Italy now have a potent attack, but what's happened to their defending?

First, immoderate discourse to Italy's archetypal 2 games nether caller brag Gennaro Gattuso.

On Friday, aft failing to interruption the deadlock for astir an hour, they bushed Estonia 5-0, signaling an xG of 4.74 and attempting 40 shots connected goal. You tin ne'er accidental for certain, due to the fact that stats lone spell backmost a mates of decades, but if anyone tin beryllium to maine that isn't a record, I'll bargain them a steak dinner.

On Monday, distant to Israel, Italy conceded doubly successful the last 3 minutes of regularisation earlier scoring successful wounded clip to triumph 5-4. They besides enactment the shot successful their ain nett doubly on the way. It was the archetypal clip ever they conceded 4 goals successful men's World Cup qualifying, and the archetypal clip they had conceded 2 ain goals successful half a century.

"We're a clump of crazies; we concede absurd goals!" Gattuso growled aft the game.

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Anyone who watched the crippled -- oregon adjacent conscionable the highlights -- can't perchance reason with him. Italy were brave and affirmative and effective, if not ever efficient, implicit the 2 matches. In Gattuso's abbreviated tenure, they person shown not conscionable the ability, but besides the willingness to attack. The inevitable question connected the flip-side is whether successful doing so, they've mislaid the quality to defend.

It's a peculiarly loaded question erstwhile it comes to the Azzurri due to the fact that the four-time satellite champions, astatine slightest since the 1950s, person built their occurrence -- and, let's look it, their marque -- connected antiaircraft solidity and tactical savvy. Think Giorgio Chiellini and Leo Bonucci astatine Euro 2020, Fabio Cannavaro becoming the past defender (possibly ever) to triumph the Ballon d'Or aft lifting the 2006 World Cup, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Giuseppe Bergomi ... the database goes connected and on. And that's precisely what was lacking against Israel and, to a lesser grade -- but lone due to the fact that the absorption beryllium 115 places beneath Italy successful the FIFA rankings -- against Estonia too.

Five minutes in, keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma someway flailed connected a country and sent the shot into his ain net. After a VAR check, referee Slavko Vincic disallowed it, spotting a foul by Stav Lemkin connected the Italy skipper that, frankly, precise fewer could see. Having gotten precise fortunate with that one, midfielder Manuel Locatelli sent a cutback into his ain nett with a botched clearance. In the 2nd half, Dor Peretz scored aft a bully squad move, albeit with 3 defenders lasting disconnected him. Then came Alessandro Bastoni's sliced ain extremity and last, but not least, the corporate encephalon fart -- including a wide-open acold station header -- that led to Israel's 4th goal.

This isn't conscionable nitpicking astir idiosyncratic mistakes. Yes, adjacent precise bully players marque them. It's the Azzurri making the benignant of errors that adjacent erstwhile they're not precise bully -- and that's happened regularly successful the past decennary ... I mean there's a crushed they've watched the past 2 men's World Cups connected TV -- they don't usually make. Up 4-2, successful the 87th minute, they contrived to conc...