Probable Lineups
4-1-4-1
4-4-2
Probable Lineups Statistical Comparison
* Values in brackets (x) are overall player statistics in EURO Qualification Grp. H.
Missing Players
Azerbaijan
Italy
No missing players.
Player | Reason | Status |
---|---|---|
Lorenzo Insigne | Out | |
Andrea Pirlo | Out |
Team News
Azerbaijan
Italy
- Ruslan Qurbanov is expected to lead the attack for the hosts here.
- Captain Rasad Sadiqov looks set to win his 100th cap for the national team.
- Lorenzo Insigne has been forced to withdraw from the national team after suffering a knee injury in training and has returned to Naples.
- Andrea Pirlo misses out through injury, with Marco Parolo set to partner Marco Verratti in midfield in a 4-4-2 formation.
- Antonio Candreva and Alessandro Florenzi are fighting it out for a starting spot on the right flank.
Verratti for me is the best central midfielder in the world along with Iniesta and Thiago. Been saying this for a year. He really is underrated. A seriously good footballer.
@FootballFanatic Come to Big Soccer Football Forums in the Italian National Team section and look for the thread called, Italy vs Azerbaijan & Croatia thread: 2016 Euro Qualifiers, and look for a fan called Totti Fan. He's my Dad. He'll prove that Montolivo is 100x better than Verratti.
Told you Verratti was gonna be MotM !! He is the king
@Mike.PSG Read what I said to @footballFanatic My Dad can prove with statistics that Montolivo is way way better than the little frenchman forumsDOTbigsoccerDOTcom/threads/italy-vs-azerbaijan-croatia-thread-2016-euro-qualifiers.2025378/page-19#post-33094458
Itly 3 bhaijan 1
@husandarhpi thanks
Not sure if there's a more boring former-World Cup winning nation to watch in world football than Italy atm. I'll go with a turgid 1-0.
@SteveHyland Why do you even watch full match then? Go watch highlights or something.
@SteveHyland Italy is probably the most entertaining team in the world. You think goals equals entertainment, this clearly says how little you know about this sport.
@QuantumDuck- Er.... no- only Italians think they're anything but boring to watch. Incidentally, goals are the most important part of football (obviously), you don't win games 0-0. All the build-up play in the world means f.a if it comes to no fruition. As for build-up play, Italy are way below Germany, Spain, Brazil, hell, even England. But telling an Italian their teams are boring is harder than punching god in the face.
@SteveHyland Did you see the last game Italy versus England btw? GG.
@QuantumDuck- Yes, we were crap, Italy were decent. But that was the world cup over a year ago and has nothing to do with Italy's current Euro qualifying campaign or their current team or the current England one. I suppose the played 9, won 9, scored the most, conceded the least (of anyone who has played 9 games) doesn't count because none of the games were against the mighty and often hard-done-by Italy who incidentally we outplayed in Italy with a crap midfield against some "future stars". Emmmm.
@SteveHyland I'm not questioning the point of the game, merely your ability to comprehend beautiful and intelligent football, what makes football tick. An no, making many goals doesn't mean you're better. Italy won the WC '06, EC final '12, and would beat Germany any day every since '06, they got cheated out of the WC. I'm not italian by the way.
@QuantumDuck- It matters little whether you're Italian or not, you have an obvious bias towards Italian football and players. Every Italian team is "better", every loss is "unfair" and every Italian player is better than a non-Italian etc. It clouds your judgement to the point where you think you would have a cat in hell's chance against a fully firing Germany, Spain etc just because you had world class players 3-4 years ago. The football played in this campaign has been predictable, pretentious and dull. Pretty much the 3 things which sum up Italy as a country. :-p . BTW, I'm an Arsenal fan. There aren't many teams who play better football than us. I'm also English and know there are a number of teams who DO play better than us and have said so. I at least have some discernment, which is clear you don't from your previous comments regarding anything 'Italian'. I'm not the only one who has noticed this btw.
