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Editorial: How Ventura can save Italy by using Verratti AND Jorginho

Editorial: How Ventura can save Italy by using Verratti AND Jorginho

Italy’s upcoming qualifiers with Sweden aren’t exactly being looked at with anticipation.

Having played very poorly of late, the Azzurri could well be knocked out by the disciplined, determined, Ibra-less Sweden.

Coach Giampiero Ventura’s inability to get the Azzurri to play well and insistence on rigid formations and unimaginative team selections has also left fans baffled.

The exclusion of Napoli midfield maestro Jorginho hasn’t gone down well, either. The key to keeping Maurizio Sarri’s system tick, he has only played two friendlies with Italy, and that was under Antonio Conte. Having not been capped in any official games, he could still turn out for Brazil, something that would be considered a disaster for the Nazionale.

Then why isn’t Ventura using him? Apparently, it’s the fact that he doesn’t see how Jorginho can be used with Verratti.

And therein lies the problem: since when is using two playmakers a bad idea? Barcelona have done it, and so have Napoli.

​Verratti himself plays in a two-playmaker system in Paris, often accompanied by Thiago Motta and the more direct Adrien Rabiot.

Look at their pass maps below.

 
 

​How could Italy line up, then? Well, they’d use Verratti and Jorginho, and use a great runner like Marco Parolo. Italy would revert to a 4-3-3, using Insigne on the left - with fewer defensive duties - and by allowing Ciro Immobile to be reborn with La Nazionale, too.

Ventura has a solution to his problems. It’s up to him to go for broke.

Emanuele Tramacere, adapted by @EdoDalmonte