Football fans never want the international break to come about at a time when club competitions head to their respective finales. Many countries however will have learnt many things from their outings during this period, with the World Cup a little more a year away.

 

Italy has never been a stranger to experimentation, ever since Antonio Conte left after the impressive EURO 2016 campaign.This time around, it was Ventura's turn to tinker with his side and back to back wins over Albania and Holland suggests that the experiment went well enough for the former Torino boss.

 

Both games saw the Azzurri play with their traditional three at the back, with Marco Verratti playing in a more advanced role behind the strikers. Daniele de Rossi, who sustained a back-injury against the Dutch, started both games, operating in the deeper midfield area with either Verratti himself or with Marco Parolo.

 

Verratti’s position behind Eder and Immobile against the Netherlands saw Italy struggle to deal with the threat the opposition carried on the break, as the likes of Quincy Promes, Memphis Depay and Jeremain Lens succeeded in overrunning the Italian midfield numerous times. The 3-5-2 looked more like an asymmetrical 3-4-3, when Verratti failed to track back in time, especially after De Rossi was taken off for debutante Roberto Gagliardini. The game was probably suggestive of the fact that Verratti is better playing as a deep midfielder rather than in a more advanced role. 

 

The rotation policy in the forwards continued as Ventura went about starting Immobile in both the games, but alternated with Eder and Torino’s in-demand star Andrea Belotti. Eder always looked like a threat going forward against the Dutch, causing problems to Bruno Martins Indi and Wesley Hoedt on the break. Belotti, who is a hard worker off-the-ball, did his job well enough in both the games, but failed to get on the scoresheet. The resurgent Immobile however, infused energy into the attack and looks to have cemented his place in Ventura's team.

 

Belotti’s Torino teammate, Davide Zappacosta, earned himself two consecutive starts and did quite a decent job in making a name for himself at right wing-back, with Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian and AC Milan’s Mattia de Sciglio playing on the left. Things certainly look bright for Zappacosta, a reported target for Liverpool this summer, who was taken off for young Leonardo Spinazzola against the Dutch.

 

The involvement of a host of debutantes and youngsters will be encouraging for the Azzurri fans, who will be thrilled at the prospect of having so many good young players coming through the ranks in Serie A. Apart from Inter’s Gagliardini, who put in a decent shift in the midfield after coming on for De Rossi, Ventura handed debuts to Spinazzola, his Atalanta team-mate Andrea Petagna and Simone Verdi.

 

Petagna, who happens to be in the mould of Graziano Pelle, could be an option with the former Southampton man moving into the twighlight of his career. Although quicker than Pelle, Petagna’s presence up front could add more attacking focus to the side, if used alongside the likes of Immobile, Belotti or Eder.

 

Daniele Rugani came up with an impressive showing in Amsterdam, despite witnessing the midfield fall prey to the impressive movement and swift passing from Memphis Depay, Lens and Promes. The Juventus man was deployed as the right centre-half alongside Alessio Romagnoli and Leonardo Bonucci and came up with a performance which suggested that he could act as a very good alternative at the back, in the absence of any of Italy’s first four choices.





Kaustubh Pandey