Luciano Spalletti has been confirmed as Italy’s head coach until the 2026 World Cup, but the Azzurri’s Euro exit came down to his decisions rather than the players’ supposed lack of talent, writes Lorenzo Bettoni.
Spalletti will remain in charge of the Azzurri until the 2026 World Cup, for which the Azzurri are clearly forced to qualify after missing out on two consecutive editions.
The CT and FIGC President Gabriele Gravina held a press conference on Sunday, the day after an awful 2-0 loss to Switzerland, to explain the elimination and the wrong decisions and to confirm that the Azzurri would not change their coach.
Despite some poor performances and a disappointing elimination in Germany, I believe that confirming Spalletti is the right decision.
The ex-Napoli boss has been in charge for less than a year and he had barely overseen 10 Azzurri matches before the Euros. Whoever thought that a coach like the Tuscan would have been able to turn things around in such a short period of time must have mistaken him for Harry Potter. Spalletti has no magic wand.
There are structural issues in Italian football, and we only just realized it today. Much more than just a coach will be needed to take Italian football back to the top, but as we already mentioned on Saturday, some progress has already been made by Serie A clubs, who surely can’t be blamed for Italy’s EURO fiasco.
This Italy side was not the most talented in the tournament and was vastly inexperienced, with 15 footballers who had never played at an international tournament before. At the same time, however, there were nine European champions from three years earlier, including Serie A winners Alessandro Bastoni and Nicolò Barella, who also played a Champions League Final with Inter only a year ago. Likewise Gianluca Scamacca won the Europa League with Atalanta in May while Federico Chiesa – despite his highs and lows at Juventus – is one of the most talented outfield players Italy has had in the last decade.
It’s fair to see Spalletti remain in charge, but at the same time, it’s impossible not to blame the CT for such a painful elimination.
It was all pretty confusing from the very beginning. The players Spalletti had called up included five centre-backs and five full-backs/wing-backs, clearly suggesting that the CT wanted to play with a three-man defence at the Euros. His plans obviously changed when Francesco Acerbi was forced to pull out due to a groin problem, but rather than using a suitable system for the players he had brought to Germany, he pursued a different avenue, switching to a four-man defence with attacking wingers despite having just three available.
The only time he started with three (in truth five) defenders was in the last group stage against Croatia.
Spalletti had no time, nor patience. In the second match against Spain, he confirmed the same line-up that had beat Albania on the debut. It was a mistake. After a game that saw the Azzurri produce 0 shots on target against La Roja, Spalletti admitted being wrong, saying that some footballers were tired and perhaps needed more rest.
But there is more. The Azzurri boss made two substitutions during the break in Gelsenkirchen against Spain, and from that moment, he would change his XI once every 45 minutes, making substitutions during the break also against Croatia and Switzerland. Surely, it didn’t help the players find their footing.
Another reason why the CT should be blamed is his persistence in starting Giovanni Di Lorenzo. It is understandable because he was his captain at Napoli in 2022-23 and Spalletti said that the Partenopei right-back was ‘like a son’ to him, suggesting that he would not have done without him in any game.
Di Lorenzo surely is Italy’s best option as a right-back in normal circumstances, and if Italy had gone through, nobody would have complained about him being deployed. However, when results do not come, the coach must take responsibility and acknowledge that his excessive trust in the player, hurt the team and didn’t benefit Di Lorenzo.
During his final Euro press conference, Spalletti admitted that he would learn lessons from this Euro campaign and that being a club coach is not like being a national team coach. He acknowledged that he’ll have to adapt and change as soon as possible. Italy desperately needs it because they can’t afford to miss out on their following and most important objective: qualifying for the 2026 World Cup.
Gravina and co should’ve waited for the dust to settle before making a decision. I think it is a really bad decision, and now enthusiasm is at rock bottom. The pressure the players will be on going into the wc qualifications will be enermous, and I only see more selection and tactical mistakes to come.
