Cautious, cynical and bullish – for decades, Italian football has been defined on the international stage on the basis of their strong defensive aura and a technically proficient midfield. Yet, sheer derision befell upon the proud footballing nation when they failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, tough questions being asked to not only their then manager Gian Piero Ventura, but also prompting a resignation from Carlo Tevecchio, the president of the Italian football federation.
A mere three years later, the Azzurri will open their European Championship campaign in a jubilant mood, having qualified with a perfect record and on the back of eight consecutive wins. Playing all their group stage matches from the comforts of Stadio Olimpico in Rome, the 2006 world champions are the clear favourites to top Group A which also includes Turkey, Wales and Switzerland. A distant reality from the nightmarish summer of 2018, an understated cultural revolution has swept across Italian football, forming the foundations for this summer’s resurgence.
‘Mancini leads Italy out of darkness’, ‘Azzurris discover their new identity under Mancini’ – have read some of the headlines in the last two years as Roberto Mancini’s tutelage made the Italian football team a competitive unit again on the international scene. But what path did Mancini exactly follow to get Italy here?
The former Inter Milan manager chose a simplistic scheme to get the best out of his current crop of stars – preferring to slot in a 4-3-3 formation and allowing familiarity to breed in the squad as he steadily moulded his players to a style suited not only to their strengths, but also one tailor-made for tournament football. Unlike so many other national team resets, Mancini has chosen to persist with his defensive generals Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, both old-school centre-backs who facilitate their pragmatic manager’s penchant for possession-based football. While most modern sides revel in the attacking propensities of their fullbacks determined to overload the wide areas, Mancini often prefers an asymmetric organisation in which one of his fullbacks sit a little deeper if the other goes on a lung-bursting run.
Courtesy Gianluigi Donnarumma, one of Europe’s most coveted shot-stoppers who is expected to be in the midst of a bidding war this summer considering his Bosman status, Italy have had the near-perfect transition from Buffon’s brilliance of old days. Donnarumma’s assured displays combined with a defence which has aged like fine wine have ensured Italy are all but impenetrable at the back, conceding only twice in the last two calendar years.
Moving away from yesteryears’ ideology of lateral dominance of possession, this current Italian side is as well versed in a patient build-up of play through the centre by exploiting the gaps in the opposition defensive lines, as it is in pressing high up the field with a plethora of midfielders and wide forwards who proactively create chances in a quickly changing Serie A landscape. Jorginho, the one with the most minutes among outfield players during Mancini’s reign, forms the crux of the midfield, spraying passes short and long, vertical and diagonal – his defensive frailties often masked in the current setup.
Marco Verratti, over whose fitness the Gli Azzurri are still sweating in the run-up to their opening encounter against Turkey, is an absolute powerhouse crucial to not only the creative flair Mancini’s team proffers, but also their stingy defence.
Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli is an able understudy to the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder. While Verratti has been a constant presence in European football’s upper echelons, it is Nicolò Barella’s rise to prominence which has added an attacking edge. Barella’s understanding of space between the lines and his off-the-ball runs to facilitate his teammates’ exploiting those chinks in the opposition defense was demonstrated time and again in the recently concluded league season in which Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan emerged triumphant. Mancini expects Barella to act as the cornerstone of his side in a similar fashion and so far, the 24-year-old has responded with consistent virtuosity.
Not only has Mancini relied heavily on his midfield trifecta to outsmart opponents, the availability of the likes of Lorenzo Insigne, Federico Bernardeschi and Federico Chiesa on the wings has allowed him to orchestrate exuberant moments of explosiveness from these immensely talented wide forwards. “The first rule is score goals and don’t concede them, but the fundamental element is to create a team spirit. That is why things have gone well so far,” Mancini proclaimed last week when asked about how his team has consistently turned up with precision and poise, irrespective of the personnel he chose to field.
Admitting that he accepted the job for his life has always been about challenges, he added, “We must give our all to get Italy back to the top of the world.”
Although dynamic, the Azzurri are anything but perfect; the absence of an explicit goal-scorer to lead their lines is a glaring deficiency. While Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti have had seasons when they were prolific for their respective clubs, neither have really nailed that number nine position for their national side.
With both centre-forwards preferring to play off the shoulder of their opposition centre-halves, finding space behind the final defensive line is their strong suit – a plan of action which Italy are unlikely to adapt, considering two of their Group A compatriots Wales and Switzerland prefer to sit back and soak up pressure. Even in the knockouts which the Azzurris are quite likely to feature in, they would rarely come up against teams who would offer them that space to operate in.
Unpredictable at worst and versatile at best, Italy may create chances galore and be quite efficient in shoring up their backline but whether they manage to complete their renaissance will depend on how potent they are in front of the goal – simply concealing their vulnerabilities won’t erase previous humiliation, only impeccable flawlessness can achieve that.
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