Roberto Mancini is an Italian football manager and former player who is the manager of the Italian national team. He always operated as a deep-lying forward and was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches. He helped the team win Serie A league title, four Coppa Italia titles, and European Cup Winners’ Cup.
He was capped 36 times for Italy, taking part at UEFA Euro 1988 and the 1990 FIFA World Cup, achieving semi-final finishes in both tournaments although he was never put onto the pitch during the 1990 tournament. As a player, Mancini would often give team talks at half-time. He clearly shows a lot of leadership roles in him since the start.
Picture: The Telegraph
1) Started With Disaster
The Italian national team in the year of 2018 was in disarray. It was shocking for Italy which a four-time World Champion to not qualify for the one tournament that has cemented their country’s legacy as one of the elites in world football. It was under the veil of this shame that Roberto Mancini took charge in 2018, at a time when a reboot was necessary and the top clubs in the Serie A were increasingly unable to find and shape younger talent.
2) Re-Shaping Of The Italian Football Team
Over three years later, Mancini has successfully masterminded the return of the Italian team to the upper echelons of Europe. This team is unlike any of their preceding Rossoneri squads. They play a higher defensive line and rely on small, pacey wingers to provide width and numbers in attack. An attack-minded Italy may have been an oxymoron until now but the Euros have shown that this is now the way they play.
3) Strategy That Roberto Mancini Used
For these Euros, Mancini’s overall Italian squad is also an honest opinion on the country’s football setup at the moment. There are more players from Sassuolo, Atalanta, Lazio in the national setup than there are players from Milan. Nicolo Zaniolo and Sandro Tonali were handed national team debuts before they made their Serie A debuts. 25 of the 26-man squad has seen playing minutes on the pitch at these Euros. By utilizing Italian talent from the core, instilling belief in the national squad and undergoing a cultural reset, Mancini has transformed Italy to a modern-day football team that continues to uphold its traditional bastion of defending.
Sources: The Guardian.
