Spalletti takes ‘responsibility’ for Italy exit, but also seeks excuses | OneFootball

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.