Why Don't Italy Have Any Strikers Anymore?

Comments · 1.1K

• LE

  @leandrocataldi5747 · 2 years ago

  In Italy there’s also a big problem with giving game time to youngsters unlike “rival” nations such as Spain which translates to players in their early twenties with basically no first team experience because managers are scared to play them

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• TO

  @tomlewis8064 · 2 years ago

  If Moise Keane is your default backup striker, something has gone wrong.

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• WI

  @wildansaladin8728 · 2 years ago

  I think that the problem was actually started on the midfield. In the 90's, Italy was a paradise for a type of player called "fantasista". A player who got an attacking role, but is not a striker. These players are usually gifted with technical ability out of fantasy. Players like Baggio, Del Piero, Totti, Di Natale, and Gianfranco Zola were this kind of player. These players often became the main attention of the opponent defenders, made it easy for a poacher striker to lose their markers and score goals. Today, these kind of players have disappeared almost entirely. Italy's best midfielders are now defensively oriented midfielders like Barella, Jorginho, Pellegrini, Locatelli and Verratti. Not only strikers, Italy also have a shortage of attacking midfielders. Even wingers are also rare. Compared to other national team which have an abundance of stock on attacking midfielders and wingers. And that's why Italian strikers have difficulties in scoring goals, because nobody assist them from the second line.

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• NA

  @namelesswhocares8648 · 2 years ago

  There was a time when gianfranco zola couldn&apos;t even start a game in world cup 1994 thanks to roberto baggio.<br><br><br>That&apos;s how bad and how low italian calcio has fallen

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• GO

  @gottes1stsenpai30 · 2 years ago

  Pellegri was also incredibly unlucky with injuries. Really set him back.

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• OP

  @opinionatortv · 2 years ago

  Its crazy as a Nigerian watching a team like Italy struggle with forwards meanwhile we are currently having selection headaches with the sheer amount of attacking talent currently available and still coming through the youth system.

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• CA

  @Carsa-is6vb · 2 years ago

  It&apos;s not about the strikers, our national record is 35 goals and stands there since the 70s, meanwhile we still won something or at the very least fought for it, the problem is what&apos;s wrong with our defenders and goalkeepers. We used to say &quot;Buffon is injured for EURO 2000? Oh no, anyway...&quot; while Toldo proceeds to become the best keeper in the tournament.<br><br>The most frightening thing of all is that we always had the best defenders and goalkeepers in the world, Zoff, Zenga, Pagliuca, Buffon. Gentile, Bergomi, Baresi, Maldini, Vierchowod, Nesta, Cannavaro, Barzagli, Chiellini and now we have Donnarumma, Bastoni and Scalvini? Bastoni and Acerbi? Not good enough, since Donnarumma is still only as good as when he was 19 at Milan since PSG can&apos;t develop their players for shit.<br><br>The last 10 years have been horrible for us, almost every youngster either was a complete degenerate or was heavily injury prone or both, Marchisio basically retired at 30 years old because of injuries, Giuseppe Rossi&apos;s knees imploded far too many times, Balotelli and Cassano decided to throw their careers away because they couldn&apos;t behave, Di Natale was happy being a big fish in a small pond at Udine and limited himself despite his talent, El Shaarawy scored 14 goals in 18 matches while he was only 20 then started doing coke and stayed off half a season then went to China, Zaniolo destroyed his knees a couple of times and to make it worse he&apos;s as thick as oatmeal, Sensi poor guy was even better than Barella but he spent more time injured than fit since he joined Inter first squad, Donnarumma and Verratti wasted their careers at PSG a team that give their players 0 development and after that Verratti goes to Arab retirement home while only 30, Tonali just gambled it all away (pun intended), Chiesa is 1 ACL away from becoming Giuseppe Rossi n.2.<br><br>Let&apos;s face it, I&apos;m still gonna scream my lungs out at the anthem and cheer whoever wears that jersey but we are fucked.

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• AS

  @Ascalonn88 · 2 years ago

  Nowadays with social media, there is immense pressure on players, strikers in particular, to play well. And for strikers its really easy to tell if they play well or not. Why would a youngster want to play striker and be criticized for scoring 4 goals in 13 matches, when they can play a midfielder that scores 4 goals in 40 matches and everyone is find with it. Not to mention there are 4-5 midfielder spots in a team and only 1 striker role.

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• ST

  @stenic10 · 2 years ago (edited)

  I grew up watching Football Italia on channel 4 and in just that era Italy had the likes of Baggio, Vialli, Del Piero, Pipo Inzaghi, Vieri, Signori, Mancini, Totti, Locatelli, Chiesa, Montella, Toni, Zola, Ravanelli, Casiraghi, Delveccio, Di Natale et al. <br>Guys like Dario Hubner and Simone Inzaghi were decent Serie A strikers in the 90/00&apos;s who never got a chance in the national team would probably have 100 caps if they were playing today.

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• LL

  @llbuitre · 2 years ago

  Not only striker, but in almost all positions. When I started watching football in the 90s, the talent pool in Italy is massive. Maldini, Nesta, Vieri, Del Piero, Toldo, Peruzzi, Costacurta, Pipo Inzaghi, Zambrotta, Conte, Buffon, Pirlo Cannavaro, Totti, Panucci and the likes. The core of each Serie A teams are Italians.<br><br>Unlike now, I mostly see eastern europeans and africans in Serie A teams. At most, there are only 2 to 3 Italians in the 1st eleven.<br><br>The main problem is that they don&apos;t give opportunities to Italian youngsters. It is ironic that the majority of Serie A managers are Italians and they don&apos;t even trust their fellow coutrymen in the academy. Maybe they should put again limits on number of foreign players that can play in an Italian club. During the 80s up to 90s, the limit is 3 foreign players per club if I remember it right.

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• AB

  @abdulelahsm · 2 years ago

  I think it&apos;s a natural result from the disappearance of the 4-4-2. The number of Strikers overall is in decline. The probability of finding great strikers is the same

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• LU

  @luigibrioschi970 · 2 years ago

  It&apos;s not like we ever had strikers who could put up incredible numbers with the National Team... The likes of Vieri, Inzaghi, Toni, Del Piero, Totti ecc never even came close to scoring 50+ goals for Italy, and the all time record is still the 35 goals scored from Gigi Riva between the 60s and the 70s. And behind him there are Meazza and Piola who played in the 30s and 40s, while the most recent top scorers are Baggio and Del Piero with 27 each. <br>Statpadding against weaker opponents has simply never been our forte, regardless of the pedigree of our front line.

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