On Tuesday, Antonio Conte’s men took on Romania in a friendly and shared the spoils in a 2-2 thriller.
After a rather unconvincing qualifying campaign, the general feeling around Italian quarters was that Conte and his staff would have the next eight months to figure out what’s limiting the side. Yesterday’s performance against Romania combined with the Azzurri’s comprehensive defeat to Belgium leaves Italy fans a bit worried. One aspect of the team that has always remained a constant has been the consistency of the defenders. Recently, this has not been the case as the blocco Juve have not looked their assured selves at the back and Matteo Darmian is currently experiencing a dip in form after a flying start to the season. Is it down to a poor run of form or is this pattern of play something that Conte should truly lose sleep over?
BOLOGNA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 17: Matteo Darmian of Italy in action during the international friendly match between Italy and Romania at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on November 17, 2015 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
In their qualifiers, five of Italy’s seven wins were one-goal affairs. Even if the attack struggled to find its feet, at the very least, Conte could count on his defenders to bring home the three points. Unfortunately, the former Juventus manager cannot count on such a luxury for the time being. At the moment, Giorgio Chiellini, who has proven so reliable over the years, has looked a shadow of his former self and in a sharp decline. Leonardo Bonucci, on the other hand, has begun making costly errors with more frequency. In the past, the Italian international was guilty of this but with the help of Conte, he eradicated it for the most part. Recently, however, we have seen the former Bari man lose focus on a few occasions. As of right now, it appears that a 34-year-old Barzagli is Italy’s best centre back and should easily get the nod ahead of his two Juventus teammates.
Going into the Euros, Italy will need to establish their number one pairing and give them consistent minutes together in the buildup to the tournament. Due to the fact that gli Azzurri’s central defenders all come from Juventus, this should not be a problem. The real problem, however, is deciding which of the three to drop. In my opinion, it should be the hard-nosed Chiellini to have a seat as his performances have been rather poor all season. An outside shot for his spot could be Milan’s Alessio Romagnoli, who has been exceptional for the rossoneri, but Conte is not the type of manager that appreciates change therefore a partnership of Bonucci and Barzagli should be just fine.
BOLOGNA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 17: Giorgio Chiellini of Italy looks on during the international friendly match between Italy and Romania at Stadio Renato Dall’Ara on November 17, 2015 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
At fullback, the situation is a bit different for the Lecce born tactician. Instead of having a number of underperforming, quality options to choose from like he does in central defence, there’s a real dearth of reliable Italian fullbacks. Outside of Darmian, it’s difficult to pinpoint another fullback who is of international standard. That said, even the Manchester United man has struggled recently. After he hit the ground running at Old Trafford, the former Torino man has really found life in the Premier League difficult and had a spell on the sidelines, as a result. This changes nothing for Conte as he trusts Darmian and will hope he finds his form quickly.
At leftback, it gets a little trickier for Italy. Do they go with an underwhelming Mattia De Sciglio, Inter’s Davide Santon, or Luca Antonelli? Well, neither really stands out. At the moment, it appears that Conte favours De Sciglio out of the three despite the fact that the Milan fullback often loses concentration and is average going forward. It has to be said that when he plays for Italy though, he raises his game therefore he should get the nod ahead of the other two. Santon could prove to be a decent option but it seems unlikely as Conte hasn’t really given him a chance and I don’t expect this to change. Antonelli, on the other hand, is intriguing to me as I do appreciate his passion and he has proven to be as good, if not better, than De Sciglio. As the season goes along, it will be interesting to keep an eye on the duel between the two Milan fullbacks for the left back position. Oh, and by the way, Chiellini playing at left back like he did yesterday, is not an option. Please don’t go there or will we have words.
Italy’s Mattia De Sciglio (L) vies for the ball with Belgium’s midfielder Yannick Carrasco (R) during the friendly football match between Belgium and Italy, at the King Baudouin Stadium, on November 13, 2015 in Brussels. AFP PHOTO / JOHN THYS (Photo credit should read JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images)
So, what does that leave Conte to work with? A few proven but out-of-form centre backs and a plethora of average fullbacks outside of Darmian. Seeing that the Euros are in eight months time, I’m actually quite positive that the Juventus trio, or at least two of them (sorry Chiellini), will rekindle their old form. I mean, they can’t keep committing those individual errors all year, can they? In this respect, Conte should not lose any of his fake hair.
At fullback, however, there is cause for concern. Well, not about Darmian’s form because he should be fine, as well. The lack of a true left back though is a bit worrisome. None of the left backs at Conte’s disposal have ever demonstrated world-class ability in their careers. At that point, the former Juventus boss will likely have to bite the bullet and play an unconvincing De Sciglio there and protect him with the hard work of another midfielder. Perhaps that would explain El Shaarawy’s inclusion in the starting eleven but I digress. In theory, you can also play Darmian there and go with Florenzi at right back but even that would leave Italy exposed as the Roma man has not yet demonstrated the necessary positional awareness to play in defence. At the moment, there’s no real solution to this problem but given Conte’s previous work as a manager, I wouldn’t put it past him to find one. After all, he did go undefeated with Mirko Vucinic and Alessandro Matri leading the line.
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