Italy On The Right Track Despite 3-1 Loss To France In Nations League Match

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Italy's head coach, Luciano Spalletti, remains optimistic about his team's progress despite their 3-1 loss to France in the Nations League. The match at San Siro saw Adrien Rabiot score twice and Guglielmo Vicario accidentally score an own goal, all from Lucas Digne's set-pieces. Italy had already secured a spot in the quarter-finals by defeating Belgium 1-0 earlier.

In the game against France, Italy demonstrated several strengths. They held more possession with 53.8%, took more shots (10 compared to France's six), and had a higher expected goals rate of 0.59 xG versus 0.39 for France. Additionally, they made 20 touches in the opposition box compared to France’s eight.

Spalletti expressed satisfaction with Italy's approach, stating, "I believe that we are on the right track, I saw many things we sought in the correct way, but we were influenced by the emotion of the match, we forced the match." He acknowledged that while they managed possession well in the second half, improvements in ball management are needed.

The Italian team struggled against Digne’s precise set-pieces. Spalletti highlighted the need for better physical competitiveness moving forward. He noted that Italy spent energy trying to challenge their opponents physically and faced difficulties with the third set-piece which led to problems.

Spalletti plans to review these situations thoroughly as he recognises France as one of the strongest teams physically. He stated, "The boys wanted to go and challenge the opponent, there you spend energy... Now we will review the situations well."

Despite this setback, Spalletti remains positive about Italy's future prospects. He believes that reviewing and learning from these experiences will strengthen his team for upcoming challenges. The focus will be on refining their strategies and addressing areas needing improvement before their next matches.