Luciano Spalletti is gone as Italy manager, and in a very Spalletti way: on his own terms, with eccentricities, double entendres, words left unspoken, and threads at which to pull that may or may not lead to reality. But before we descend into Spalletti’s parallel universe, let’s remind ourselves of reality.
Italy were horrible in the 3-0 humiliation at the hands of Norway last Friday. Until the 29th minute of the second half, they had managed just two shots for a cumulative xG of 0.14. The defeat means the Azzurri are seriously at risk of having to once again go through the World Cup playoffs — you may remember how well that went the past two times, when they were barred from consecutive World Cups first by Sweden and then by, ahem, North Macedonia.
That’s the indisputable reality Italy face right now, and that’s what the new boss — Stefano Pioli or, more likely, Claudio Ranieri … yes, the guy who had officially retired at age 71 a year ago — will have to deal with. But let’s dip back into the Spalletti-sphere and remind ourselves of how he managed to screw up and complicate even his own exit.
You might have thought he would have resigned on the spot after Friday’s Norse humiliation, but no: his exit was determined afterward, in a meeting with Italian FA chief Gabriele Gravina. They agreed to one of those “by mutual consent” separations, with the understanding that Spalletti would take charge of the home game against Moldova on Monday night. Except Spalletti told everyone the truth, and he was summarily fired.
“What was I supposed to do? Not tell people so the FA could announce it? It doesn’t work that way,” he said in an interview with Italian TV on Monday. Actually, Luciano, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do. Maybe if you’d kept your mouth shut, you wouldn’t have blindsided the FA and maybe the players wouldn’t have looked about as bad against Moldova as they did against Norway.
(Don’t let the 2-0 win over Moldova win fool you, either. Italy conceded 18 shots and an xG of 1.39. The main difference is that Norway’s forwards — Alexander Sørloth, Ahmed Musa and Erling Haaland — play for Atlético Madrid, Leipzig and Manchester City, while Moldova’s play for CFR Cluj, Heerenveen and something called Slaven Belupo.)
In a news conference on Saturday, Spalletti said he took responsibility and then, weirdly, started rattling off how grateful he was for his coaching staff, stating their first names one by one only to storm out of the room overcome by emotion. Was it real? Who knows: you never quite know with this guy.
In the same sentence, Spalletti will say: “Some of the choices made were wrong because you chose the wrong players.” (Note the slipping into the second person, a Spalletti favorite.) “But my biggest regret was not being able to call upon important players who were injured.”
You nod along in agreement until you ask yourself: who is he talking about? Would Moise Kean have moved the needle? Alessandro Buongiorno? Manuel Locatelli? Leave aside the fact that every national team has injuries. It’s not as if those guys — fine players though they might be — are Ballon d’Or contenders. Roberto Baggio wasn’t walking through that door.
Suddenly, the excuses were coming out. The fact that Norway got to play two qualifiers back in March (against Moldova and Israel) became a massive advantage for Spalletti’s opponents, because he had to face a home-and-away Nations League quarterfinal against Germany. (What happened to “iron sharpens iron?”)
Or the fact that a number of his players went deep into European competition with their club teams, and therefore were “mentally and physically drained.” Uh, sure — but you could just as easily point out that the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolò Barella and others reached European finals because they’re good players who play for big, successful teams.
We also got the old favorite of lamenting the fact that only 30% of Serie A players are Italian, so he has a small pool of guys to choose from. (It’s actually 32.2% by weighted minutes, but close enough.) So what? In England it’s even lower (29.4%). Four of the starters (Donnarumma, Bastoni, Barella, Davide Frattesi) in the Moldova stinker featured in the Champions League final, while two (Giovanni di Lorenzo, Giacomo Raspadori) played huge roles in Napoli’s title-winning season. Another (Sandro Tonali) was one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League this year and another (Mateo Retegui) still the top goal scorer in Serie A.
Accountability much?
Back to the facts. Spalletti was in charge for 24 games, including the disastrous Euro 2024 campaign. Strip out the four friendlies and it’s 9 wins, 5 draws and 6 defeats. OK, so he beat France and Belgium in the Nations League and ran Germany close. Woo-hoo.
Let’s be clear: leaving the Italy job shouldn’t diminish Spalletti’s standing as a club manager. He’s a three-time Serie A Coach of the Year, he won multiple cups with Roma, multiple leagues with Zenit Saint Petersburg and, of course, two years ago, delivered Napoli their first title since the Diego Maradona era. His teams have served up innovative, creative football and fellow coaches marvel at his tactical nous.
But here’s the thing. Coaching a national team is different to coaching a club, much like driving a commuter bus is different to being at the wheel of a sports car.
In international football, you don’t get year-round training sessions to install whatever complicated tactical scheme you dream up. Nor do you get daily contact with your players, of the sort that fosters trust and relationships. Nope, all you have is a couple practices five times a year and, if you’re lucky, a tournament every two summers. Therefore, you need to keep your tactical message short and sharp. You have to understand the mentality of your players and figure out what buttons to push to get the best out of them in double-quick time. There’s no room for experiments. It’s about the K.I.S.S. method: “Keep It Simple, Stupid.”
Spalletti doesn’t do simple, like most geniuses — or, more accurately, those who project genius-like behavior. (I’m not sold on the genius label myself.) It should have been evident after the embarrassment at the Euros that he wasn’t right for the job (or, he might say, the job wasn’t right for him). It took a dire performance against Norway to convince the Italian FA to act, and an equally dire performance against Moldova to reinforce the fact they made the right choice in moving on.
