After a chastening defeat by Spain, there has been plenty of soul searching in Italy ahead of Tuesday’s showdown against Croatia.
Italy mustered just one shot on target as they were outplayed in a 1-0 defeat five days ago.
It has led to questions being asked of manager Luciano Spalletti’s style of play, especially given his approach revolves around keeping the ball and Italy had just 42.9 per cent possession against Spain.
The defeat has left Italy fighting to make the knockout stages of this Euros and they need a point to guarantee a place in the last-16.
Anything less than that and the holders will have to hope they can sneak through as one of the four best third-place finishers.
“Talk is cheap, you’ve got to go out there and walk the walk,” said Spalletti. “If we don’t get a result, we go home. It’s this simple.”
Spalletti is ready to stick to his guns when it comes to Italy’s approach, but he was vowed to make changes to the team.
He named an unchanged side for the Spain game after Italy beat Albania in their opening match and tiredness took its toll.
Striker Mateo Retegui is one of those expected to come in, in place of former West Ham forward Gianluca Scamacca.
Arsenal midfielder Jorginho, who was hooked at half-time against Spain, is another who could lose his place, and Nicolo Fagioli is a contender to replace him.
Fagioli was a surprise inclusion in Spalletti’s squad for this Euros. He played just 441 minutes for Juventus last season and has only just returned from a seven-month ban for breaching betting rules. “Of course, after a game like that, there is the notion and the idea to change the team a bit,” Spalletti said.
“I probably made mistakes in not mixing things up quicker in terms of the performance we produced, but I thought it would be a gamble to tweak anything because we saw everything that had been said in recent times.
“Now that we have noticed that there is a bit of fatigue and rust in terms of results, we certainly will change things.”
Croatia boss Zlatko Dalic is braced for Spalletti to tinker with his team, but not when it comes to Italy’s approach. “I don’t think [Spalletti] will change much in terms of tactics,” he said. “In my opinion, we didn’t see the real Italy in that match [with Spain].”
It is still early days for Italy under Spalletti, who was hired last year, but this feels like a last dance for Croatia and their golden generation.
Since Dalic was appointed in 2017, they have finished runners-up and third at the past two World Cups — but the likes of Luka Modric are in the twilight of their careers.
Indeed, Modric made up a three-man midfield against Albania that had a combined age of 99.
After drawing that game, Croatia must win to have any chance of making it out of Group B.
“We know it’s essentially a knockout match, and there won’t be any extra time and we must simply win the game,” Dalic said. “It’s must-win, any other result will send us home.”
