The friendlies against Ecuador and Venezuela told us something.
«As far as we’re concerned, what happens is never a coincidence, we come to work to give the team an idea» says Luciano Spalletti, stormy and frowning as usual, with the chewed and annoyed voice of a lonely old man, forced to comment on his work as Italy coach as if it were an extension of himself. The same Spalletti who can’t find peace not even in an all in all useless victory, finally punctuated by a brace from a centre-forward, in the saddest moment for the choice of number 9.
In Fort Lauderdale, Italy beat Venezuela just a few minutes ago: it is the penultimate friendly before the pre-Euro2024 withdrawal. The CT who said a few weeks ago «in Germany you go to win, not to participate» he throws his uncertainties about the team’s attitude into the mouths of the media, and of the fans in general: «sometimes we are superficial».
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In fact it is like this. In the 2nd minute, Italy tries to build the game on the left flank with a “relational” pattern typical of Spalletti’s game: the overload of the lateral chain, the synchronous shots of the wingers and midfielders in the funnel, to escape the opponent’s pressure. A style sewn on the connections between the players, elevated to art in the Neapolitan Scudetto, which takes advantage of their understanding to function with the precision of the crown of an ancient watch.
Giorgio Scalvini e Destiny Udogie, however, they seem to have known each other for a few minutes: the centre-back – despite playing left-back, he is pure right-footed, does not show the adequate confidence to throw long shots with his weak foot – supports the former Udinese player’s block. Udogie is lazy and allows himself to be anticipated: the ball reaches Salomon Rondon in the heart of the area, to stop him Buongiorno’s tug is needed, which causes the penalty (saved a few seconds later by Donnarumma).
Before those 120 apathetic seconds Spalletti’s Italy he had never played with a three-man defence: why so naively complicate his life before the European Championship?
It’s a question that hides various ripples of complexity.
Already at the end of February, in a sort of long and strange “moral” manifesto on the value of the national team in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Spalletti had been clear. He was looking for solutions that would make Italy less predictable, putting a patch on the offensive sterility demonstrated in recent years and at the same time supporting the wave of the championship. More and more teams defend with three central defendersItaly produces them in abundance – just think of Buongiorno and Scalvini, starters against Venezuela together with Di Lorenzo – accustomed to taking man as a reference: «the space to be attacked is no longer between the lines, but between bodies» quoting Spalletti in 2022.
The friendlies against Ecuador and Venezuela should have told us something about the objectives of the system on which Luciano Spalletti wants to build his national team. He moved, as announced, to 3-4-2-1 to enhance the form of the wingers: Cambiaso, Dimarco, Bellanova, Darmian – also employed as the third central defender in the first half at the Red Bull Arena – are among the most decisive Italian players at the moment, with the greatest physical and scoring impact.
It seems ironic, but it isn’t. We are the national team of two center forwards called up in March with a total of 9 goals in Serie A: 6 Retegui, 3 Raspadori.
Italy under the five-year term of Roberto Mancini it had become the symbol of a countercultural game: with Euro 2020 we had finally won a trophy by dominating possession and matches. We had established ourselves as not only a stoic national team, supported by an elderly and astute defence, but on a collective identity. Italy was camping close to the penalty area looking for the right opening for a shot, working the ball according to the space. It was a very small window in which Italy played with enthusiasm, making Chiesa’s impressionist brushstrokes and Fontana’s in-depth cuts coexist with the seams of Verratti, Jorginho and Barella.
At Wembley we all remember Bonucci and Chiellini defending on the midfield line, with the ball at their feet for the entire match. Had we become Spain or was it just a sweet illusion?
The answer is trivial. This is a piece on Luciano Spalletti’s Italy under construction, who arrived in an emergency in August with the aim of qualifying for the tournament to be held in Germany in a few months. Era This to which we had become accustomed: the indolent and frightened national team that comes out against the Macedonia of the North, or defeating themselves at home against England in the qualifying round. We didn’t go to Qatar because we were at the end of the cycle, but also because we weren’t able to score more than one goal against Bulgaria and Switzerland: something wasn’t working anymore.
Against North Macedonia and Ukraine, Spalletti had made conservative choices on men and playing system. He had confirmed the 4-3-3, introduced with the small nuance of Giacomo Raspadori as a maneuvering center forward, e Davide Frattesi to fill his gaps in the opposing area. The victory at San Siro against Ukraine had been comforting, proof that we were on a steep path that we could still climb back up.
