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Extended Clip - Gnonto In, Scamacca Out: Selecting Italy’s Squad For Euro 2024 (Ep. 407)
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After the final international break before Euro 2024 in Germany, Nima Tavallaey and Carlo Garganese debate, discuss and name the 23-man Italy squad they think Luciano Spalletti should name to help the Azzurri defend their European Championship crown this summer.
This is an extended clip from this weeks free Monday episode of The Italian Football Podcast which is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google podcasts.
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Transcript
Italy's Squad Selection Dilemma
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast. What we're going to do now is we are going to
00:00:09
Speaker
be Luciano Spoletti, and we're going to choose our squad for the Euros now, NIMA, both of us. And what makes it so difficult choosing a squad is I don't know myself if I'm Luciano Spoletti, whether I go with a 4-3-3 or a 3-4-2-1, because for me, it was a certain no after the Venezuela game. I was like, there's no way we can use a 3-4-2-1. There's not enough time.
00:00:36
Speaker
They were more cohesive. They were more defensively solid against Ecuador. But there are still clear weaknesses in both systems. The attack remains not good enough for both systems. But I do feel like if we are going to use a back three, just use the entire inter-block, Damiana, Cherbe, Bastani, and then, you know, like I said, the wing backs, maybe even play Bern over as well on DiMarco. You've got Borrello in midfield. I mean, that's six of the seven.
00:01:02
Speaker
uh out first outfield players are are into uh into these days so the squad it will depend on on what we what what we're going to go for basically um but let's let's go through it let's let's choose our squad our squad for you really 2024 let's start with the goalkeeper
Goalkeeper Choices: Donnarumma and Contenders
00:01:20
Speaker
goalkeeping department, and this is probably the easiest one to do. So I'm going to read out the shortlist first. The shortlist of goalkeepers are Donnarumma, Mikario, Meretz, Provodel, Kaneseki, Di Gregorio at a stretch. We have to pick three. My three are Donnarumma,
00:01:40
Speaker
the cardio and then the only debate is who you take as your number three i'm taking kana secchi the only reason for that is the number three goal keeper never plays in any tournament i rather take a yellow keeper that can gain a bit of experience. Or you know could be in ten years time but it's good to have some experience uh gain some experience rather than an older one that's what's the point.
00:02:01
Speaker
No, I tend to agree with that. I think that's usually what people do, don't they? They bring two established goalkeepers and they bring a young one so that he's used to having
00:02:17
Speaker
you know having been used to for the future should he continue having a great career that he's been to a tournament already and knows what it's about and can draw on that experience. I'm happy with that I mean let's remember it's not a twenty six man squad it's a twenty three man squad.
00:02:33
Speaker
Um, so it's, we can't have four goalkeeper. So yeah, three for me, uh, I'm okay with that. I don't have too many, like, I don't have too many bother, but you know, too many issues with that. Although I would like to say that someone like Provedel probably deserves to get called up as well, given how well he's played. Um, so yeah, I mean, De Gregorio has been outstanding. If we're going on form, um, he's had a fantastic season. I mean, I think, you know,
00:03:02
Speaker
together with some men, I mean, I think you could, no one would disagree that they've probably been the best call keepers in the Syrianity season. But so, I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm not too fast, really. Dona Ruma Vicario, then Provedel, Caro Nesequi, Di Gregorio, take a pic. Yeah, yeah, agreed.
Right-Sided Defense Debate
00:03:25
Speaker
Defenders, defenders, now, usually,
00:03:29
Speaker
when picking squads for a World Cup or Euros, usually teams will pick
00:03:37
Speaker
and eight players or usually nine players in defense, but obviously the formation comes into it here. And this is where it's difficult because if you're picking a four man defense, then, you know, if you're playing a four man back four, then you might be okay with even picking four center backs because if one of your full backs can also play a center back as well, for example, in which case you could probably pick eight, but then if you're playing a back,
00:04:06
Speaker
If you're playing with three sensor backs, then you're going to need five. You're going to need definitely going to need five sensor backs, and then you're going to probably need four wing backs unless some can double up on either side, like it can be us, it can. So it's going to be difficult, but if we assume
00:04:27
Speaker
Let's just, I mean, this is difficult. Let's, let's assume that we're going to pick two right back slash right wing backs and two left back slash left wing backs. Let's start with the right. Who are your right sided defenders? We're not talking center backs here. We're talking full backs or wing backs. Okay. Wing backs. It's, uh, for me, it's Bella Nova and it's, uh, Cambia. So those are my two.
