Group E

[Harpsabu]

I can't see Ireland scoring a goal against Italy.

By that stage italy will hopefully be through and will rest some players. Shane long will do his thing against heavyweights. No harm, but i think we could definitely beat this Belgium side. The pressure on them, plus their confidence has to be ruined. But, ifs and buts. Keep the faith.

 

[thatdude]

Giacherinni despite the goal was extremely frustrating in the 2nd half. Was very surprised he got 90 minutes, especially with such a natural replacement in Florenzi on the bench (even Sturaro could have come in and done a job).

Darmian looked pretty poor today too, De Sciglio's touch and composure was better. Wouldn't be surprised to see him sneak into the the lineup for next game.

Immobile had a really good cameo, and Italy still have Insigne, El Shaarawy, and Bernadeschi on the bench. Hoping to see them get some opportunities sometime this tournament.

 

[Inter2010]

Italy(2) vs Wilmots (0)

FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking - Belgium No: 2 , then italy should be No: 1

FIFA World Ranking is a total joke.

 

[RichDAS]

This is why I f***ing love this country and team! Even when the odds are against us and everybody writes Italy off, do we show them! I'm so grateful that I have a team who do not feel inferior to our opponents and play with our pride and badge. The odds were stacked against us massively yet once again we showed everyone what we are capable of.

I'm now going to enjoy this comfortable silence as the world is once again shocked by our fantastic display of football :datass:

 

[Armes]

to be honest, that wasn't much of a fantastic display of football from ita, but more a massive piece of shit game from belgium. Obviously, defensively Italy was top notch as usual, however it wasn't until immobile came on that things started to change. eder as a cf just makes me sad, even sadder that he's on our team. but yeah, belgium completely done goofed tactically and individually. it's like they all ate pot brownies just before the game.

 

[kameru]

I must admit that this cunte really know how to drill his team, Italia Play just like his Juventus where Vucinic and Matri won them Scudetto. And it's NT where you don't have time to train like a club, still he manage to drill The squad. Something Mancini would never achieve..

 

[KevinB]

Conté makes limited players better, whereas Wilmots makes good players play worse.

 

[Ronin]

Makes you wonder if the current Inter team isn't reaching its potential cause of Mancini, similar to Belgium.

 

[KevinB]

Makes you wonder if the current Inter team isn't reaching its potential cause of Mancini, similar to Belgium.

It is quite comparable `

1. There is no system, just 'big' names who don't really link up (JoJo - Icardi - Ljajic >< De Bruyne - Lukaku - Hazard).
2. Always tries to adapt to the opponent and fails miserably
3. Fuck creativity (Melo - Medel >< Witsel - Fellaini)
4. Purposely doesn't start a player in form (Ljajic, Jovetic, .. >< Carrasco, Dembélé)
5. After an entire season still no offensive gameplay >< After 4 years in charge, still no fluent attack
6. Full back wheel of fortune >< Full back wheel of fortune 2.0
7. Always gets fucked against a tactical coach >< What are tactics?
8. Handanovic has to save his ass every game >< Courtois has to save his ass every game
9. Despite playing defensive, the defense still sucks

 

[monster09]

It is quite comparable `

1. There is no system, just 'big' names who don't really link up (JoJo - Icardi - Ljajic >< De Bruyne - Lukaku - Hazard).
2. Always tries to adapt to the opponent and fails miserably
3. Fuck creativity (Melo - Medel >< Witsel - Fellaini)
4. Purposely doesn't start a player in form (Ljajic, Jovetic, .. >< Carrasco, Dembélé)
5. After an entire season still no offensive gameplay >< After 4 years in charge, still no fluent attack
6. Full back wheel of fortune >< Full back wheel of fortune 2.0
7. Always gets fucked against a tactical coach >< What are tactics?
8. Handanovic has to save his ass every game >< Courtois has to save his ass every game
9. Despite playing defensive, the defense still sucks

Not starting Carrasco was face palm worthy moment. He was in great form and played in CL finals, Dembele had s great season but somehow Fellaini started the game.

 

[wicked wizard]

Conté makes limited players better, whereas Wilmots makes good players play worse.

I just think that Belgium are so overrated. Even looking at the team sheet it's not exactly worldclass, especially that I don't even rate hazard that much. Am not the least bit surprised that italy won tbh.

 

[KevinB]

I just think that Belgium are so overrated. Even looking at the team sheet it's not exactly worldclass, especially that I don't even rate hazard that much. Am not the least bit surprised that italy won tbh.

ah, overrated? Maybe, yes. But still players like Hazard, De Bruyne, Courtois are proven in multiple 'big' competitions. All the others are quite okay though. Looking at the sheets, Belgium should win.

 

[wicked wizard]

ah, overrated? Maybe, yes. But still players like Hazard, De Bruyne, Courtois are proven in multiple 'big' competitions. All the others are quite okay though. Looking at the sheets, Belgium should win.

Maybe, but I don't think the italy team is as weak as ppl are making out. It's obviously shite compared to its past teams, but so are most other big teams in this tournament imo.

 

[Lionheart]

FORZA ITALIA!!! :') :') :') So much auwww tbh.

Right when nobody expects anything from them, they pull out a massive D & give it to everyone! 8==D Forzaaa

 

[Dylan]

By that stage italy will hopefully be through and will rest some players. Shane long will do his thing against heavyweights. No harm, but i think we could definitely beat this Belgium side. The pressure on them, plus their confidence has to be ruined. But, ifs and buts. Keep the faith.

I would like to have played Belgium first. This might have woken them up a bit.

 

[Bluenine]

Conté makes limited players better, whereas Wilmots makes good players play worse.

Very true. I don't have a high opinion of Wilmots as a manager. Why they didn't sack him after the world cup I can't understand.

That said, Conte picks players on things like work rate, ability to follow his orders, and places a lot of importance to continuity (how long they have been playing together), etc. So in a way, Conte deliberately picks "limited players" over more talented options. That is why relatively talentless players like Giaccherini are preferred to players with better quality like El Shaarawy, Bernardeschi, Insigne, etc... hell, Berardi is not even in the squad, and Parolo was preferred to Jorginho. If he was Belgium coach, its quite possible that Hazard or De Bruyne would be on the bench... or if he was the England coach maybe Vardy and Dele Alli would still be waiting for their first national cap. So there are plusses and minuses.

However Conte is the right coach for the current Italy because this generation lacks the talent we expect from Azzurri. There is no Baggio, Pirlo, Del Piero, Totti, etc... Conte's organised, well drilled team work somewhat compensates for that missing talent.

 

[Harpsabu]

I would like to have played Belgium first. This might have woken them up a bit.

True, but i also feel like the enormous pressure facing them now might be even worse. If they fail to beat ireland the backlash they'll get from that.

 

[Dylan]

Wilmots: "One-one would have been more deserved (against Italy). One team played football, the other didn't. What I want is attacking football and we have the DNA to play that game.""

He's just going to love us.

 

[ADRossi]

Ah, yes.

I always love the "if you don't ignore defense and focus all your efforts on attacking, it's not real football" argument.

Tactics are stupid, teams should just ignore them.

 

[kameru]

So defence isn't part of football now. Better switch his job to EPL Comentator.