Italy’s TOTW: Calafiori, Tonali & Maldini… But Who Leads the Attack?

Football Italia

Football Italia's Italian Team of the Week: Donnarumma, Calafiori, Tonali and Daniel Maldini feature, with Pio Esposito up front

The show reviews Italian players across Europe's top five leagues after the international break and picks an ideal XI for the week. The host and Richard Hall debate the goalkeeper, full-back and forward choices, with Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Mancini, Calafiori, Udogie, Tonali, Romano, Orsolini, Daniel Maldini, Cambiaghi and Pio Esposito making the final team.

✅ Subscribe To The Channel for More Videos: / / footballitalia ✅ Important Links: 👉 Website: https://football-italia.net/ 🔥 Lorenzo Bettoni and Richard Hall are back to break down the best performances from Italian players across Europe’s top five leagues! From Riccardo Calafiori and Sandro Tonali impressing in the Premier League to Daniel Maldini scoring against Juventus, Italian talent shone across the continent. But who stood out most, and which players earned a place in our Italian Team of the Week? Join Lorenzo and Richard as they review the weekend’s action, highlight the top performers, and select the Italians who made the biggest impact for their clubs. Here’s our Italian TOTW for the latest round of fixtures! ✅ Stay Connected With Us: 👉Instagram: / @gazzettafootballitalia 👉 (X)Twitter: https://x.com/footballitalia

Transcript

Welcome back to the Football Italia channel. Today we review the performances of Italian players across Europe's top five leagues and uh we try to draw an ADL 11 as well. Let's see. >> Joining me today is Richard Hall. Thank you so much, Richard. Thank you. Welcome back to the channel. >> No, thanks for having me again as always. And it's going to be quite an exciting one this one because there's quite a lot of action all over the weekend after the international break finishing. I think people were trying to watch as much football as possible. So we should definitely have a good eye on this. >> We watched a lot of Syria. We watched a lot of Italian players playing in England, playing in Germany, playing in France. Um and we can do an ideal 11. So we have a few doubts here and there. Let's discuss some of the best and worst performances. Let's go. In goal, I have uh two possible candidates for the ideal 11. I got Elia Caprile of Calgary and Gio Donaruma of Manchester City. Now, Donaruma uh beat uh with Manchester City, Liverpool 3-0il, but there was a bit of tension in there. No. >> Yeah, absolutely. Dave, if you haven't seen the game, and I think a lot of people will have done because it was all about the reaction of how are Man City going to respond after all the alleg well the the guilty verdict should we say 114 charges and Anfield was hostile to say the least. I mean the the main thing was apart apart from the banners um it was just whistling every time they got the ball. Not going to go into details about what the banners said. Obviously derogatory and look Man City and Donnarum himself, you know, he was obviously stood next to the cop for 45 minutes and was massively abused as were the rest of them. Obviously, City come back to come to win 3-0 with a very good performance and um yeah, at the end there was an altercation with Donnaruma and some of the fans who was walking off the pitch. I think he reacted to it. I mean, a bit different for him. He's been stood there constantly taking the abuse, especially from from the cop. I think he's obviously temper got frayed and um Liverpool fans were obviously more annoyed that they'd lost the game as well and he had to be ushered off down the tunnel by some of his own teammates as he switched. So we say exchanged some colorful words with the fans, but you know, clean sheet for him still. And uh yeah, it was it was hard to keep your concentration I imagine throughout that. >> Yeah. and also uh six saves uh against Liverpool including two from inside the box. Elia Caprile as well had had a very good game, very very good game against Juventus. Four saves from inside the box and nine uh total saves. It's it's a hard pick here because probably Gio was a bit had a quieter day especially after the Liverpool red card um against um against um against the Reds while Caprile especially in the second half when Juventus were pushing for um for the equalizer which they eventually scored with with Colani it was slightly busier. Uh so who would you pick over these two? It's really hard that one because I think that Capri for me is a goalkeeper that never ever gets any recognition as much as he should. Um and he was fantastic. He really was fantastic against Juventus and I think you know without him you know Calgary could have gone quite a few behind in the end there. So that's really difficult but the tension that Donnaruma had to put up with and it was really really difficult in that atmosphere and to keep a cool head. I'm going to I'm going to edge him slightly. I feel sorry for Caprile because weirdly I actually just if there was nothing surround no context Caprile gets it but in the context of the situation I'd give us a Donado Roma. >> Let's move to the defense. I think we've got two um standout performance here. One also playing in the Premier League Ricardo Kalafiori and the other one is Jaluca Manchini of Roma. Uh