Luciano Spalletti warns Italy ‘risk getting embarrassed’ without the right attitude against Venezuela, but his new tactics are inspired by Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The Azzurri take to the field in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday at 21.00 GMT in the first of two international friendly matches staged in the United States.
The other will be on Sunday in New Jersey against Ecuador.
“If we are not careful and don’t have the right attitude, we risk being embarrassed,” said the coach in his press conference.
“Venezuela are a very physical side, since Fernando Batista took over as coach they lost only one of their 10 games, which was 1-0 away to Argentina. They are fourth in qualifying for the World Cup. This is a very difficult match.”
Spalletti is well aware that Italy traditionally struggle in friendly fixtures and wants to drill the right mentality into them for every game.
“Every time we set foot on that field, we must experience joy and that means taking things seriously. I feel like I am in Paradise. The Nazionale is joy for me and I am very happy to do my work with this shirt on.
“I am dedicating all my time to the Nazionale and I can guarantee the humility and effort will always be at the maximum to give joy to those who love the Azzurri, especially when we are embraced by the Italian communities around the world. We want to prove that they can trust us and we want to give them the utmost respect.”
Spalletti said that he intends to use these friendlies to experiment with something different from the 4-3-3 and went into a little more detail.
“We will play with either the 3-4-2-1 or 3-2-4-1, depending on how high the wingers will be.”
There are suggestions that this was inspired by Guardiola’s Manchester City, especially after Spalletti discussed the need for “fluid” tactics.
He hopes this will get the best out of the characteristics of the Italy players, who have an abundance of creative figures and very few out and out strikers.
“Federico Chiesa will have to adapt in the five channels on the pitch,” whereas at Juventus he tends to be moved more central.
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🔜 🇻🇪🆚🇮🇹 #VenezuelaItalia#Nazionale #Azzurri #VivoAzzurro pic.twitter.com/q1QtsYqvhO— Nazionale Italiana ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@Azzurri) March 20, 2024