Italy began Luciano Spalletti’s tenure with a disappointing one-all draw against North Macedonia last night, falling short of fans’ expectations.
Spalletti, who led Napoli to victory in Serie A last season, was considered the top candidate for the role of the national team manager after Roberto Mancini’s departure to coach Saudi Arabia.
Spalletti would have hoped for a better outcome, but his team failed to meet expectations, with North Macedonia pressuring them to defend in the final minutes of the match.
Juventus manager Max Allegri often faces criticism for his team’s defensive approach, and the Azzurri adopted a defensive stance after taking the lead.
Journalist Fabio Ravezzani was unimpressed and suggested that Allegri would have faced heavy criticism if he were the national team manager based on last night’s performance.
He said, as quoted by Tuttomercatoweb:
“Without a doubt, if Italy had played the same match with Allegri as coach, the usual would have arrived tsunami of: see? Even with Macedonia, he scores a goal and puts everyone on defence… And maybe the Macedonian Spalletti would have chased him with his hand outstretched to mock him…”.
Juve FC Says
Allegri is one of the managers Italian football fans do not like because of how his team plays, but he wins trophies and has six league titles on his CV.
Juve has kept faith in him because he knows how to get results and football is a results game.