I really like Manchini. I wrote the player ratings for Koma Roma on Sunday on the Football Italia website and and I think Manini played a fantastic game again there was so much pressure this time on the pitch because Roma were reduced to 10 men after Don Malan red card and from that moment Ko pushed. It's true that they didn't create much aside from um a chance from for for Peron from inside the box which he which he wasted from a very good from from a very good um position but overall the Manchini performance the whole the whole Roma defense obviously everyone defended really well down to 10 men against Ko is never easy uh but his performance was was really strong and it's it's strange here because whenever he plays for Italy, you don't quite have the feeling that he has the same influence that he has with Roma. How how do you explain that? >> I don't know. I think some you get that with some players. I think you're comfortable in your environment. You're comfortable with what's around you. You know, you see this a lot with strikers. I mean, as well, you know, you tend to have that you home's home and you know what you're doing. I mean, obviously play Olympic coach, so that shouldn't have any difference, but it just has that feeling where you know, you're playing with different players. uh you don't get as much time to understand the system and and it doesn't translate whereas other players it doesn't matter what pitch you put them on and who with they're just going to perform as they do. So listen what a performance it was against I thought he was he was exemplary. So yeah absolutely stunning performance. Um and again one of those players that you again you might say is underrated. uh you know it's got to be consistency but you know Roma not just this season obviously in last season he he was very very good but you look back and you think he's had some work to do at certain points but that was a a good performance three defensive contributions two clearances one block shot one recovery three aerial duals one from five for uh Juluka Manchini uh the other center back I've chosen maybe Martin Kun won't agree with me because I've chosen Ricardo Kalafuri as a center back, but it's it's also because of performances of other player. In regular normal circumstances, I would have picked um Kalafuri as a left back. Now then, you'll see the other uh the other uh choices that we've made uh at in in defense in this fourman defense. And so I'm kind of forced to to put Kafuri in a center back position. Was a magical week for him. scored his first goal with Italy national team against Turkey and then scored his first goal at the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal against Le United contributed to a 21 uh win. is just a as he said he he he likes to play everywhere like he can move every >> he suits that Arsenal team so well that fluidity like you mentioned then and you with when he first arrived at Arsenal it was always where does he play how's he fit is he going to fit you know there's other options in both positions and it just looked as if is he going to be able to make that position his own and he's actually almost made two positions his own and he's really come to life with it um and obviously he's got that offensive threat um that's there. But he's really involved in the project. He's very passionate about playing for Arsenal. You can definitely see that. And it was a a difficult trip for Arsenal. Sorry, a difficult game for Arsenal uh to have Leeds visit because Leads have been sort of they're not easy to play against. The fan base is always a bit hardcore. You've got Trafford who just come off the back of a couple of England games. You know, they looked like stiff opposition and Arsenal off the back of the defeat to Brighton. you thought, you know, potentially this could be a bit of a slip, but they they they got through it very well and Califur is a massive part of that and he's becoming now, especially in the absence of Gabrielle, standout player of that Arsenal back line. So, yeah, just topped off like you say, an amazing week for him. Um after the game I mentioned Martin Kon he said he told Kalafuri you're too good to play as a center half but Kalafuri said I enjoy playing as a center half as well because my goal as a player is to be able to play in as many positions as I can and again it's we've seen him playing as a center back for Bolognia for Italy national team but with Arsenal he's been the starting left back uh which is a role that he's been covering with Roberto Manini as well because during the previous spells with Spaleti and Janaro Gatuzo, he was mostly a center back in in a three-man defense, but we've discussed this before. We we had a video with the ideal uh Italy 11 last week. Um and CalFuri is is obviously the one of the cornerstones of Italy for the next four years hopefully leading the Azuri to the World Cup in in 20130. As for the fullbacks I've picked Ra Belanova of Atlanta and um Joavanni Dloren of Napoli. A few people will be unhappy with this but I think the Dorenzo performance against frozen was really good. Now a lot of people will say it's just frozen but before the match you remember I mean frozen had beaten ko 2-0 before the break. It wasn't necessarily easy to win that match. Dorenzo played as a right midfielder in the 343 system