Spalletti: ‘No excuses for Italy, this is a strong squad’

Ahead of his debut against North Macedonia, Luciano Spalletti has set out his demands for the Italy squad and drawn a line under the Roberto Mancini era. ‘I want the right attitude, not for us to think our ourselves as victims. No excuses.’

The EURO 2024 qualifier kicks off in Skopje on Saturday at 19.45 UK time (18.45 GMT).

Their position in the group is already compromised after the defeat to England, as well as a win away to Malta, under predecessor Mancini.

Spalletti only took the job on September 1, but is already thrown in at the deep end with crucial qualifiers against North Macedonia and then Ukraine on Tuesday at San Siro.

“What I want is the right attitude for the whole game,” said the coach in his press conference.

“We must not think of ourselves as victims, but rather build on everything that we worked on during the week. That does not mean we attack at all times, because there are moments when we will have to defend too, but we want to always be proactive. Even the best teams sometimes need to defend with nine men in front of the box when necessary.”

While Mancini often complained at the lack of quality options he could draw on for the Nazionale, Spalletti tried to take a different approach.

“We have strong players, this is a good team, and we have everything required to play good football. In order to achieve that, we need to be organised, but also leave space for creativity and inspiration of those who see beyond the usual moves.

“No excuses. If the other team is better than we are on the night, then we tip our hats and congratulate them. We cannot always promise great results, but we can promise love and passion.”

North Macedonia beat Italy in the 2022 World Cup play-off and Spalletti is eager not to “repeat the same mistakes. They are physically strong, move well in space and defend deep. We must move the ball around quickly to force their defence to open up.”