It wasn’t even necessary to wait for the final whistle from the Polish Marciniak at the Olympiastadion in Berlin to start the hunt for the culprit of the blue disaster. Which, as per tradition, became coach Luciano Spalletti, placed in the dock for failing to present a national team that lived up to expectations at the European Championship. More than the exit in the round of 16, the way in which they matured was decisive: humiliated by Switzerland after having been in the group by Spain, convincing only against Albania, saved at the last minute in the play-off match against Croatia. Too little, despite having achieved the minimum objective of the second phase.
And what do we do now? The party of those who would like a step back in the form of resignation is nourished, driven by the enormous disappointment at the nothing seen on the field. And even more than Spalletti, the FIGC president, Gabriele Gravina, is in the crosshairs, dealing with the many enemies of these months of battles for reforms. An army that has kept a cold distance from the Italian expedition to Germany and is now ready to hold it to account. But this is another topic; the fans’ stomachs point straight to the faults of the coach who promised to make Italy play like Napoli in the Scudetto and, instead, showed off one of the worst versions of the national team.
SPALLETTI IS ALL TO BLAME IN THE ITALIAN DISASTER
Spalletti’s responsibilities are evident and go beyond the poor technical quality of the squad available. We don’t have any champions, Donnarumma aside, but in Germany we showed up depressing even that little starting value. In summary:
1 – from his debut with Albania to the humiliating performance against Spain, Spalletti complained about his team’s lack of brilliance and skill. Since the opponents have also arrived at Euro 2024 after a grueling season, not just ours, the doubt arises that something was wrong in the physical finishing of the weeks preceding the start;
2 – four matches, four different interpretations (?!?): what was Italy’s identity? Not arrived at in a whirlwind of changes, second thoughts, attempted and aborted experiments, presumed intuitions and repeated errors;
3 – moreover, if it had to be a national team born from the championship (with the Inter block acting as the pivot), why abandon the three-man defense after the tests in the United States with all that it entails? With the result of further depressing the reference players, almost all of whom were out of position with respect to the club;
4 – insisting on some loyalists has not paid off. The most exemplary case is that of Di Lorenzo, in obvious physical and psychological difficulty perhaps also due to the waste of the failed season by Napoli and the transfer market problems. Against Switzerland, the launch of Fagioli in place of the experienced Jorginho (previously defended) did not pay off;
5 – then the issue of excessive tension that has accompanied the last ten days, as if the defeat against Spain had undermined the entire technical group from the foundations. Beyond the (resolved) arguments with journalists, a crescendo of psychosis that evidently did not help. In this regard, the distance from the serenity of Mancini and his work group in 2021 was evident.
SPALLETTI: RESIGN OR MOVE ON?
Spalletti has a contract until 2026 that also covers the World Cup in the United States. A salary of 3 million euros net that weighs on the coffers of the Football Federation but that is in line with the market value of a coach who arrived on the Azzurri bench after the divorce from the scudetto-winning Napoli. The masterpiece of his career. Among many faults, it should be remembered that Spalletti quickly jumped on the boat of the national team abandoned in the heart of the summer of 2023 by Roberto Mancini with the risk of compromising qualification for Euro 2024.
When he says he hasn’t had time to pass on his knowledge to the group, Spalletti is telling the truth. He arrived in Germany with only 10 games, the first 6 of which were played “with his back to the wall” to avoid staying at home, with no possibility of doing anything other than managing the emergency. Then came the friendlies with Venezuela, Ecuador, Turkey and Bosnia. Too little for anyone, especially for a field coach with defined and complex tactical concepts to memorize.
Denying this means denying reality. And, therefore, thinking that the solution to the ills of Italian football is to reset everything again, fire Spalletti and start again with another coach is an easy but wrong thought. In September the Nations League will start and the Azzurri will challenge France, Belgium and Israel. In a year it will be time for the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, the real event not to be missed. Here, a clear pact is better: the Nations League as a laboratory to build something by erasing the hysteria and mistakes of this European Championship. It is the only way even if the least popular in the hours of the one-way process.
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