@SteveHyland Bro, Arsenal suck, they will always suck. You seem to forget that defense plays a part in football, but typical fans with no knowledge like yourself, can't comprehend or notice it, sadly. Everytime Italy meet Germany, they conquer, it's because they fit their style, Italy has had problems with lesser good teams, but easier for better teams, like England, Germany, Spain, etc. Italy totally mauled Germany '12, with 2-1, yes, it was so superior, I was simply laughing. Same when they beat England on penalties, EXTREMELY superior. And if you seriously think Suárez bite attack wasn't red card worthy, woosh, you have a lot to learn ... You're the only one who hasn't noticed what? I'm not saying Italy is the best team in the world, but they have and will always beat Germany. Their defense is simply too extraordinary.
@QuantumDuck- "Bro", Arsenal, regardless of the results, play nice attractive football which is the point of this discussion, is it not? And I'm the first to criticise Wenger's over-attacking philosophy at the detriment of the defence (which has cost us on many an occasion) but I'm unsure why you brought it up in a topic about entertaining football. There are teams in the past who have combined good defence and attractive football but the 2 don't automatically go together, so it's a bit of a pointless comment. Probably because you're losing this argument and are resulting to the tell-tale sign of concession: "you don't know football" tactic. That's fine, I'll use logic and you use your Italy > Everybody Else preconception and bring other irrelevant instances into the debate such as Suarez's bite (which I didn't mention not being punish-worthy) or results from 3+ years ago. This "extraordinary" defence has conceded 2 in 2 against Azerbaijan. That's above their group avg BTW, Amazing.
@SteveHyland I never said Italy was best. Goals conceeded aren't equals to bad defense, if you actually looked at the games Italy played against Germany, against England, etc, you could see how they dramatically turned down the tempo to control the game. You also pointing out it was silly thinking losses were unfair, but being physically bitten out of a WC, is unfair; point made. Germany can play 7-0 against Brazil, but getting a goal against Italy will require 90-180 minutes. And yes, entertaining football is offensive football? I literally puke when I watch Arsenal's, and generally BPL's defense play, that is far from entertaining. Italy versus England '12, THAT was entertainment, no goals, pure inspiration from Pirlo, Chiellini, De Rossi, etc. So factualizing entertaining football as offensive football is WRONG, it also shows your cluelessness about this wide and beautiful sport, cause you, again, seem to only enjoy games with many goals, which is a CLEAR sign of lack of knowledge.
@SteveHyland, Mentalities like yours are the reason the EPL is struggling right now vs. competition. Let's start w/ Italy's play style: Sure, it is slower than the EPL, but the EPL is artificially fast, and it's quite clear that its focus on entertainment rather than effectiveness is to the detriment of league, despite the bloated wages. It is quite clear when watching say Fiorentina wipe the floor with Tottenham last year. Many find Italian football very entertaining - it is a much more intelligent game, and if you're a fan of tactics, Serie A is the league to watch. Finally, let's talk about your notion of playing "nice attractive football". First of all, that is subjective, but even if it was objective, who the heck cares? If you want entertainment, watch Moroccan street football, the point is to win, and if that means sacrificing entertainment, you're a fool if you don't. Is Barcelona entertaining? They play keep-away and win. Point is they win.
@SteveHyland cool story. Now go and enjoy your english football.
@Footballfanatic66 No kidding...It is that mentality that has made England a loser historically. It is that same arrogance that prevented the English from adopting the Scottish passing game when football was emerging because they felt that passing showed weakness. Italy is infinitely more successful as a footballing nation than England so the only way to feel superior is to criticize Serie A (but now that appears to be reversing), or to criticize the playing style, which quite frankly is irrelevant. When Roberto Mancini started winning with Manchester City, other teams (particularly Arsenal) dubbed them 'boring city', and quite frankly I don't think that one City fan found it boring that the team was finally winning...but that was the only way that fanbases that didn't like the results could discount the performance...
@Calcio10 Yeah, the teams that win in BPL are the ones that actually adopt modern football, and they are rendered "boring" in England, interesting to see when / if BPL will adopt a more modern style of playing, or keep loosing in the UCL with their "attactive" football, Chelsea tried, but has a long way to go.
Verratti will be MotM.
Itly 3-0 Azerbaijan