Italy coach Roberto Mancini explains why he would’ve played 3-5-2 today even with Ciro Immobile against England. ‘It gives us more solidity in defence.’

The Azzurri had everything go wrong in the build-up to this match, the latest being the loss of Lazio striker Ciro Immobile to a muscular injury.

With so many players missing, he decided to reshuffle the pack and shelve his 4-3-3 formation for a 3-5-2.

“This is a system that gives us more solidity in defence, but at times can make us stretch out a bit too much. We tried to keep the team as tight as possible and need to improve,” said Mancini in his press conference.

“We don’t have the right lads for the wings, so I had made the decision this morning to play 3-5-2, even if Immobile had been fit.

“The tactical system is not as important as the spirit of the team and we had a positive attitude today. Immobile had a slight problem, it’s nothing serious and we hope to recover him for Monday.”

Giacomo Raspadori got the only goal at San Siro, his splendid first touch controlling a Leonardo Bonucci ball over the top and then curling into the far corner.

It means Italy are now second in their Nations League group and could still win it with a victory away to leaders Hungary on Monday evening.

“It’s always satisfying to beat England, but especially after the difficult time we’ve had recently, it takes a little pressure off and that is important.”

Italy also beat England in the EURO 2020 Final last summer, but Mancini smiled when asked by an English reporter if he felt this was proving a point.

“Yes, but you are at the World Cup and that is the most important thing. In my opinion, England are one of the best teams in the world and will have a good chance at the tournament. I don’t think they will care too much about the relegation.”

The Nazionale failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup and decided to use the Nations League to bring in new, younger players.

“We rebooted in June and were always in the running in this Nations League group. Clearly, we need these games, these wins, so we can grow.

“I expected a good performance and knew it would be difficult, because many of tonight’s lads are inexperienced at this level, with not even 30 per cent of England’s caps, but I think we won deservedly.”

Mancini was asked why Italy only seem to excel when they have their backs against the wall, rather than throw away situations they are expected to win.

“I don’t think we threw anything away, football has an element of luck to it. We won the Euros on penalties, we deserved to win it, then failed to qualify for the World Cup after two games we dominated and did not win against Switzerland.

“We made mistakes too, that is obvious. I don’t know if today was our best performance of the Nations League, we did well against Hungary and Germany too.”

https://twitter.com/C4Sport/status/1573406268093612035
2 thought on “Mancini: ‘New system gives Italy more solidity’”
  1. Italy played very well, however he will have to test younger players at the back – 3 cb’s were far too old

  2. What made this system successful in this particular match was that we didn’t come out like same PREDICTABLE 4-3-3 Lineup. Finally a change !

    Kudos to Hungary indeed but Italy need to Win on Monday.

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