of of Max Allegri. Now obviously both Dorenzo and Bellanova typically operate in the right back role. just for this episode and for this ideal 11 will uh will put Belanova on the left and and Dorenzo on the right, Fedrico DeMarco as well for Inter I think he played a very good game against Sparma but that was a fairly easy game. So at least for this week I will I will keep him out of the ideal 11. >> No, I don't think he's fair enough. I think Dorenzo in particular, you mentioned that game against Rosen. Everyone, the two things everyone seemed to say before this weekend that Ko Roma was going to be the game of the season. We kind of got that wrong. And then Fen Yeah, me too. And Fenon beat Napoli because of recent form. And you know, so going into that game, that was a lot of pressure for Napoli there. You know, that wasn't going it was a difficult task. And I think Dorenzo is a huge part of that. huge part of that adapting to that system really really well and definitely deserves that spot. I think he was he was fantastic in he does you're right he gets a lot of stick but there is a lot of ability there and I would say yeah of course it's consistency but we we're talking about one weekend here and he deserves it for that as well and talking of consistency again I think I would argue the bell over again you know you look at that there's he he on his day when he wants to can be absolutely fantastic sometimes I also think that he can look a bit how can we put it's not so much goes missing but just he can almost take himself a little bit outside the game, but when he's actually involved, and I think it's a confidence thing, he he can absolutely fly. So, he was uh he was certainly at his best this weekend. >> Let's move to central midfield. Some good news for Roberto Manini. There were good news from the defense as well because Manchini, Heler, Dorenzo were all part of the uh latest team called up by Mancho um for the international break. The two central midfielders I've picked for this week are Tonali and Romano. Tonali got an assist in Tottenham's 1-1 draw against Manchester United. Destiny new dog he played as well. He's he was another potential candidate for uh the the team of the week but still feel Bellanova and Dorenzo were um also because I mean the the results they got it's true that um Atlanta beat Venetsia but the Vanova performance was was really convincing. I got Tonali and Romano. As I said, uh Romano uh after making his debut with Italy, he has all eyes on him. Obviously, uh he's not it wasn't a uh 10 out of 10 performance, but still was a fairly solid performance against Juventus and dominated possession for uh most of the time, but he played with with great experience. I think he's very composed and I really like the way he played. >> Yeah, he was great. I think we talk about that Calgary team and you take out Capil, you take out Romano and the results hugely different. It was I know like you say Juventus put on a lot of pressure there. Um but he he really was um like we said with Kury bringing that form back into domestic um his domestic form in that sense and he was he was good. I mean, his vision's always good. His engine is fantastic. And I just think it's the the maturity in which he played. And you know, anytime you face Juventus, you've you've got to be at 100%. Um, you know, no matter where Juventus are at, it's always a big opportunity to shine. And I think he did that really well. So, he's done no harm. Yeah, like you say, it may not have been a 10 out of 10 performance, but you know, I'm questioning at the moment when I've seen play less than a seven. So, yeah, it was a good performance. Yeah, it's good performance especially defensively. You got nine defensive contributions, five recoveries. Uh all aerial duals won, two out of two and three ground duals, one out of six. So it was very good defensive performance, not so much with the ball at his feet, but still um again against top side, a player who is this young, a player who first of all must be looking for consistency. I think he's getting that consistency and he's adapting to the different games that he plays. Sometimes he needs you need him more on the ball. Some other times like against Juventus, as you can see from the heat map as well, you needed uh in in your opposition half to just prevent the uh opposing team to have to have chances. And again, it wasn't your the bru performance obviously, but uh still a solid performance from um uh from Romano. Um what can we say about Tonali Rich? Uh he's had I mean not a great start to the season obviously with with Tottenham still a very important assist um at Old Trafford there today and uh and overall he was very good. Yeah, it's one of those games. I mean, you know, you looked at that game at the start and obviously the Zerby and Carrick both under a lot of pressure uh before that because of a terrible start to the season on both sides, but to go to to Old Trafford and to have that situation where you've got a situ um you've got a game where everyone's going to be criticizing is hu huge amount of expectation and that game Tottenham dominated that game completely you know a descending off which was far well not far but how Manchester United also get Luke Shaw sent off there's a lot controversy there. Um and Sali has to dig deep then you know um in that