Italy manager Roberto Mancini is critical of the national team’s lack of options upfront, given more than half of the attacking roster is out due to injury or suffers from the lack of regular minutes. The Azzurri are scheduled to face England and Malta in successive Euro qualification matches at the end of March before playing Spain in the UEFA Nations League semi-finals.
Mancini spoke to Il Messaggero (via LaLazioSiamoNoi) in an exclusive interview and shed light on the problems surrounding the Azzurri’s offensive department.
“The problems in attack are serious. Immobile is knocked out, and so is Raspadori. There are big questions. Almost all of our central forwards have played very little in recent months. We don’t have one who is a regular, except for Gnonto, who is employed a little more at Leeds and can play as a central forward. But otherwise we’re in bad shape. Even Scamacca is back from an injury, Belotti plays little. There are solutions in defense and in midfield. It’s there in attack that we have problems but not because there aren’t any talents. But they have to play. And they don’t play.”
Mancini has 26 players at his disposal in the national team, but as mentioned, a lot of them are sidelined due to fitness problems. Sassuolo striker Andrea Pinamonti is perhaps the only one who sees regular playing time and is entirely fit to take charge upfront at the moment.
The boss announced that Steaua Bucuresti’s striker Andrea Compagno made the provisional list and might be called up considering all the absences. The 26-year-old journeyman has scored 18 times in 29 matches this season.
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