North Macedonia vs Italy Bet Builder Tips and Player Props: Italy To Shrug off the Ghosts of the Past

Daniele Fisichella is in town to provide North Macedonia vs Italy bet builder tips (this Saturday at 19:45) in a fixture no Italian fans would ever want to replay again after the shocking defeat in the World Cup play-offs in 2022 in Palermo.

The Azzurri, with new manager Luciano Spalletti in charge, are in desperate need of a convincing performance and three points, of course, to get their Euro 2024 qualifiers campaign back on track.

• Italy Two or More Goals – Winning Margin
• Nicolò Barella Over 1.5 Shots
• Both Teams to Score – No

Bet Builder odds: 4.92

Euro 2024 Qualifiers, Group C, Saturday, September 9th, 19:45 (UK)

Odds via bet365 as at 8pm, September 6th 2023. Odds may now differ.

North Macedonia vs Italy Stats and Match Facts: Historically a tricky encounter for the Azzurri

• Italy and North Macedonia have faced each other three times, with one win apiece and a draw.
• Ciro Immobile scored a brace when Italy beat Macedonia 3-2 in Skopje in 2016.
• Italy have lost three of their last five games but have scored at least a goal in the last nine matches.
• North Macedonia have only kept only one clean sheet in the last seven games, against Far Oer.

North Macedonia vs Italy Bet Builder Tips: No time for experiments for Spalletti

Italy Two or More Goals – Winning Margin

Roberto Mancini’s resignation was a shock, but if you’re Italian, let’s look at the glass half full: you could not have wished for a better man to take charge of your national side.

Luciano Spalletti not only won the Scudetto with Napoli after 33 years but did it in style, showcasing one of the best brands of attacking football in Europe last season. Now, is this current Italy squad weaker than last season’s Napoli? Apart from the lack of a proven goalscorer at international level, the Azzurri have a strong starting eleven with good options on the bench, too. So, there are reasons to be optimistic.

And amongst the Azzurri, there are players who feature in some of Europe’s best teams, from Gianluigi Donnarumma to Federico Dimarco and Sandro Tonali.

Luciano Spalletti’s challenge is to re-instil the enthusiasm in the camp while delivering some of his ideas in a very short period of time. And, of course, Italy need to rack up the points in Group C if they want to avoid going via the play-offs route: after the last two times, nobody wants that.

Nicolò Barella Over 1.5 Shots

During his career, Spalletti has always been very good at finding quick fixes for his teams. The manager from Certaldo is undoubtedly at his best when he has time to coach players and deliver his key messages, but he’s equally good at getting the basics right quickly.

At least in his first couple of games in charge, Spalletti won’t change the team’s structure and will deploy a trusted 4-3-3 formation. In a midfield with Manuel Locatelli and Sandro Tonali, Inter’s Nicolò Barella will be the man tasked with running into the box and trying to latch on some of the lay-offs from the strikers.

Italy will dominate possession, and there will be plenty of opportunity for the Sardinian midfielder to have a pop.

So far, in three Serie A games that Inter dominated, he has averaged 1.65 shots per game, and last year, he scored six goals in the top flight, equalling his record from 2017/2018 when he still played for Cagliari.

Both teams to Score – No

Italy have only kept one clean sheet in the last six games (2-0 win over Malta), but I believe that the two Lazio central defenders, Alessio Romagnoli and Nicolò Casale, at the moment represent a very safe partnership. Last year, Lazio kept 21 clean sheets in Serie A and some of their defending last Friday in their 2-1 win at the Maradona against Napoli was majestic. Alessandro Bastoni, from Inter, would be the other option at centre-back, and his latest performances in the Champions League speak for themselves.

North Macedonia have struggled lately: they were humbled 7-0 by England and failed to score against Saudi Arabia, Bulgaria and Georgia (twice).

Apart from the historic success in Palermo, their recent record against top European sides is poor: they lost to nil against the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal. If they concede the first goal, I can’t see them being able to mount a comeback.

Finally, the man who broke Italy’s heart with that 92nd-minute winner back in March 2022, Aleksandar Trajkovski, is currently a free agent. Surely it can’t happen again, can it?

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