situation as did the Tottenham team in general um and to come away with a with a point is actually a really good result that game if Tottenham score early could have gone another way and and Tonali was really instrumental with that Tottenham performance and I think that's what frustrates a lot of Tottenham fans in the UK right now because there's been a lot of money spent you know deservedly everyone give says he's on credit from last season but they are starting slowly, you know, that maybe a striker away uh from actually doing something a lot better than where they are at the moment. So, and like I said, you know, he's a huge part of that. So, he he had a good um he had a good day out at uh this weekend. Um I'm I'm still thinking about the defense because uh because um I mean Bellanova Doren so good. Maybe if if you want to make a real ideal 11 we got to include the dog at the end of the day was it was really really good for Tottenham the other day. So uh maybe we pick one between uh between Dorenzo and Bellanova and we put Udi as a left wing as a left as a left back because I mean at the end of the day it was a good performance. It was old Trafford. It was uh >> it was good. I think it deserves to be there. It deserves to be there. >> Yeah, it was it was I mean they they did dominate it. I mean you wouldn't you look at it and it was just such a typical game as well. You know Tottenham have they do seem to self-employ. They've not got a lot up front and you know yet they went to they dominated Manchester United and um mistakes got made but I wouldn't say any of those players are at fault for them and and the way they come back with 10 men is is exemplary so it was a good point for them and yeah they all played well >> 92% accurate passes for Udogi at Old Trafford. Um, two AIAL duels from two one, two grand duels, one from four, six defensive contributions, three recoveries. Uh, he deserves to be there. We put it as a as a left back. So, we need to choose one between Belarov and Dorenzo. Would you go for it? >> I'm going to go for Dorenzo just because it was a tricky game that like you say, everyone's expect it's frozen. No, not not in the form that Napoli were in and not with the way that frozen been playing. So whereas um you know Bernova did really well played is exceptional. Vanetsia at the moment though I mean they just give so much space give so much away. Uh I think it allowed him to get on top of that game whereas I think with frozen not so much. So only what do you think? You with me on that or not? Maybe. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll go I'll go. I really like Bellanova. Uh but I mean it was Vanetsia unfortunately was subbed off as well because of an injury um alongside Scalvini that we have medical test today and see how long they remain out of action but yeah I think I think Dorenzo is uh is over Belanova for the type of opponent ahead as well. Um other news we discussed tonali we discussed calfuri we discussed from the premier league uh rujoi and coyote playing against each other in bread for Aston Villa but they don't make our 11 for this week. Pestra was given his debut um for Chelsea against Bernmouth. He played around 20 minutes. Uh Savona Leoni still didn't play. Kza got his first minutes with Liverpool. Um, let's move on to the attacker. I've got three attacking midfielders. Well, two wingers, one attacking midfielder, and then the strikers. I want to mention somebody who is not in this list because he only basically u played barely 10 minutes and is Vinceno Grio who had an assist for Fryberg in the in the victory over Sha over Shalk. So immediate uh immediate impact for Vincenzo Grio who actually made his Italy debut under Roberto Manini a few years ago but only play 10 minutes so is not on our ideal 11. The players I have in my ideal 11 and we talk again here is Daniel Maldini and then we go to Bologna because we got Ricardo Solini and um Matio Kambiagi for the um for the attack. Yeah, I mean Maldi Maldini Nicoloagi sorry not mate Maldini I mean he just he whatever I don't understand why he moves club so much because quite simply every time I see Maldini seems to be doing exactly really really well wherever he is but I mean I thought he was great I I really did I just I don't I wish he's one of those players a bit like you know we funnily enough you know I said about Capri you want someone to just take him to the team and go right I'm going to build something around you a bit like because he's always like this there's lots of talented players you see in many different leagues where they seem to hit different clubs but I just think that as he's growing and maybe it is that experience of moving that's helping him but his confidence just seems to be growing I like he's got this nice way that he can glide through I think he gets into space really well and he's showing now that he's got a finish on him and I do think he's he is really growing he's not in the shadow of his his father anymore he's a different type of obviously different type of player and yeah he really deserves it. I think that um I'd like someone to just give him hopefully this is a place where he gets a bit more trust and they can build something around him because he's he's looking like quite the player or scored Bolognia's first goal. fantastic bicycle kick was on