Italy CT Roberto Mancini assures “the quality is there” after the first two games against Saudi Arabia and France.
The former Inter Coach is new to the role as Azzurri boss, and reflected on his initial impressions in an interview with Rai Sport.
“I'm satisfied with the first two games against Saudi Arabia and France,” Mancini said.
Italy CT Roberto Mancini assures “the quality is there” after the first two games against Saudi Arabia and France.
The former Inter Coach is new to the role as Azzurri boss, and reflected on his initial impressions in an interview with Rai Sport.
“I'm satisfied with the first two games against Saudi Arabia and France,” Mancini said.
“This is a good group and I’ve met some players I hadn’t coached before. The quality is there, and there are certain things I didn’t expect to see at this stage of the season, given some players are coming off 40 games this season.
“There are a lot of quality players and [Federico] Chiesa is one of them. We’ve had difficult games and maybe the group isn’t fully integrated yet, but we’ll grow a lot like this.
“We have a lot of excellent players between the lines and I decided to focus on them for these friendlies, but in future I’ll call-up others who stayed at home this time, to evaluate them.
“I have to know all the players to coach them, and it’s only after speaking to them in person that I’ll be able to understand what they can give me.”
Inevitably, Mancini was also asked about Mario Balotelli.
“It’s news [that he did the Press conference] because he doesn’t like to speak a lot and journalists love these kind of characters.
“In addition, the Azzurri have failed to qualify for the World Cup, and when that happens people look at those who stayed at home and wonder if they could have helped.
“Mario had been out of the national team for a long time.”