🔥From collapse to revival, Mancini turns it around: Italy take shape

🔥From collapse to revival, Mancini turns it around: Italy take shape Three matches, four points, and above all a completely different national team from the one overwhelmed by Belgium. The win in Turkey and the draw at the Stade de France tell the story of the first signs of a new cycle: Mancini has changed personnel, raised the level of courage, and started building an identity. Three matches can be far too few to deliver verdicts. But they can be enough to identify a direction. And the one taken by Roberto Mancini’s Italy finally seems much clearer. From the 0-2 against Belgium to the 4-1 in Turkey , and then the 1-1 against France at the Stade de France: in just one week, the national team went from the whistles of the Olimpico to being able to go toe-to-toe with one of the most technically gifted sides in Europe. This is not yet a finished Italy. It couldn’t be. But it is a team that, match after match, is starting to look more and more like its coach’s ideas. And perhaps that is the most important news of all. Belgium, the lowest point but also the first sign Mancini’s second spell began in the harshest way. Against Belgium, Italy suffered especially in the first half, going into the break behind only thanks to Donnarumma’s saves. The final 2-0 scoreline, sealed by Godts and Lukebakio, painted the picture of a national side still fragile and searching for reference points. Mancini immediately tried to change a lot: Pio Esposito and Kean together , with Cambiaghi completing the front three, Alessandro Romano making his first start in a deep-lying playmaker role, and the Mancini-Coppola pairing at center-back. Too many new faces all at once, and a team that at first found neither the right spacing nor any fluidity. Belgium found it far too easy to reach Italy’s final third, while up front Pio Esposito was often isolated. The first-half numbers — 14 Belgian shots to Italy’s 4 — explained the gap between the two sides better than any impression could. And yet, right in the middle of that defeat, the first small clue emerged. At the start of the second half, Italy began to press higher , supporting attacks with more players and creating several chances before Belgium doubled their lead. It was from those minutes that Mancini decided to start again. Not to drop deeper. Not to wait. To try to win the ball back further up the pitch. That was where the transformation began. Eight changes and a new Italy: the turning point in Bursa Three days later, against Turkey, Mancini changed eight players out of eleven . It was a revolution that could have looked like just another experiment, but instead it produced the match that changed the mood around the national team. In came Kayode, Scalvini, Bastoni and Ruggeri in defense. In midfield, Frattesi, Fagioli and Tonali . Up front, Raspadori alongside brothers Sebastiano and Pio Esposito . But the difference was not only in the names. It was in the attitude. Italy started playing higher up the pitch, more aggressively, constantly looking for superiority in buildup. Tonali dropped in between the center-backs , Raspadori came short to offer a solution between the lines, and the wide players were able to attack space. Kayode, in particular, gave the team a completely new dimension on the right. The result was an almost perfect first half: Bastoni, Frattesi and Kayode put the Azzurri 3-0 up in the opening 27 minutes, before Pio Esposito added the fourth after the break. The 4-1 in Bursa mattered not only because it immediately erased the defeat to Belgium. It also suggested to Mancini a possible structure to work from. From experimentation to continuity: Mancini has found a foundation The real confirmation came against France. Because after changing eight players against Turkey, at the Stade de France Mancini changed only two . A detail that says a lot. Calafiori in place of Ruggeri and Kean in place of Raspadori. Otherwise, faith was placed in the Bursa team: Kayode, Scalvini, Bastoni; Tonali, Frattesi and Fagioli; Pio and Sebastiano Esposito. No longer a national team built through constant trial and error, then, but a first possible backbone. And that is probably the most important development of these three matches. Mancini began by looking for players. Now he is starting to find roles . In France, a different Italy: not just defending Drawing at the Stade de France can be considered a good result almost regardless of the performance. But the interesting part of the 1-1 was something else. Italy did not go to Paris just to hang on. France had more possession — 61% in the first half — but the better chances in the opening 45 minutes fell to Italy: first Kean, then Frattesi. The Azzurri tried to play out from the back even against the French press, accepting the risk that comes with trying to play. That means a lot when you think back to the frightened team seen just a week earlier against Belgium. Then of course Donnarumma was needed. Seven saves, some of them outstanding, especially in the second half. Olise gave France the lead with a wonderful free kick, but Italy did not fall apart. And this is perhaps where the most interesting growth appears. Against Belgium, the second goal had essentially ended the match. Against France, by contrast, going behind did not change the team’s attitude. The Azzurri kept playing. Bastoni’s goal is the image of the new Italy It is no coincidence, either, how the 1-1 arrived. Bastoni did not equalize from a set piece. He scored by pressing high, winning the ball from Da Cunha, and getting in front of Maignan. A center-back who, at the Stade de France, at 0-1 down, goes to press aggressively in the opposition’s final third. That move probably contains the very idea Mancini wants to pass on to this team. Courage. Pressure. The desire not to simply endure the game. Kayode, the Espositos, and a national team changing its skin Then there are the players. And in just three matches, Mancini seems to have significantly widened the pool of players he can truly use. Michael Kayode is probably the clearest discovery. A goal on his debut against Turkey, pace, aggression, and the ability to make an impact against France too. He is no longer just an alternative: after Bursa and Paris, he can become a stable option. Scalvini and Bastoni seem to offer a central pairing better suited to a team that wants to defend on the front foot and build from the back. Tonali has returned to being the reference point in midfield, capable of dropping deep in buildup but also of bringing intensity off the ball. Frattesi brings a trait few Italian mezzali possess: constant runs into the box. Fagioli adds quality in possession. And then there are the Esposito brothers . Pio started all three matches in this Nations League. Sebastiano, thrown in against Turkey, was confirmed again at the Stade de France. That does not mean the attacking hierarchy is already set, but it does mean Mancini has decided to use this phase to build something new rather than simply rely on old certainties. The national team is becoming younger, but above all it is becoming more competitive internally. From Belgium to France: above all, the mentality has changed The biggest difference, however, may concern neither the system nor the individuals. It concerns the way Italy seems to see itself. Against Belgium, it looked like a team waiting to understand what was going to happen. Against Turkey, it decided what had to happen. Against France, it showed it could maintain that personality even against a technically superior opponent. These are three different levels. First the reaction. Then the initiative. Finally the confirmation. And that is exactly the path that was needed after yet another World Cup wound. The work has only just begun The draw in Paris must not suddenly turn Italy into a team without problems. In the second half, France pushed the Azzurri much deeper toward their own box, and without an outstanding Donnarumma the result could have been different. There are still moments when the team struggles to move up the pitch. The management of defensive transitions has to improve. And against opponents able to move the ball quickly, Italy’s press is not yet always coordinated. Mancini is building almost from scratch, introducing young players at the same time as he searches for a new identity. But compared to the night against Belgium, something has changed. And changed a lot. Mancini’s Italy is taking shape 0-2, 4-1, 1-1. But looking only at the results would mean missing the most interesting part of this week. The real progression was something else. From suffering against Belgium to taking the game to Turkey. From taking the game to Turkey to trying to play the same way against France. That is Mancini’s first success. In Bursa came the emotional response. In Paris, the technical and mental one. Now these signs have to be turned into consistency. Because a new Italy has not fully been born yet. But after Belgium, Turkey and France, for the first time you can truly start to see it. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.