00:04:53
Speaker
Okay. And you're not picking De Lorenzo or you, or you put him as a right, he's a right center back for me. Okay. All right. Yeah. This is so tough for me. I really don't know. I like, cause there's De Lorenzo, there's Darmian.
00:05:11
Speaker
There's Cambiaso, there's Belanova. Now, Darmian, I have to pick because I want the inter-block. So Darmian has to be in it. Whether he's part of the center back or whether he's part of the right, Darmian has to be in it. Di Lorenzo, I just find it inconceivable that you can't say Di Lorenzo as bad as his season's been. So I'm going to take Di Lorenzo, Darmian, and then it has to be one between
00:05:35
Speaker
Belanova and and Cambiezo, Belanova's performance. And I mean, if if we're going for a three, four, three, four, two, one, then I'm almost edging towards Belanova because he's so devastating. So I'm going to go. I'm originally was going to Cambiezo. Now I'm going to go Belanova. So I'm going to pick three, three right backs, three right wing backs, De Lorenzo, Darmian and Belanova.
Left and Center-Back Options
00:06:05
Speaker
left backs never left wing that's not really much to talk about um um it's it's udo i'd probably bring in if spinazzola's fit i'd probably have him as well because he can play on the right and play on the left and he's very good and he's got experience um but i mean it's a 23-man squad and i'm trying to i'm going to keep that spot open for
00:06:31
Speaker
for when I know exactly like how many numbers, if I got anyone over, got anyone left over.
00:06:37
Speaker
The other options on the left are Spin It Sailor and Biraghi, really. Pareese is not in the record now anymore, he doesn't play, so it's really out of those. And then Cambiazzo as well, you know, who you can put there, but I think it has to be Adorgi and DiMarco, and there just isn't room to pick anyone else. Censorbacks, so the Censorback options are Bastoni Achebe, if he is available, Bongiorno, Scalvini Mancini,
00:07:03
Speaker
Calafiori, Gatti, Romagnoli and then well you're including Di Lorenzo and I don't assume at Darmian as well in the center backs because you're selecting yours, I'm assuming you're selecting yours as part of the three-man defense. So who are your center backs? Right center back, Di Lorenzo Darmian. Center center backs, Acherbi Buongiorno. Left center backs, Bastoni Calafiori.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, I would go for, did you not, did you pick a chair? But you said, yeah, I said a cherry. Did you say, yeah, I said a cherry. He said a cherry. Right. So we're assuming he's assuming he's available. Yeah. So I'm going Bastani. I want kind of fury. Yeah. I want kind of fury.
00:07:54
Speaker
I want someone with some pace. I'm going to go Bastoni in Califuri as my left centre-backs. My centre-centre-backs, I'm going to go for Acherbi. I'm kind of torn now between Bongiorno and Mancini. After that Bongiorno horror show, I'm torn between Bongiorno and Mancini.
00:08:19
Speaker
Um, i'm what I can say is skalvini. No, no, he's not in my squad norzgati neither norzroman. I think we have the same defenders I think we have I think we have the same squad like in terms of that And I the only the only debate for me is whether I go with yeah is whether I go with bonjour or or mancini That's my only that's my only difference between me between the two of us whether I go bonjour or whether I go mancini And I i'm not sure plus i'm very i'm very uh
00:08:47
Speaker
wary that i think we've selected 10 defenders i believe and that's too many like one of those is going to happen no not necessarily we won't fit in 23 players necessarily because i mean i've counted it's 10 and then plus three that's 13 that means you've got 10 players left for midfield and attack uh and i'm not
00:09:08
Speaker
Okay well let's do the midfield attack and we'll come back and we'll name our 23 at the end because this is a juggling act and it's very very difficult getting the numbers down remember that in Euro 2020 there was the squads were 26 was it?
Midfield Depth Concerns
00:09:21
Speaker
They increased the numbers because of Covid and that made it a lot easier to get all the numbers in and now we're down to 23 and it does become a juggling act.
00:09:28
Speaker
So, mid-field, the short list here is, and we really, our mid-field depth is really not as big as it used to be. It's actually quite not much depth at all, actually, in our mid-field. So, we are one or two injuries away from disaster in mid-field. We need to pray our mid-fielders stay fit. So, we've got Locatelli, Giorginio, Cristante, Barella, Francesi, Bonaventura, Pellegrini, Folarunsu, Colpani, Pesina.
