Davide Frattessi has explained how Luciano Spalletti’s tweak in systems has helped get the best out of him and his teammates, but the Inter midfielder has ruled out the possibility of playing slightly further up the pitch in a ‘second-striker’ role.
The Nerazzurri midfielder gave his press conference ahead of Italy’s Nations League test against Israel on Monday evening.
Frattesi explains why Italy have improved since the EUROs
Frattesi believes that Italy are a much-improved side compared to their outings at EURO 2024 over the summer, and has explained that ‘internal and external’ pressure weighed negatively on the squad.
“What we were missing during the EUROs was the fun on the pitch that we saw against Belgium, Spending so many days in an environment that wasn’t as joyful and friendly as it is now affected the performances from every player,” the Italy international said.
“There was too much pressure, externally and internally. In the end, we brought it on ourselves, it wasn’t a particularly fun journey.”
He also feels that there were tactical reasons why he and some of his colleagues were not able to perform to their full abilities. He feels that that situation has since changed with Spalletti’s shift to a 3-5-1-1 system, though.
“It was a bit more difficult for me in the previous formation. I was a mezzala, but also an attacking midfielder, and the shouts were for me to go back further and get on the ball more.”
He now feels that Italy are ‘on the right path’ heading into next year’s World Cup qualifiers.
“Beating France in Paris, playing like we did for those 40 minutes against Belgium were demonstrations of our strength, because they are top national teams in the world. It means we’re on the right path.”
Frattesi has ruled himself out of the running to replace Lorenzo Pellegrini in the role behind Mateo Retegui in the Italy attack, though.
“Honestly I don’t think so. I tried it when we played that way in the EUROs, but I don’t think it gets the best out of my strengths.”
Frattesi explains Italy improvement, Pellegrini defence and World Cup ‘obsession’