Every word Spalletti said on Italy call-ups, Immobile Chiesa, Sarri, Udogie and England

Italy coach Luciano Spalletti explains why he didn’t call up Ciro Immobile for games against Malta and England, says Federico Chiesa can decide whether to ‘stay or leave’ and believes Destiny Udogie can play in midfield.

The Azzurri boss held his first press conference at Coverciano on Monday, explaining his choices and giving some interesting tactical insight ahead of matches against Malta and England.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was in Florence so he met Spalletti at Coverciano and named him Italy’s ‘ambassador’ making a brief speech before the coach’s press conference.

Here’s what Spalletti said in his first meeting with the media in the October break, attended by Football Italia.

VIEW ON ITALIAN FOOTBALL – “My assessments are influenced by my role in this position. All very nice and positive. Any thought. Of course, there are problems and complications, but it’s part of the game. How to deal with them, it’s up to me. I speak to Emiliano at least twice a day. Almost every day with the President. I’ve spoken about the work we need to develop with the entire Italy board. I came in contact with many of my colleagues, including those I didn’t know. I saw how they work on the pitch. It’s a wonderful job that can make me and the team become different from the others. Having knowledge and having relationships with other people makes me become better. I need to improve every day to have more things to offer to my players.”

SARRI – The Lazio boss has claimed he’s happy when his players are not called up, so they can rest and train with their club. “My colleague Sarri, who I respect a lot, loves this sport,” argued Spalletti.

“When there is so much love, you look for new things. Specific things to work on. I think he said the right thing, from his perspective. When I was a club coach, I always had players coming back from international duty with some problems, especially those who had to make 15-16-hour trips. The thing here is that want to send improved players back to clubs, but everyone must care about the national team. Even his [Sarri’s] results depend on the national team’s results. It is strictly connected to the work of clubs. In this attempt to do new things, we are trying to find solutions to common problems.”

IMMOBILE – “Lazio’s doctors said he had a physical problem so they were unsure whether he would recover. We tried to know more, he may not have played, so I called Martusciello and Sarri who replied with great availability. After speaking to them, I called the footballer too and we agreed that the best thing was to rest the footballer, because he also felt he needed it. I think we all did the right thing. He didn’t play, so there was coherency from everyone.”

KEAN – “I don’t about his attitude before coming here. My players are special creatures and I treat them as such, but at the same time, I expect special replies. We don’t come here to laugh about what we do on the pitch. This is a game but it requires a lot of seriousness and professionality. There is an All Blacks book the title is ‘No dickheads’ it will be my present for Christmas. Here, we do things in a serious way. There are no other options. We want to sacrifice for the result, which makes the difference and we need to do anything to bring the result home. We can only be totally focused on the result.” Spalletti had met Kean at Continassa in September when he visited the Old Lady and Max Allegri. “Kean made me a great impression for the way he looked at me and the way he hugged me,” added Spalletti. “Kean has shown that he can wear this shirt. I will know more about his attitude here and will talk about it with him. I can be an uncomfortable person for those who don’t understand their behaviour here.”

STRIKER – “The perfect centre forward in modern football needs a solid engine. Modern football has shown that physicality and engine are good starting points. If I could pick my ideal strikers, I’d pick those I already have. Scamacca and Kean have these qualities. Perhaps, Scamacca is tidier technically, when he touches the ball and in tight spaces. Kean has more physicality; he is more solid when it comes to covering the pitch. Raspadori has these qualities too, perhaps he lacks a little bit of height. Now, many games are won on set pieces and headers, especially when teams sit back. There is an important rate of games won thanks to headers. Raspadori has inventiveness and other characteristics, he can play with a different striker too. I am in a good position.”

ALLEGRI – “I have no problems with him, I like him.”

BONAVENTURA – “It was difficult not to call him the last time. He is similar to Pellegrini, an offensive midfielder who can play as a CAM or as a winger, he handles the ball in an excellent way and he has a great experience. He can be dangerous with goals and late runs. It’s what he showed yesterday too. I had a few doubts because of his age, but if those of this age show this, then he could become an ambassador too.”