00:09:52
Speaker
Verati, I'm still including them in the shortlist, even though it's unlike Casa de Fabian Bove. So five or six midfielders, really, we have to be picked.
00:10:09
Speaker
maybe five, but we'll see. Who are you going for? I'm going for six midfielders and my right mid-cinemid, Fratese, Baralla, left-cinemid, Pellegrini, and Pesina, and Regista, Locatelli, and Giorgino.
00:10:35
Speaker
I mean, yes, I'm in agreement on the right, I go for the same as you, Borrello and Fratuzzi, Rajeester is the same as you, Locatelli and Giorgino, Pellegrini agreed, then it's a difficult one for me. Do I go Persina? I agree, I'm not going to include Bonaventura. Do I go Persina and go for another more kind of attack in midfielder?
00:11:01
Speaker
Or do I go Cristante and bring a holding midfielder, like somebody that's more of a destroyer, which we don't really have any of those in our current midfield at all, because Giorgino isn't nor is Locatelli. They're ball-playing the Gistas, whereas do we want to pick a hardman? I'm not a fan of Cristante, but you think you have to bring one
00:11:26
Speaker
usually you would bring one. And I think in Spoletti's mind, maybe he does bring him, but with I bring him, I don't know. I mean, Barilla has played there. I'm looking at the maths. Barilla has played there for Conte when needed to. So he can do a job there if needed. We're talking like towards the end of games, if you're looking to defend the lead kind of thing. And I would play, you can play Barilla there. He's done it before.
00:11:49
Speaker
Okay, well, in that case, then you won me over. I'll go Pacina if I'm going to go with a six, but I might have to chop Pacina if if the numbers don't add up at the end, because it's, again, really, really difficult getting down to 23. So provisionally, I'm going to go Pacina as my six centimeter fielder. That brings us on to the
Forward Line Challenges and Chiesa's Role
00:12:05
Speaker
forward list. This is an absolute nightmare trying to pick the trying to pick a bunch of attackers from here. So I'm going to read out the shortlist. Most of them as bad as each other. So here we go.
00:12:28
Speaker
Now before I ask, first of all, again,
00:12:37
Speaker
Spelletti is going to have to decide before he picks his squad. Am I going with a 3-4-2-1? Am I going for a 3-5-2? Am I going for a 4-3-3? Because that is going to determine who he picks and also the number of players that he picks. Because if he's going for a 3-4-2-1, then he probably doesn't need any more than five forwards. He could even argue four if we include him. Pellegrini is one of the, or even, you know, Pacino, or even, but,
00:13:07
Speaker
Fratesi as one of the two behind the one. Do you know what I mean? So this is where it kind of the formation is important. And to be fair, Kiesan Raspadori can play on the wings wide if you want to play a 4-3-3 in certain games.
00:13:24
Speaker
And Raspadori can play center as well, yeah. Yeah, and Skamaka Hretegi are more prima punte. So it's my four Arquías a Raspadori Skamaka Hretegi, because I think whether you're playing a 3-5-2 or a 4-3-3, they all function in that system.
00:13:44
Speaker
So I'm not too worried about that, to be honest. And also, if you're playing a 4-3-3, remember when Mancini played Pellegrini as an inverted-wide player in a 4-3-3, which worked, and he was rather good in that as well, in that system. So I'm not too worried. I think this is the squad I would go with, these 23 players. The three in goal, which I mentioned, Donnarumma... Okay, hang on, hang on, hang on.
00:14:09
Speaker
Yeah, let me let me let me just let's just further discuss the attack cuz I want to know I want to say who who might not or who might not because because right now I can say that the only person I can say 100% I would pick now is probably Kiesa.
00:14:28
Speaker
That's it. Then I want to see the last two months of the season. I want to see who finishes the season well, who's fit as well, who finishes the season well. And also, hopefully by then it becomes a little bit clearer as well, what formation he's going to use, even though I agree with your reasoning. If I had to pick my attackers now today for the Euros tomorrow,
00:14:53
Speaker
I'd probably go Kiesa. I would go Raspadori because I think he understands what Spelletti wants from him and I think that's important.
00:15:05
Speaker
I would go Wilfred Nianto. I don't trust any of the others. Nianto is playing really well for Leeds. He's been maybe our most informal attacker in 2024. I know it's the championship, but the championship is a high level now. So Nianto I would have in.
