He says it wasn’t the worst night of his life and it’s probably true, just a few days ago – albeit with let’s say “colourful” language – he reminded everyone how old he is and also yesterday he reiterated that he has a fairly deep curriculum ( “Yesterday wasn’t the most difficult night of my career. I spent a lot of it thinking. My life was all complicated because even the nights when I won and then I had to manage situations were complicated.” Luciano Spalletti did not expect this ending from a European Championship that he had conquered and anxiously awaited. From his conference yesterday, before the holidays, that’s right extrapolate the key points to understand where the coach intends to start again.
First point: examples remain essential
He does not think the coach exaggerated in banning PlayStations and headphones, on the contrary, he underlined the passage in which he almost rejoiced in seeing the whole blue group in a room playing together. Nor does he think he was too rhetorical and philosophical in his continuous references to the importance of the blue jersey, to the responsibility it entails. Here is why he says: “I see and read that I have been accused of having raised the tone too much, of having made use of myths to follow. This is how I set up my life: examples are needed.”
Second point: why he remained in the saddle
The idea of resigning never crossed his mind. In the heat of the moment, after the defeat against Switzerland, he said that he would “talk to Gravina”. And he did so, but without resigning his mandate, even if he humbly gave the federal president carte blanche. The coach takes his blame but does not consider himself the first person responsible for the defeat. This is clearly evident from this passage: “There are many things to show and my commitment will be total, with more experience because then you have to be complete and honest in the story of these 14 games. I came in when there was an urgency for results and we did well up to a certain point. We have not grown in this mini journey we have taken and yesterday we took a significant step backwards that cannot be accepted. A step backwards that cannot be accepted, but I know what needs to be done. And we want to put it into practice”.
Third point: space for young people
The coach praised the entire squad, shielded the boys, said it wasn’t their fault but deep down he felt betrayed by several players, or at least that’s the impression. From the most experienced first, how Jorginho or Darmianbut also from Chiesa, from Fagioli, from Scamacca, from Di Lorenzo. So there’s a change, space for the youngsters: “We need to rejuvenate the squad and recreate a group. I haven’t had the answers I was looking for so far and it’s necessary to recreate from the bottom, a group that has new strength. It’s difficult to find another Chiellini or another Bonucci, but giving space to Calafiori important players can be found. We must follow this path and believe that there is potential that comes through play and actions.”
Fourth point, being a coach is something else
Ten months are objectively short to judge the work of a national team coach but enough to understand what the coach’s work really consists of. Spalletti tried to use the methods that he has always adopted in clubs and with which he had always achieved results but he understood that there are profound differences: “The differences between a coach and a coach are objective. A coach can say one thing one day, the next day another, then you can make him play, then you talk to him again and maybe you field him again. Here in the national team you can’t play psychologically with the subject because you only see them for a short time.”
Fifth point: World Cup objective
Spalletti now knows what a coach has to do and will be ready for September (“But the coach’s suit suits me very well”): we start again from the Nations League matches and that will be the useful ground for the first experiments, for the young people to slowly graft into the fabric of the team. The goal is to be fully ready for the World Cup qualifiers which will begin in 2025. As the federal president Gravina said failing for the third time would be a disaster, as Buffon said, going to the World Cup is the minimum wage. And Spalletti doesn’t want to end up like Ventura and Mancini.
