Mancini, relentlessly hunting for number nine

The coach called 13. Immobile and Belotti remain the most reliable: they are not entirely convincing, but there are few alternatives

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Without nine you can play, indeed not. The European champion Italy chooses to challenge Spain with the same arguments and falls after thirty-seven duels without knowing defeat: the “light” attack at San Siro should have been a safe haven and already known, it turned out to be a small trap opening, or rather, amplifying a national case.

The blue coach Roberto Mancini made thirteen, many are the members of the category of strikers who took to the field, at least for a minute, in the Mancio era. Result? Immobile and Belotti or Belotti and Immobile are on the run from the competition, but there is no shortage of doubts and perplexities about both: Ciro and il Gallo are not made to marry this Italy of fun and harmony in the movements ahead, better to look around in perspective World Cup 2022 is one of the reflections on the table.

That the numbers nine of Lazio and Turin do not make you dream with the blue shirt on is not a news of the last hour, but behind them the panorama is not marked for its richness and, thus, the Gallo and Ciro make themselves heard more when they are not there rather than for the feats on the pitch when they have to race with Italy.

From Rome, debut at Euro 2020, to Wembley, night of mass drunkenness, we have built our European with two strikers (the aforementioned) and a little imagination in the choices for the offensive line. And after the European Championship, Immobile has disappeared, Belotti is injured: Raspadori, thanks to the problem in Kean’s neck and the disappointing performance of the Tridentine against Spain, is a candidate for the role inside the Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the problem is the horizon, even temporal since in twelve months there will be a duel at the World Cup, yet to be conquered. Beyond the thirteen strikers of the Mancini party there is little because it seems too reckless to think of an exponential growth of the various Pinamonti (Empoli), Colombo (Spal) or Lucca (Pisa) and, thus, clinging to friends Immobile and Belotti must be read as an added value.

Mancini will not abandon the attack option without pure center-forward also because, in terms of external players, we have plenty of them as well as guys capable of splitting up. But the coach himself knows that to capitalize on a game, albeit elegant and of quality, a move from number nine is necessary: ​​if in the heart of the Spanish area instead of Insigne there had been a striker accustomed to living in the eleven meters, the odds that Italy would put the Nations League semi-final in balance would have increased.

Losing after three seasons can be there, wondering how to start again to make up for it as late as possible is the question of the day: without nine you can live, but without nine the road to success becomes complicated. The beautiful blue generation is rich in talent and substance in the middle, it is partly behind it, it is much less so if the attack enters the scene. –