00:15:24
Speaker
If Moisakine plays the number of games he played between August and November before his injury, I would trust Moisakine over all the other number nines, honestly, because I like the fact that he's got pace, he can hold the ball up, he's physical.
00:15:43
Speaker
And I think he and Spelletti really likes him. The only problem is I don't think he's going to get enough games between now and the end of the season. So for that reason, he probably won't get in. But if he did get enough games, I would I would trust him over the others.
00:16:01
Speaker
And then Skimaka and Rettigui, I don't know whether you can take both of them. If you're going to take Raspidori, can you take Raspidori, Skimaka and Rettigui? I don't know. I think it's going to be one of Skimaka or Rettigui. I don't understand why, but they're different kinds of players. I don't think he's more of a fox in the box and Skimaka you can use more. Because he can only play one or the other. Yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
You need to have different roles and different to play in different formations. I think, you know, Skamaka, he's a target man more. Retegi is more a killer in the box. So you don't necessarily, you can play them together, but you don't need to. Raspadori and Skamaka we know can play fantastically well together.
00:16:46
Speaker
So that already is a combination that works. And Kiesa and Rehtagif, Kiesa stops sulking and actually tries to do something, you know, and listen to Spaletti and what Spaletti wants. Otherwise, I don't see the point in bringing Kiesa, to be honest. At this point, if he's going to continue this attitude that he's got,
00:17:10
Speaker
and sulk and demonstrably disobey instructions, then I'd leave him out, to be honest, because it's pointless. The problem is that you have to, you have to gamble on Keiser because you need to have one attacker that you know has the ability to be a difference maker. Yeah, but at some point, Carlo, at some point, I agree with that, but at some point, it becomes a situation where you can have all the talent in the world
00:17:35
Speaker
But if you're not going to be going to be going to actively disobey the tactics of the coach because you're unhappy with playing being played in a position that you don't want to play in then why then then you know just stay out of it like it is best for everyone if he doesn't come.
00:17:53
Speaker
Because it's ridiculous, because no one stands to gain from this. Italy stands to lose only if Chieza is called up and insists on sulking and not doing what Spalletti wants him to do in a 3-5-2. It's a complete waste of everyone's time.
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, well, that's that's a conversation. The two of them are going to go going to certainly going to have to have. But yeah, I'm going to go Kiesa, Nionto. I'm going to pick Zanyola. I'm going to provisionally pick Keen. I know that will sound absolutely mad right now, but that's on the proviso that he plays enough games. Otherwise he's out. I'm going to go Raspadori as well. And then I'm going to pick.
00:18:36
Speaker
one of schemakka or retiki depending on who who ends the season who wins the season better that's six that's six players um but you know again i might have to lose might have to lose one of those players depending on you know who ends up getting picked so go on then you do your 23 this is this is so try your best so
00:19:01
Speaker
those three. And then, Dilorenzo, Darmian, Acherbi, Bongiorno, Bastoni, Calafiori, that's together with three of six, that's nine. Then you have Cambiaso, Belanova, Dimarco, Udoji, that's 13.
00:19:24
Speaker
And then in midfield, it's Locatelli, Giorginio, Barella, Fratese, Pellegrini, Pacina. That brings me up to 19. And then the last four,
00:19:35
Speaker
But if Kiesa stops sulking like a child, Kiesa, and Skamakka... Like a Bimbo Minka. Bimbo Minka, yeah. I mean, it's big time Bimbo Minka attitude right now with him. Kiesa, if he stops being a Bimbo Minka, then Raspadori Skamakka Retegi. So Raspadori Skamakka Retegi, Kiesa... I want to call up Kiesa, because I think he is a fantastic player, but he needs to stop sulking and demonstrably
00:20:05
Speaker
not doing what spell it wants him to do with you it's a different situation without lately cuz we don't know what's gonna happen there but spell it and going anywhere this is a tournament you need everyone with you and if kiazaa feels that he has nothing to prove and he wants everything to be built around him the spotlight is just gonna have to chop him off like you can't you can't come or if kiazaa is willing to sacrifice himself and actually.
00:20:28
Speaker
not sacrifice himself more, but actually give himself to the system and say, look, actually drop everything that's happened at Juve. This is Italy. This is a short tournament. This is the system we want to play and understand what he wants him to do and really apply himself to do that. Then I think he could have a not just a starting role, but a starring role in this Italy.