Roberto Mancini discussed the most difficult part of being Italy Coach and why Jorginho has improved thanks to his Chelsea experience.
The Azzurri maintained their 100 per cent record in qualifying with a 3-0 victory away to Greece last night, which combined with Bosnia’s 2-0 defeat in Finland put them three points clear at the top of their group.
“This proves that Finland are a good team, but perhaps even we didn’t expect them to win that game,” said Mancini in his Press conference.”
Italy dominated in Athens and not just in terms of the scoreline, as they had 63 per cent possession, completing 689 passes compared to 265 for the hosts.
“We played very well in the first half and didn’t allow Greece to do anything. One of the reasons why we concede so little is that the midfielders hold the ball well and stay in advanced positions. The forwards are also aggressive and make it difficult for the opposition to get a rhythm going.
“Jorginho was already doing well at Napoli, but perhaps playing in England has given him more experience in dealing with a higher tempo and referees who let play run more.
“Greece are in reality a great passing team, so we created problems for them and they couldn’t play their football. Andrea Belotti was perfect in the first half, as his work really stretched out the Greece defence.
“We tried to control our advantage too much after the break and wasted several chances to add to the tally.”
Mancini had been expected to start Fabio Quagliarella and Federico Bernardeschi, but opted for Belotti and goal-scorer Lorenzo Insigne instead.
“We have to choose among six or seven players, all of them very talented, and that is difficult to send some on to the bench or even the stands.
“Everyone can get back into the team, but whittling it down to a list is the hardest part of the job. We will certainly make changes against Bosnia, but that is the last push before the summer vacation, so some will work overtime.
“It’s good that we have so many players with enormous margin for improvement, like Nicolò Barella, Federico Chiesa, Bernardeschi, Stefano Sensi, Bryan Cristante, Moise Kean… The hope is that from now until the Euros, they can improve a great deal.”
Stephnine
68
Would love to see that happen if they let Sarri go Next year’s PL is going to be freaking nuts if United keep Ole and Chelsea hire Lampard, there’s going to be a real race for the Top 6, which you guys, Everton, and Wolves really have a shot to break into, though Wolves less so because they got Europa League.
Parker09
63
not a Chelsea fan but watched a lot of their games as quite few of my friends are. I think he's been good on the whole. his game and role isn't as understood/ appreciated in the UK and there's been quite a few times he's played a great ball and someone (quite often Willian) has messed it up his game and role isn't as understood/ appreciated in the UK at chelsea
VanishPrasad
46
Correction : Jorginho grew with Sarri. Sarri was also his coach at Napoli so he was used to it for multiple seasons which led to him becoming a world class player.
Nesaiknruy_Legend
36
EPL improves every player, the level of competition is tougher and higher so of course naturally you improve as opposed to say the 2nd most competitive league being La Liga where its 3 teams fighting for the title over 6 and the gap between such teams being huge. I think next season Wolves who finished 7th will at least reach UEL semis judging off the quality of the teams we played against in the competition and the UCL final will again have an English team cos English football has again upped its level after so long.... Only way Spanish clubs have always kept up is by spending hundreds of millions of pounds per window...