OPTIONS ON THE LEFT – “On the left we have Kean, Raspadori and Zaniolo because he plays on the left in England. I hope Zaccagni and Chiesa too. I left Zaccagni at home because of what he said earlier. He had a little ankle problem. They [Lazio doctors] will assess him today. I can call the lad and if he is happy to come here. If he feels he’s improving, he can join us. If he’s not sure, then he can stay home. We don’t want to force anyone to come here. We don’t want to deal with those who don’t care about the national team. Those who want to remain on holiday can just tell us.”

CHIESA – The Juventus winger was not involved against Torino on Saturday due to a minor physical issue. An MRI scan undergone in Turin ruled out a severe injury, but Allegri said last week Chiesa did not feel ready to play. Spalletti has still called him and the Old Lady star will decide whether to stay or leave Coverciano. “The club believes there is little and the same emerged from exams here. But then he counts too. Now, we’ll show him the last few diagnoses, and we’ll talk about what doctors said, those of Juventus and those of the national team. He will think and then decide whether to stay or leave.”

MALTA AND ENGLAND – “Having no respect for the opponent makes us presumptuous, but having too much respect for the opponent, makes us weak. We have two upcoming games which are very difficult. We do not snub anyone and we have no problems in showing up at Wembley against those who invented football to play as we know. We have both games on sight, we’ll try to have a line-up that will allow us to have fresh players in both situations. We don’t make long-term decisions based on temporary emotions.”

CHIESA AGAIN – “The opposite thing happened last month. We sent him back home and then he played [for his club]. Juventus were not surprised by this call-up. Today he’s here we’ve made new exams. There was great availability from Juventus doctors, now we’ll evaluate the future.”

B TEAMS AT CLUB LEVEL – “It depends on the use you do and the organisation of these teams. There are many solutions that can be taken. For us, the solution could be to pick players from the U21. I spoke to Orsolini after the game and explained to him what I thought. He was very nice and thanks to his attitude, it was easy to call him up again. We want to train here, we don’t want to spend a week talking. Players like to be with the national team and play, they don’t just enjoy being here. However, having too many players who don’t even make the bench, creates a bad mood even just for 10 minutes on the way to the stadium, that’s why the group is not big.”

FULL-BACKS – “Udogie has played as a midfielder and if we need a physical midfielder, we know he can cover that role. One I reluctantly left home was Spinazzola. When we spoke, he replied in a way I wanted. ‘This has been my life, I’ve been working to prove people wrong and I will work even harder now.’ To me, he was perfect. I struggle to leave out players like this. Dimarco is a player who maybe doesn’t have a lot of physicality, but he has a great foot. Biraghi is a bit different because he is accustomed to playing in a four-man defence.”

ATTITUDE – “The real happiness, of every human being, is the one that you give to every other people, not to you. The real happiness is the thought of those moving abroad when they were 15 because they had nothing to eat and now they spend two hours in front of the TV hoping the national team will win. That’s what I want to see, I want to see players running everywhere on the pitch for this. I won’t rely on somebody who doesn’t show this quality. Their careers will continue, but not with me. If you always defend your children, they will become weaker. When you make a mistake, you apologise. When you find excuses, you will find people ready to hurt you. When you admit your errors, people will be more inclined to welcome and help you again.

TACTICS – Spalletti said he has alerted ‘five or six ‘reserves’ who will join the national team if there are injuries during the October break. He was then asked whether Italy could use a 3-5-2 system in the next two games. “I think we must be ready to do something different, switching from 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 is simple,” he added. “Then of course, having Perrotta, a player I loved between the lines, Del Piero or Baggio, is different. In calling Bastoni, Dimarco, Acerbi, and Darmian, there is this possibility [playing with 3-5-2]. You don’t need many training sessions to make them adapt. They do this all day long. If we have to change something in the last 10 minutes, we have the tools to do it.”

DOES HE HAVE FUN WATCHING SERIE A – “It depends on which game I watch. It depends on quality, characteristics and which brand of football you want to play. It depends on what football means. Then it’s simple, the coach counts. As Maurizio Viscidi says, finally football is played with 11 men. I can show you many goals that start with the goalkeeper. A goalkeeper always gives a numerical advantage, especially in modern football. There’s a tendency to press high, so when you win the ball back, there are three players pressing you and the goalkeeper gives you a chance to manage that ball well.”

BALL POSSESSION – “The guaranteed ball possession in every game is circa 30%. So 30% of ball possession is made of fun, 30% is the effort you make to recover the ball and 40% is made of losing possession in a silly way and recovering it quickly.”