Luciano Spalletti stumbled upon a recurring theme at EURO 2024 with his chaotic search for Italy’s tactical identity, writes Susy Campanale, because coaches are not following the club form of their star men.
Spalletti managed to snatch the trophy of biggest disappointment at the European Championships, probably taking it from the grasp of England and France, with a series of truly awful performances in Germany. At no point did Italy players seem to have any idea what the plan was meant to be. The only results they did achieve were largely thanks to the heroics of Gianluigi Donnarumma – and please fall into respectful silence anyone who doubted his credentials – and a sense of desperation. They went behind in every single match and had to be slapped into waking up.
It’s particularly galling considering every comment from Spalletti was about the need to dominate the game, take the initiative and control the ball. We saw the complete opposite of that from the players, who visibly panicked into passing it straight out of play or to an opponent the moment they got it back. The coach blaming fitness levels and ‘sharpness’ for this is borderline insulting. They did it because nobody knew where they were supposed to be or when the channels were opening up.
The only other things Spalletti said, repeatedly and in his usual unnecessarily complicated manner, were about being heroes, making the fans proud and representing an entire nation. It was the same thing he used to say about Napoli and a Scudetto they hadn’t won for over 30 years. They too buckled towards the end of that glorious season, but having created such a large gap at the top were able to coast by while the chasing pack all tripped up over each other. There is a fine line between motivation and ridiculous pressure.
Spalletti not the only coach to ignore club signals
This was Spalletti’s first tournament as an international coach, so he might be forgiven ever so slightly for falling into the same trap that more experienced bosses like Gareth Southgate and Didier Deschamps also stumbled towards. He complained in his press conference that he did not have enough time to prepare the players. This is inevitable when the fixture list is so compressed by greed and the ever-expanding tournaments.
The solution therefore is to follow the indications provided by club football. Spalletti was meant to build the core of the team around a group of Inter players who had done so well in a 3-5-2 formation – Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco and Nicolò Barella. Even losing Francesco Acerbi, they had the players to replicate Simone Inzaghi’s approach. The same three-man defence with a high press that we saw allow Gianluca Scamacca’s Atalanta to dominate Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen on their way to winning the Europa League. Even Juventus, for all their faults, tended to play with three at the back, so Andrea Cambiaso, Nicolò Fagioli and Federico Chiesa should be accustomed to those movements.
If we look at the teams who played the best football in Italy this season, they were Inter, Atalanta and Bologna, all of them focused on a high press, quick turnarounds and (mostly) attacking down the wings. Why did Spalletti not just try to replicate what his most talented players already do at club level?
We might mock Southgate for completely wasting the likes of Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham by playing them entirely out of position, but Spalletti hasn’t done any better. Deschamps too has managed to somehow neutralise the way his best France players perform at club level, it is becoming a recurring theme of this European Championship. What we are seeing is a collection of fantastic individual players put onto the pitch and told to fend for themselves, or worse, do the complete opposite of what made them stars in the first place.
Similarly, the teams who impressed – like Austria and Switzerland – set themselves out like club teams, with a clear gameplan and everyone knowing where they were meant to be. Organisation has been the watchword of the Euros so far and it may well be what allows the eventual winners to take the trophy.
It’s too easy and frankly unfair to say this Italy team lacks quality. We’ve seen these players in action, we know what they can do. If they are not put in a position to give their best, then not even the greatest Azzurri talents in history could make a big difference. So let’s not ring the death knell for Calcio just yet, especially after Atalanta won the Europa League and last year Inter reached the Champions League Final. We need Italy to work with clubs, not against them.