Ex-Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi refused to blame Luciano Spalletti after a 1-0 loss to Spain, but other Italian pundits suggest the Azzurri should have been more humble while the CT had the starting line-up and even the substitutions wrong.
It’s a bitter day for the Azzurri who lost 1-0 to Spain on Thursday night after a successful EURO 2024 debut against Albania.
Ex-Italy coach Sacchi refused to blame CT Spalletti, but the general mood in the country is very different.
Sky Sport Italia Beppe Bergomi, a 1982 Italy World Cup winner, said Italy didn’t accept Spain’s superiority in the early stages and were not humble enough.
There were comparisons with the latest meeting with Spain at the European Championships in 2021 when La Roja dominated proceedings, but Italy emerged victorious on penalties.
“They played better than us, but we didn’t struggle as much as this time,” argued the ex-defender.
La Gazzetta dello Sport criticised Spalletti’s substitutions. Those that he made and those he didn’t make.
“Spalletti remains an excellent coach, but some of his decisions were not convincing,” said the newspaper’s deputy editor Stefano Agresti.
“Starting with the decision to start Di Lorenzo against Nico Williams and then the decision to keep him on the pitch for so long. The starting line-up was wrong and the first substitutions were just as unconvincing before Di Lorenzo remained on the pitch with Chiesa. Spain destroyed Italy on that flank in the first half.
“It is not Spalletti’s fault because Italy players don’t have as much quality as Spain players, but this time some of his decisions were not entirely convincing.”
Former Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni also blamed Spalletti and probably delivered the toughest verdict.
“It’s an enormous step back. A true failure of the Spalletti project,” he told RAI.
“Against Albania, we saw a propositive team for 70 minutes, but this time with Jorginho and Chiesa’s substitutions, he proved that he no longer believed in it. He distorted the team too much in the second half.”
Spalletti admits making a mistake for Spain game but Italy style won’t change
If he doesn’t change the system we’re out next game or next round. Full stop.
My God talk about over reaction. They got spanked, so learn from it. They lost to a young fast talented team. Germany is also like this. So how do you beat it? Figure it out or go home and watch the rest of the games on TV. Now we know what we are up against. Remember last tournament, Spinazlola drove the opposition nuts. When he went down we were not the same. The point is you only need 1 or 2 players to change everything. Spain had 2 players that messed our whole game plan up. Pull up your socks and bounce back.
No more Di Lorenzo please. I’ve been complaining about playing Dilorenzo since Euro final against England first.He concedepenalty against England with handball in Rome.
Typical “stampa” response. Need to learn from this loss and move on. It happens when playing a high quality opponent.
Spalletti’s formation is the problem not merely the players! Di Lorenzo looked out of place out there! All the players except the goalie were not in the game. I blame all that on the coach’s tactics. If he uses the same tactics against Croatia, Italy will be humiliated! There is too much politics in Italian National Team football. The 4-2-3-1 system is not working. We need a compact midfield to have any chance against Croatia!
The news media is complete garbage nonsense. Spain didn’t score a goal of their own against us. We beat ourselves. An own goal against us doesn’t mean spain spanked us, or destroyed us, or any of that nonsense. They dominated possession and couldn’t score on their own. We need to play better next game for sure, but let’s not act like the sky is falling.
Disappointing is what this match was.
The problems is not the coach the problem is the serie a team like Milan and others who don’t want to buy any italian players and don’t play they young Italians enough am sorry but if serie a don’t change and let more Italians plays we will not be as good as italia from before
3 Defenders, meaning you sacrifice Pellegrini who was playing as a defender, was the solution.
Not rocket science.