Why on earth did Donadoni employ the same Milan midfield that has struggled so badly in Serie A this year? A national Coach should take his cue from what is happening in the game, although naturally he couldn’t possibly get any help on picking an Italy side from Scudetto winners Inter.

The standout side in recent seasons has been Roma, playing wonderful free-flowing football that is becoming more and more effective. The 4-2-3-1 system drawn up by Luciano Spalletti allows De Rossi and Alberto Aquilani – or Simone Perrotta – to protect the defence while the front four fan out going both forward and back, depending on possession.

There’s no reason why Pirlo couldn’t slot in there somewhere in the future, either deep in midfield to partner De Rossi or in the supporting trio, as he did begin his career as a Trequartista.

The only thing Roma lack is a true centre-forward, which the Azzurri do have in Luca Toni. Yes the Bayern Munich striker is misfiring badly in Euro 2008 so far, but it’s hardly a surprise considering how isolated he is up there. Unable to knock the ball down for players supporting him, Toni is forced to go it alone every time and that takes its toll on someone who has featured in so many club matches this term.

Imagine Toni leading the Roma line, only replace Amantino Mancini and Rodrigo Taddei with anyone from Antonio Di Natale to Antonio Cassano to Fabio Quagliarella to Alessandro Del Piero. Mouth-watering, no? So why don’t we use it!?

Spain’s defence is not the strongest in the world and we have already seen recently that Italian clubs have the better record against the Liga sides, especially Roma’s double victory over Real Madrid in the Champions League. Now is the perfect time to create a new generation – the GiallorossAzzurri.