Giampiero Ventura admits “this Italy side is obviously not good enough for the World Cup, but we’re working towards it. We need more time in training.”
The Azzurri earned a 1-0 victory away to Albania on Monday night, ensuring they are top seeds in the October 17 draw for the World Cup play-offs.
Giampiero Ventura admits “this Italy side is obviously not good enough for the World Cup, but we’re working towards it. We need more time in training.”
The Azzurri earned a 1-0 victory away to Albania on Monday night, ensuring they are top seeds in the October 17 draw for the World Cup play-offs.
“In the 1-1 draw with Macedonia, we fell apart with a second half of very little intensity, whereas we showed good mental intensity in Albania and were in control of the game,” the Coach told Sky Sport Italia.
The Nazionale only dropped points in their group against Spain – including a 3-0 defeat in Madrid – and that home stalemate with Macedonia last week.
“We had been steadily growing until the match with Spain, which pushed us to take 10 steps back. Some thought that we were stronger than Spain, which is absolutely not true, so the journey hit the buffers for a little while.
“Tonight, I think we got back on track. This is the first real step back towards the progress we had interrupted.”
Ventura again defended his 4-2-4 system, which is not used anywhere in Serie A, and warned the role of a CT is very difficult.
“There used to be blocks of players from one club, even nine from the same team, but here we have one or two per club. These are sides with completely different tactical systems and approaches, so we need to find common ground.
“It’s not about working on the mentality of the players. What we need is to work in training on the field, but every time I call players up, I get at most three to four hours with them to do that.
“This Italy side is obviously not good enough for the World Cup right now, but we’re working towards it.”
Antonio Conte had similar complaints at the lack of time he got with players ahead of Euro 2016.