Gab Marcotti

We can't use the players as an argument.

However, I think what is undeniable is that in the past, when Italy also had terrible qualifying campaigns, but somehow got through, you had the safety blanket of, okay, none of our midfielders can pass and we kind of suck, but oh, look, here's...

kind of mind thing about strikers and goals in general with Italian football right now which again is part of a cycle I don't know if I fully agree with the goal scored in Serie A argument because yes they're down this season but I think last season or the year before they were number two behind Germany in the big five leagues yeah but this season it's the league with the more nil-nils for example that's fine but I don't

I don't know that that means that you're not going to have good centre-forwards, especially when maybe a bigger thing would be when most of the centre-forwards are not Italian, you can't play them for the Italian national team.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, sure.

I think that contributes to it as well.

I think part of it, and this certainly applies to Gattuso, and I think the Italy managers who've done well, like Mancini or Brandelli in 2012, Italy got to the...

European Championship final as well, although everybody seems to forget that.

Football's changed, and you have to play to your strengths.

In Italy, you have ball-playing defenders.

Bastoni and Calafiori are two of the best defenders in the world on the ball.

Ball-playing full-backs.

And he kind of went to it with Politano, of course, as a winger, Mascheri as a full-back, and Di Marco.

And the midfielders, you know, they can all pass a little bit.

I'm not saying any one of these guys is a Dan, but compared to... Italy won a World Cup with Perrotta and Gattuso, funny enough, in midfield.

You know, warriors and stuff.

But those were genuine ball winners.

Now they've gone in another direction, which I think is the right direction, because you have to play football.

You cannot go and park the bus...

and win in modern football in general.