Football Italia was among the accredited media at Coverciano, covering Roberto Mancini’s first press conference before Thursday’s match against England and the Azzurri’s training session in the afternoon.
Federico Chiesa and Federico Dimarco were not at Coverciano and won’t be available for the next two games against England and Malta.
The Juventus winger remained in Turin, where he had medical examinations that ‘ruled out lesions’ while the Inter defender had a medical visit in Florence but returned to Milan shortly after with Emerson Palmieri called to replace him.
The West Ham defender will train with his teammates on Tuesday. Marco Carnesecchi arrived Monday morning, replacing Ivan Provedel, who had played Sunday’s derby against Roma despite flu.
Mancini discussed his line-up options during his press conference, saying he would use a 4-3-3 or 3-5-2 formation.
“You know my system, but all our defenders play with a 3-5-2 formation [with their clubs]. It’s not easy, but I believe our system [4-3-3] is the one that gives us more certainty to do well,” said Mancini.
The CT tried both systems during Monday’s training session open to the media.
He first started with a 4-3-3 formation, alternating Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Matteo Darmian at right-back, Francesco Acerbi and Alessio Romagnli in central defence and Leonardo Spinazzola on the left.
Bryan Cristante and Nicolò Barella were the central midfielders, with Marco Verratti and Sandro Tonali used as deep-lying playmakers.
Argentine-born striker Mateo Retegui trained with Italy for the first time today and was tried as a sole striker with Vincenzo Grifo or Domenico Berardi on the right and Lorenzo Pellegrini on the left.
Mancini then used a 3-5-1-1 formation with the same group of players but with Di Lorenzo used in the three-man defence.
He tried another 3-5-2 system with other players. Rafael Toloi, Alessandro Buongiorno, and Giorgio Scalvini at the back. Davide Frattesi, Jorginho and Matteo Pessina in midfield, Matteo Politano on the left, Domenico Berardi on the right, Simone Pafundi and one between Wilfried Gnonto and Gianluca Scamacca in the attack.
Gigio Donnarumma was the goalkeeper and Alex Meret faced shots from his compatriots.
Other players trained in the gym, but later on, there was a six-a-side match involving a reduced group of footballers.
One team had Matteo Carnesecchi, Scalvini, Pessina, Jorginho, Politano and Scamacca against Wladimiro Falcone, Buongiorno, Toloi, Frattesi, Pafundi and Berardi.
On Tuesday, the Azzurri will train again, with the opening 15 minutes opened to the media and two players talking at a press conference.
Italy XIs tried by Mancini on Monday
4-3-3: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Romagnoli, Spinazzola; Cristante, Verratti/Tonali, Barella; Berardi/Grifo, Retegui, Pellegrini.
3-5-1-1: Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Acerbi, Romagnoli; Grifo/Berardi, Cristante, Verratti/Tonali, Barella, Spinazzola; Pellegrini; Retegui
3-5-2: Donnarumma; Toloi, Buongiorno, Scalvini; Berardi, Frattesi, Jorginho, Pessina, Politano; Pafundi, Gnonto/Scamacca.
We surely can’t be starting with Pafundi against a top team like England – he’s not even in the Udinese first eleven! The lad is there for the experience of being part of the squad. Front 3 should be Berardi and Gnonto either side of either Retegui or Scamacca. Baffled by the idea of alternating between Scamacca and Gnonto in that 3-5-2 formation – you couldn’t have two more physically and technically different players, and Gnonto is really best out wide given his speed and delivery. Him and Spinazzola working together down the left hand side would terrify opponents.