Luciano Spalletti hinted that the lack of time to prepare for EURO 2024 made it ‘difficult’ for him to get the best out of Italy and did not confirm if he would stay in the job after elimination.
The Azzurri were largely dismal throughout the tournament and were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Switzerland, suffering a 2-0 defeat in Berlin with goals from Remo Freuler and Ruben Vargas.
Notably, they never looked remotely like believing in their chances of turning this around.
“We can explain the end how we started the game, the tempo was too low throughout and if you don’t keep the ball, the quality level drops. We suffered a few individuals who had a very different pace to our own. However, if this is the tempo, it becomes difficult to talk about anything else,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.
“In the previous game, I said that I probably didn’t give them time to recover and change enough to bring sharpness to the squad. I did change today to bring in fresh legs, but the intensity of the match had the same response – we were below the level of the opposition.”
Spalletti had tried out the three-man defence at times, but today went back to four, even against a Swiss side who were playing 3-4-3.
“It is difficult to talk about systems when you play at this level. If you have a three-man defence, you perhaps have more pace down the wings, but then when defending you have five, so that opens up even more space for them to pass and you get pinned back more.
“This experience, this elimination still gives us indications about the things we absolutely need to change. We need to move quicker, because that makes the difference on the distances you have to cover.”
Spalletti’s first Italy tournament, also the last?
How would Spalletti define this experience, his first tournament as an international coach?
“We could’ve done better, especially in terms of what we expressed today and against Spain. However, when you are up against teams that pass well, it becomes really difficult if you don’t take control of the game.”
Can it purely be a physical issue, considering Italy lost the ball repeatedly the moment they managed to win it back?
“The lack of tempo is also one of characteristics. We don’t have many players who have that quality of being able to run hard. Now everyone does that high press and aggressive moves to win the ball back immediately. If you don’t ‘clean’ the ball within two or three passes, you will struggle, as they all crowd around you.
“Now in future we need to look around and find some players with different characteristics who can do that.”
Spalletti was asked if he will discuss the future with FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, who was in the stands, as Italy must now begin to prepare for 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
“The responsibility is always down to the coach, as I make the decisions. Gravina always behaved very well with me, professionally, we’ll talk and see what we have to say to each other. All coaches are responsible for the results we get on the field.”
Is what we saw in this competition the best that we can get with the players in Italy?
“I don’t know. I didn’t have a lot of time to get to know them, because if we look around at the previous coaches who went into a tournament, almost all of them had 20 games or so to try things out and experiment. A few more games would’ve helped.
“If you look at the list of fixtures, you’ll see there is a very big difference between what I had to prepare and what the other coaches did. In the end, it is still my responsibility.”
Spalletti took over from Roberto Mancini in September 2023, just days before two crucial EURO 2024 qualifying matches, and this was the first time he got more than a few days to work with the squad.
If Spalletti remains in charge Italy will definitely miss out on qualifying for the third World Cup in a row.
Spalletti does not know what he is doing at the national level .I think we are in trouble for the world cup qualifiers. We could miss another world cup. Italian soocer is really declining. it is embarrasing
Again we are not looking at the root of the issue , clubs and youth level are not focusing on the local talent and technical aspects of the game.
This goes hand and hand on the field ,
While Italy won the euro for 17 and 19 those kids don’t see the light of day because of the cultural and setup of the Italian football leagues. Until there is a change of the overall system and clubs actually give youth more leeway. This is the Italy we will see moving forward.
When your coach has more excuses than
the team has goals and this case shots…. I’m sure his players will be the same, more excuses. He has had months to watch the pool of players at his disposal, how can he blame the players for not being able to keep up? And he runs the training session, maybe HIS tempo is the problem!
The ripping up of everything post a match lost to an OG sucked the confidence out of the entire team! Half team change and system change vs Croatia and again today! Horrific management!
Italy need to look at Spain and Portugal and how they develop players. They are too slow and don’t trust young players. Besides that Serie A needs to build new stadiums.
Never seen a Worse Italian Side! Get them tomatoes out.
Worst Italy performance I’ve seen in my 50 years of watching. Big changes needed. The root of the problem is in Serie A – Germany, Spain, England and France blood their talented young players in the league from 16 onwards. In Serie A, you don’t get picked for the first team until you’re 22 / 23.
You guys have a point about young talent progression. But in the past 82’ 2006 in was all about the manager and this is where we have failed. He had a great Season a Napoli with a great scudetto win but apart from that he has been mediocre. And clearly didn’t have a clue what to do in this tournament.
Italy will never get better, too slow too weak. And the racism is still high. Talk about runners you have excitng player like willy Gnonto and you refusé to call him, none of your forward is as good as Ballotelie and you wouldn’t look there. Italian football is dead and bury.
Too many foreigners in Serie A.
The swiss team had many of their starters play in Italy
Italian clubs need a quota of how many starters are Italian.
Disgraceful performance From My beloved AZZURRI, due to the sentimental selection and counterproductive tactics from Spalletti. It’s Time for every Italian clubs, to begin use as much Italian players as they can. The level of international exposure to the current crops of Italian players is minimal.
The problem lies in Serie A’s ridiculous focus on foreigners. Need to bring back the foreigner limit of 3!!
We have a poor pool of players currently, but with a good manager and tactics you can still have success. We are definitely lacking in leaders. As for the future, let’s hope some of the u17s winning squad turn up trumps,FORZA ITALIA sempre 💪🇮🇹
Again I say, selection was the problem.
The squad selected was not Italy’s best at the moment. Some key players that would have made the difference, were left out,
The trouble with Italy is that , not good enough players can’t control ball and not strong enough in tackle ? I think they leaving in another world, Most of them not good enough to lay in seria B..Gennaro
physical strength muscle build up we cant finish gnto ballotelli given a chance to play we will drop in rankingsworld cup qua we will be put with tough teams
Bring in more foreigners. Look@Fance, Switzerland, Spain! Hello Yalu needs a boost. Where is Balotellie and Gnonto? Don’t blame my favorite Dannorumma. Something is amiss!!! Could it be the coach or the players?
I have never seen a such useless Italian team ,no pride ,no fight for the national team , i thought Ventura was bad but Spalletti is worse. Italy must start with from scratch otherwise we will not qualify for the world cup with the present players.