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Extended Clip - Will Roma's Nicolo Zaniolo ever be the same player again?
1.1k Plays3 years ago
Carlo Garganese and Nima Tavallaey debate whether or not Roma's Nicolo Zaniolo will ever fulfill his potential despite being fully fit for 1lmost 15 months after two ACL injuries.
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.
To listen to ALL complete episodes of The Italian Football Podcast, go to Patreon.com/TIFP and become a Patron for only $2.99 USD per month (excluding VAT).
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Transcript
Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Italian football podcast.
Zaniolo's Performance Issues
00:00:05
Speaker
We do have to speak about Zaniolo
00:00:09
Speaker
I mean, what is going on? He was terrible again. He's terrible every single time I've seen him play this season, apart from maybe that first game of the season where Roma had all those chances. But zero goals, zero assists in Serie A this season for Zagnolo. In all competitions, zero goals and just the one assist.
00:00:32
Speaker
I mean, that says it all, but I did a little bit of digging before we recorded, and I wanted to have a look at some of the other stats, underlying stats. He's 45th in Serie A for shots, which is not good. It's not dreadful, but it's pretty bad, considering he's played up front for most of the season. But this is the stat that really I found incredible.
00:00:57
Speaker
on shots on target this season, Zagnolo has only had three shots on target in Serie A and he's ranked 93rd in Serie A for shots on target and he plays centre forward for one of the best teams or better teams in Serie A. He's had less shots on goal than the man we've just been talking about, Chris Smalling. He's also had less shots on goal than Rafael Touloy and a host of other
Struggles and Frustrations
00:01:23
Speaker
other players that you would certainly expect to centre forward or an attacker to have more shots than.
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah, stats really and 60th in Serie A for key passes as well. So even from a from a creative point of view, not just in terms of goal scoring, but in terms of creating for an assistant, his teammates, he's I mean, he's just not he's just not contributing anything. I think that's all when he when he when it comes to I think if it you know, the fact that I'm willing to give him another season to fully see for him to recover from two bad ACL injuries.
00:01:58
Speaker
That's one thing, and I am willing to do that. But at the same time,
00:02:02
Speaker
These stats show that the performances are simply not good enough. He looks annoyed. He looks frustrated. He doesn't look to be in harmony and balance. He just doesn't look like he knows what he's supposed to do. He wants to do so much. You can say that he's absolutely raring to express himself on the pitch and show the quality that we all know he actually had before these injuries.
Mental and Physical Roadblocks
00:02:30
Speaker
But he just struggles continuously to express that. When you're playing for a team that creates so many chances, as Roma do, and you have three shots on target this season and you're 93rd in the Serie A for shots on target,
00:02:50
Speaker
I mean, that that's not just, you know, recovering from injury, that that's something else. And I wonder if it isn't just that with him, that it's a mental block, that he wants too much. He wants to show he wants to
Injury Recovery and Management
00:03:03
Speaker
redeem himself. He wants to make up for those lost years, that he wants it too much, that he almost like it becomes a mental block and that he overthinks it a little bit. I think that's natural, isn't it? When you've had such a bad ACL injury that you are mentally, you know,
00:03:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's gonna affect you the question is but but the question the reason i bring this up is because the question is is this a mental thing or is this the quality will have or so obviously slightly better given the injuries.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know. I exactly I don't know if it's both. I don't know if it's at the moment, at the moment, it's both. At the moment, at the moment, it's both we can just pray and hope that, you know, it is it is often said, I did my SEO when I was a teenager. And
00:03:54
Speaker
you know, I remember ever since then, always being told that it takes you two years to fully recover from from an ACL. No, I only had one ACL. I didn't have, you know, I didn't have to, you know, and, you know, so it was is I both knit both knees, wasn't it? Both one on one on one on the other. So I mean, I can't I can only imagine what it's like, you know, and I did lose
00:04:23
Speaker
half a yard of pace after that. I was actually really quick and after that, I just lost a bit and I always always struggled from injuries after that. Obviously, I didn't have the medical care that these professionals have, so I can't really compare myself. But with Zagnolo, obviously, it's hard to say. He's still relatively young, but I just
00:04:47
Speaker
I don't know. It'd be such a shame. It'd be a real shame if he doesn't become the same player. I'm willing to see another year from him. I'm willing to even write this season off and see, like you said, two years. But time is ticking and it would be...
00:05:10
Speaker
It would be the biggest shame ever because I thought when he broke onto the scene, he was just he had a unique talent. And it's such a shame for Italian football because he would have been one of its absolutely. He was badly mismanaged after that first ACL. He was terribly mismanaged, not just by his club, but
Potential and Decline
00:05:27
Speaker
also by country. And I have to criticize Roberto Mancini because he put him straight back into the Italy national team squad like a month after he'd come back from his first ACL.
00:05:36
Speaker
And they just needed to be more patient. They needed to be more patient and just give him time. And they would roam straight back into the start at 11. He was playing and he was actually good. I remember Dremby scored that incredible solo goal, which I think it was during the COVID. I think it was during the COVID summer.
00:05:55
Speaker
No, it was when they came back. Well, yeah, it was during the lockdown. But yeah, when they came back and they finished the season in like, July or August, do you remember? He scored an incredible, that solo goal from his own half, you know, and that was like, you know, I mean, he would never, there's no chance he would do that now, since he's come back. But so that after his first ACI, he was still doing it, but it's just since the second one.
00:06:14
Speaker
You know, he hasn't been the same player and you look at his numbers last season, they were, I know he scored the goal in the final, the conference league, but even his numbers last year in terms of goals and assists were for a forward, you know, pretty poor. Listen to the full show and all other episodes by going to patreon.com slash TIFP and become a member for only $2.99 per month.