Since then the perception around callable forwards has changed for the worse. The rupture of Domenico Berardi’s Achilles tendon, the discontinuity of Riccardo Orsolini, the hysteria with the ball between the feet of Federico Chiesa: no good news that would suggest a turnaround in the centre-forwards’ scoring crisis. This lack of quality clashed with the prosperity of defenders – central but also wingers – accustomed to defending on long portions of the pitch.
It had become impossible for Spalletti to ignore the possibility of a change of direction in the way of defending and, consequently, in that of attacking. Against Ecuador and Venezuela we saw a more direct Italy, who at the first hint of South American pressing did not exacerbate the short construction but relied on high passes. In the first minutes against Ecuador it happened several times: Dimarco and Pellegrini sent Zaniolo’s diagonal cut deep, with a cross that didn’t find Raspadori.
In the 14th minute Raspadori lowers himself into the midfield circle and Mancini looks for him with a vertical pass: the Napoli attacker passes first on Barella…
… who in a snap of his fingers manages to hook, turn and make Bellanova travel into the space behind Estupiñán’s shoulders.
We were no longer used to a national team with such superficial control over the events of the match. In the phase of non-possession, Italy defended with a 5-4-1 which soon fell flat as Venezuela and Ecuador consolidated their maneuver in the attacking midfield. Against the Tri we only had 51% of possession, lowering the defensive line after the first pressing failed.
Reaggression is still the most obvious problem of coherence in this system: Italy has given up a slice of rationalism to fight in duels for the entire length of the pitch, but ends up losing them or simply arriving late.
One action explains it well, from the match against Venezuela. Cambiaso he comes out under pressure an instant late, leaving space for an unequal duel behind him between Di Lorenzo – third on the right – and Machis, who will then score on Bonaventura’s outgoing error. Machis’ attack ends with a very nice assist for Rondon, a well-timed slash that the attacker misses by a few centimeters.
It was a less than brilliant match, which showed obvious contradictions. To favor the aggression of space, and therefore the technical and athletic biome of Chiesa and Retegui, Italy’s blanket was too short. Bonaventura seemed uncomfortable taking on the duties and position of double pivotespecially when – as on the occasion of the goal of matches – he found himself coming down to help the defenders in the first setup, where Italy lined up 3+2.
The long game on the tip worked best with Mateo Retegui, the true protagonist of these two friendlies. There are few things Retegui does better than protecting the ball and moving in the tight spaces of the six yard box. He was very good at turning and kicking in both the first and second goals: in the context of team play he proved to be a more reliable center forward than Raspadori. Against Ecuador the attacking trio, made up of Pellegrini, Raspadori and Zaniolo, worked a lot between the lines, moving up the pitch with refined connections.
The 3-4-2-1 enhanced the physical characteristics of Spalletti’s Italy, but also exposed the difficulties in managing very long transitions. Italy is a national team with good offensive talent – the magnifying glass now needs to be placed on the experiments of Frattesi and Pellegrini on the attacking midfield: will they be incisive or will they get lost in the chaos of finishing? – but still fragile. We deserved to concede more than one goal in two games.
The sample is too small to make definitive judgments. Yet it is enough to have seen Italy in these two friendlies to frame it as a building under construction, which stands on somewhat shaky pillars. Nothing can correct them more than the coach’s work: we need time, Spalletti needs time.
“It’s not a question of game system or kickingo”. For a few weeks now, Spalletti has been speaking like a pope before a crusade: with the radicalism of someone who demands perfect morality. He’s strange. Over the course of his career – provincial, metropolitan and European – he has built teams based on a collective ethos with a rather identifiable style. This time his Calvinist attitude in search of improvement has transformed into stoicism: Spalletti seeks attention, sacrifice, team spirit, wearing the guise of an atheist priest in the footsteps of Vittorio Pozzo and at the same time working towards a common identity in which players can reflect themselves.
«We go to win, our history asks us to» he said in that interview with the Gazzetta. Has Spalletti put aside some of his ideas to accommodate this kind of zeitgeist? As Friederich Hegel said when he saw Napoleon passing through Jena at the end of the eighteenth century, it radiates over the world and dominates it. This is Luciano Spalletti’s attempt, perhaps: a pact with the devil in which he breaks his soul into small horcruxes. It is too early, however, to say whether this will be enough for him to win in Germany.
2024-03-25 14:00:00
#Spallettis #Italy #work #progress
