Cups but an overemphasis on workhorses over flair players like at the 1996 European Championship and 2010 World Cup can be costly.

If the Azzurri flop in France, the selections made by Conte will likely face even greater scrutiny.

 

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