The first day in Coverciano is over for Luciano Spalletti’s national team, a team that is preparing the last two matches valid for the group stage of the Nations League against Belgium (Thursday) and France (Sunday).
Without Ricci, with Locatelli called in his place and arriving at the Federation’s Technical Center in the evening, Italy began preparing for Thursday’s match in Brussels against Belgium with the majority of the team carrying out a training session in the gym. Only seven outfield players on the pitch: Okoli, Gatti, Savona, Cambiaso, Tonali, Frattesi and Raspadori. Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario also did part of the work with the group, while starting goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma trained on another pitch with the goalkeeping coach.
First training indications
Without Calafiori and Ricci, with Kean not at 100%, Spalletti should propose a 3-5-1-1 for the match against Belgium with Di Lorenzo, Buongiorno and Bastoni ahead of Donnarumma. Locatelli or Rovella in the control room, Barella and Tonali the two interior players, while Frattesi without Pellegrini should act as number 10 behind Retegui.
In the meantime, we re-propose the full press conference by Luciano Spalletti who opened the rally in Coverciano today
Italian football is showing good signs of health, Retegui and Kean at the top of the scoring charts and the championship is wide open at the top. Our teams are doing well in the cups too
“This morning I complimented the boys on how they are conducting the season, they are showing good football and there is this competitiveness that is good for everyone. We see beautiful matches, very tight and uncertain like Inter-Napoli. And lower level teams that give the better equipped teams a hard time: this makes the movement grow and allows us to sign more players. We are happy with the two strikers, they are showing what we hoped for Comuzzo and I said to the latter: ‘Be careful, he’ll score for you too…’ He’s in great shape, he has obvious qualities and very small problems. We’re very happy.”
What gathering is this?
“It’s the follow-up gathering, we have to give continuity to what we’ve seen so far. This morning when we met the kids, since there’s little time, I immediately highlighted something that is the synthesis of everything and we brought them of the graphs regarding what we experienced during the European Championship and what we experienced during the Nations League. This change depended above all on them, Buffon told him that an important quality that has been seen is the recovery of awareness of the their quality and strength. Now we can see it who are calm and aware of their strength: through these characteristics they have also become a team. We don’t say anything, we compliment them and we are certainly happy with the fact that they have absorbed this new tactical system in a total way. Now since football is continuous evolution, there are different methods of being on the pitch and they know how to adapt to what the other team offers. I told them that we are happy to have perfect undisciplined players.”
In the European Championship only against Albania did we create more than our opponents, but in the Nations League it always happened. How come? How is Ricci?
“There are data that go beyond those known to everyone, i.e. the danger indices, and they encompass all the things that happen during the match. It’s true, we shot much more on target and we were much more at the limit of the opposing area compared to our rivals. Another very important fact is the re-attacks and winning the second ball, which is different from that of the European Championship. Now we have to do it again and it’s never easy because we have really strong opponents that alone 2-3 could play in the national teams and the opponents were surprised by our matches after the final whistle…. Ricci goes home because we have started this relationship with the clubs and if a player risks getting hurt we won’t bring him It was very difficult to get him back for the first game, then he would have to grit his teeth. For the first game we need two midfielders and so he goes home and someone else comes in his place.”
One point is enough for you, aren’t you afraid that the team will relax?
“The first thing to do is not to think like this… We have to evaluate who we have in front of us: Belgium is ahead of us in the Ranking and with players who play in the most important European clubs. In France they say that only a couple of our players could playing there. If someone relaxes, it’s better to go home. They are two very difficult games and presumption is the first thing we have to fight. Now we have a perfect group: as I know them, there will be little to say about these guys here “.
Can you explain Retegui and Kean to us? Will they play together in these two matches?
“It also becomes easy to explain why they can play together, Kean has also played as an outside striker and is more of a runner, with legs, for raids. He also creates dangers with his strength and physicality, he is someone who acts alone. While Retegui he’s more from the penalty area, to shoot at goal with his back turned. He sees the goal, he’s good at seeing inside the penalty area the other way around. Kean has now shown this too, yesterday he scored in all sorts of ways three goals say it is complete. Retegui as first striker and Kean to go under him, to take the ball on himself, he can keep it there for even two minutes.”
Is this a solution for these two races too?
“Who do you want to play? For now we continue in this way here and Kean has this little problem that needs to be managed, at least for a couple of days, and then we try to put them in the conditions to let them express themselves at their best. Then during the match have a ‘important alternative is equally important.”
What do you see in Comuzzo? How do you judge the situation in Rome?
“Comuzzo has great attention, he is a very attentive footballer and has a powerful physique, he is a great blunder. He is strong at being a defender, also good at setting up because he is a clean player: this personality shines through, despite being very young. To us It’s nice to see guys who show off, who show off their talent and who can also be a talented defender who makes everyone in front of him play dirty. First of all, I say that I’m sorry because I was there different time and when they are in I fall in love with so many things about a place, I gave it my all. I find it reductive now to come and talk about what’s happening, but I prefer not to make any further noise and stay calm.
