During today’s appointment with L’Editoriale he spoke on the frequencies of TMW Radio Paul DePaola. These are his words:
How should this Italian failure at the European Championship be judged?
“I don’t put an apprentice at the helm of the national team and therefore at the showcase of our country. We need someone who has certainties in his field, you cannot transfer the certainties that are created daily by working in a club. Anyone who thought they could do it came away with broken bones like Sacchi. Milan’s Sacchi was completely different from that of the national team. They are excellent coaches for the long term, not for short competitions and Spalletti said nothing after this disgrace. Spalletti’s alibis and words disappointed me, our championship has also provided many players to the other national teams and they are behaving well. There’s no escape, Gravina and Spalletti had to resign. We need a new federal president and a coach who knows how to best coordinate the players in a short period.”
Politics and people have distrusted football.
“He is a failed federal president, he cannot allow himself to say that external pressures should not be felt. There is talk of failure, how can this be a starting point looking at the Nations League or thinking about the World Cup? Gravina turns up his nose, but the national team belongs to everyone, not to President Gravina and the nation does not want to hear about Gravina or Spalletti. The management of the FIGC does not only concern the reform of the championships or sports justice, the government also wants to get its hands on football because something does not add up. Gravina worries about external suggestions, just read all the newspapers and then you have to hear that you want to move forward with the programs and projects. Everyone must resign, even just out of modesty. Anyone who has seen the national team’s games, even the defeat against Korea, defines the one against Switzerland as the worst defeat ever seen. No one decides to step aside? I do not want a future with people like that”.
What did Spalletti fail to convey?
“We never got into the technical aspect, but Spalletti always made the wrong formations and went for the ball. The three-man defense then the four-man defence, there was a disproportion in the defenders called up, we focused on Retegui who is of little importance in Spalletti’s game. There wasn’t a player who took the initiative, nobody made a move. Everyone stopped and everyone blocked, how can you go on like this?”.
Is this national team as bad as many say?
“I dispute the fact that we are scarce. We are not scarce, we are not. We looked poor, but we weren’t poor in singles. If we leave the players to fend for themselves, without giving them a game, we become them. We are not scarce, the difference lies in the handle and the technician. Then clearly there is individual responsibility, a minimum of pride in the players. I would have liked to see it and I only saw it in Donnarumma. What attitude did the individual players have? But enough of this spiel that we are poor.”
