Live TMW
23.00 – Luciano Spalletti’s press conference begins after France-Italy 1-3: “What happened in a few weeks? First of all I congratulate the players because they deserve it, running up and down the pitch against these opponents becomes a difficult thing and therefore I congratulate them. When I accepted the national team I thought I was building a strong team and I don’t change my mind after 1-2 lost games, I think I’m dealing with a nation where you can find 20 strong players and show important things even against top level teams like France. Then it’s always the same thing: there’s nothing in this world that can destroy the state of your mind. A goal conceded in that way can drive you crazy and therefore we were doubly good for staying in the game. Then the boys did important things beyond the goals: we made mistakes in many phrases, but tonight we were as giants as our opponents”.
Can you tell us about your initial choices?
“The boys were good at adapting to any situation, the boys fought and gave their all. They showed tough stuff from a physical point of view because they are beasts from a physical point of view. We were a team at any moment of the game, in any situation. Then you have to be lucky when you make substitutions but Udogie can really play as a midfielder. And then Dimarco knows how to play football, you can really put him anywhere”.
What did you think after the 1-0?
“Not carrying regrets becomes fundamental, they force you to make other mistakes. That situation is over and you have to rebuild another one and it’s never the same, there’s the possibility of recreating beautiful actions. After that goal you start to think that we’re still rusty from what happened the previous time. And instead as the minutes passed I saw them make important decisions, we have young lads of great quality. Ricci played a great match. The feeling of the previous days was what I told you yesterday, I saw a rhythm during training that wasn’t like that the other time. Now we’re at the beginning, there’s new enthusiasm while there we were at the end and there were things that led some to switch off a bit. And then the tactical situation: having put them all back in their positions they found themselves again and regardless of how this match went we would have continued like this forever anyway. There are another 3-4-5 players in this group that we left at home but we’re convinced that this group here is the one we’ll take with us into the future”.
In the second half the Italian players fell often, was it a tactic?
“So I use the tactic of knocking down players? Well… It seemed to me that in 2-3 situations we were not called for a foul. We did not escape from the game, but we are not coming from a very good moment and we were always careful to block the team. We do what brings us the most advantage to you… Having said that, France is a great team and Italy played a great game. The important thing for the restart was to see a team on the pitch”.
How are Frattesi and Calafiori?
“Frattesi says he said it in time, that he asked to be substituted as soon as he felt tired. Calafiori needs to be evaluated, but with our good doctors there is a chance of recovering him”.
TMW – How do you judge the performances of Ricci and Tonali? Are you relieved to have finally found a way?
“Ricci and Tonali have shown that they are players of substance and level. We already knew about Tonali, while Ricci, who has changed his position compared to how he played against Torino, has never been afraid, he has shown that he has values that can make him international level. I always feel the same, I have lived through a lot. I am not at the mercy of one or two games. There are always causes, understand why they happened and try to do something while always staying on top of things so as not to repeat the same mistakes. I am happy for the Italians, having given that disappointment to a people and a nation that cares about football becomes a suffering. Tonight I am happy because we are all a little relieved, now we have the possibility to continue on this path because we have seen that we have potential. Remaining humble and staying as low as possible”.
What is your opinion on the France team you saw tonight? Did they not play as a team?
“I’m not in a position to teach Deschamps anything about the French national team, I watched him from start to finish to learn something and imagine if I’m going to comment on his work. We had never won here and this increases the value of this victory even more. France is a great team”.
23.20 – Press conference concluded