Has Kean found his definitive consecration? Why the convocation of Savona?
“Kean is the player who most resembles what happened to our group, he has had this growth quite quickly. He has highlighted the belief that he has quality, the message he sends when he plays is really strong. This holding hands happened a to the whole team. Savona I called him because I’m curious to meet him, it’s the same thing as other times: he’s an emerging player and plays as a starter for Juventus, he pushes and knows how to push Di Lorenzo. We know one more with great footballing and human qualities.”
How much is this lowering of age affecting the change of the national team? What is the role of sport in this delicate moment for the world?
“After the defeat against Switzerland you immediately asked me what I would do and on that occasion I replied that I would lower the average age of the national team and that’s what I did. Then if you decide to stay you have to have some idea and carry it forward and it seems to me that something has been guessed because I see everyone very focused. We have to support them and bring out their talent. To the second question I answer that we have to show that we are sensitive people and when we can support, help those who need it, it is important to do so. We must not be superficial and show that the football is in the hands of serious people, not spoiled children. We have to commit ourselves deeply because football is a very serious sport that can also be used for other purposes. And then we have to redo the stadiums, it’s something I bring up every time I think… You can’t watch matches in these stadiums here. In general we are behind and we have to catch up with the others.”
Ricci and Calafiori will be missing, how will Italy change?
“When Bastoni plays for Inter he shows that he is an additional striker like Calafiori. Good morning, last night I appreciated him against two strikers like Lautaro and Thuram, I saw him clean up many situations. I am very calm. Good morning he is a great defender, Bastoni knows how to set up very well and knows how to play Calafiori. I see him improving in his choices. I didn’t criticize him that he was missing some things: now I see him doing them and I have nothing against Manuel. Now at the same time I brought others, but for what he was doing he deserved to be in the national team. Let’s make them play, these guys deserve trust.”
Here in the Chamber there is an Olympic champion like Ambra Sabatini (the chamber applauds and Spalletti stands up)
“You get a bit of everything from an athlete like her. The world can put certain things in front of you that you can’t defend yourself from, but how you deal with these things is up to you and she chose to be a champion in a situation that would have annihilated any hard head. Compliments are to be given to her.”
Do the national team and Italian football go hand in hand now?
“How many Italians, how many foreigners… These are all things I can’t get into, when I started being Italy coach it was because I thought I could find 30 very strong players and choose the 22 to take with me. At the beginning I didn’t put these guys in the best conditions to highlight all their qualities and now instead we have found some solutions. Italian football is improving as a possibility for younger players to play more and more and we have to be careful in giving him space. Now several players play strong.”
TMW – Very low average age, many changes from one call-up to the next. Will it continue like this in the future or after this experimental phase will it reach a more defined group? A month ago it was almost unthinkable to see Comuzzo and Savona in the national team, but today they are here
“I haven’t changed much, I’ve changed little. For now we’re making coherent reasoning for what our calls are. These are guys who deserve it and we want to find out how strong they are. Comuzzo plays for Fiorentina who are at the top to the rankings, Savona is a starter in Juve and we try to take this quality they have and find out a few more elements based on the latest choices made, i.e. not bringing more than 23 players That it works up to a certain point, it leaves some consequences. Not much has changed, the hard core of the team can be seen.”
Does Comuzzo look a bit like Vierchowod?
“We must be careful not to make these guys become presumptuous. He may resemble him, in name he already resembles him… In the 80 meter raids in catching everyone and giving shoulder pushes I hope he can do it, but for now let’s keep the qualities that he showed us.”
THE LIST OF CALLED PEOPLE
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (Paris Saint-Germain), Alex Meret (Napoli), Guglielmo Vicario (Tottenham);
Defenders: Alessandro Bastoni (Inter), Alessandro Buongiorno (Napoli), Andrea Cambiaso (Juventus), Pietro Comuzzo (Fiorentina), Giovanni Di Lorenzo (Napoli), Federico Dimarco (Inter), Federico Gatti (Juventus), Caleb Okoli (Leicester), Nicolò Savona (Juventus), Destiny Udogie (Tottenham);
Midfielders: Nicolò Barella (Inter), Davide Frattesi (Inter), Niccolò Pisilli (Roma), Manuel Locatelli (Juventus), Nicolò Rovella (Lazio), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle);
Attackers: Moise Kean (Fiorentina), Daniel Maldini (Monza), Giacomo Raspadori (Napoli), Mateo Retegui (Atalanta).
*CLASSIFICATION
Italy 10 points, France 9, Belgium 4, Israel 0
*The first two classified will qualify for the quarter-finals. The third-placed team will play a playoff against relegation with one of the runners-up from League B, while the fourth-placed team in the group will be relegated to League B.