Buongiorno, calafiori, gabbia, bellanova, udogie, tonali, chiesa, barella, frattesi, These are the players who have to be integral to regular starting lineups going forward.
The only genuine ‘positive’ to come out of these 4 games is the FI comment section Gigio detractors being shut up for good.
This is completely on Spalletti . He took El sheraway who hadn’t played for Italy or any notable team in years . We have younger players like Bellanouva who could have played .I don’t understand these decisions . They didn’t do so bad in the friendlies against Ecuador and Venezuela and should have built off that .
I give up on them useless
tom,
El Sha and darmian became relevant, because he bottled it after Spain. Wanted to sit deep, and no longer look to control the ball, so he wanted players who take the least risk.
mohrino was right this is a lousy team i dont like him he called it
“The ex-Napoli boss has been in charge for less than a year and he had barely overseen 10 Azzurri matches before the Euros. Whoever thought that a coach like the Tuscan would have been able to turn things around in such a short period of time must have mistaken him for Harry Potter. Spalletti has no magic wand.”
I strongly disagree with this. I wasn’t expecting us to be World beaters, but at the very least it would be reasonable to expect some consistency pertaining to: a formation and style-of-play, lineup, mentality etc. Almost a year in and a (disastrous) tournament later, we still have no idea what Spalletti is trying to do, whereas with Conte and Mancini we had a clear picture within a couple of fixtures. Spalletti has failed on every fundamental level, including his cringe-inducing press conferences.
A first step in the correct direction would be to stop selecting players that are average at best (all due respect), and not especially young anymore. The likes of Cristante, El Sharaway, etc. Those cannot be solid fundations for the future, and the argument of experience is not valid either when you don’t get good results anyway. Replace them with some 18 or 19 players performing well in Serie B and whatnot, give them some exposure, be bold. Do that a few times, eventually, you may struck gold.
Qwerty19
Spalletti seemed more interested in repaying the faith to his former clubs in inter, Roma and Napoli than selecting the right players. el sha, darmian, Mancini, and persisting with di Lorenzo 🤦🏻♂️ that on top of selecting a player who hadn’t kicked a ball all season, but became a favourite because he shared Spalletti’s love for table tennis.
Disappointed in the team and the coach. There is a saying in college football, you are either getting better through the season or worse. Never the same. This team has progressively gotten worse, which is a sign of poor coaching. Sad to say, and very surprised.
Strange that a manager of his experience genuinely seemed to have no idea what 11 he wanted to play.
And he’ll have little to choose from in the future either; expect an influx of average foreigners into Serie A like every other summer.
Useless…. Spalletti constantly reminding us “the usual Italy like to dictate play and tempo” what tournament was he at.
Get rid of him and gravina , get any number of CTS , there were 4 others at Germany.
Spalletti is either stupid or sabotaged the team. You can’t not notice how EVERY TEAM focused on exposing Di Slowrenzo from Albania forward and NOT substitute him, especially vs Switzerland when he was at fault for both goals. He watched Modric. Instead Luciano substitutes Darmian and keeps his boy in?
Dumb or Sabotage …either way, you gotta go!
the futuer desnt look good more foerign players deals are being made tournment was in motion i am proud to be italian no more games awhile
I am sorry to say but we cannot blame the coach on this circumstance, What can the coach do when Italian football is totally weak , Are there players out there who are regular on club level and any stars like the past Nazionale ? Spalletti is very experienced coach who have done wonders in the club .
GNONTO PLEASE!
While spending a lot of time with Spalletti can achieve results, I cant see how he can get a national team ticking like he wants. This is performance was hands down worst coaching id seen since Prandelli 2014 WC, when we tried to play Tiki taka. This team had no urgency, no attacking minds and quite a few seemed out of their normal club positions.
Hes a great coach but not one for italy. We need old school – outplay the weaker sides and counter attack the stronger ones, something Spalletti obviously cant do.
Good on him for playing all youth though!!
i agree with albert those players should be playing every week is not going to happen