Roberto Mancini, the head coach of Italy, stated on Thursday after his side was eliminated from the Nations League semi-finals by Spain with a score of 2-1 that they must continue their search for fresh offensive talent as they continue to struggle to produce at a consistent level.
In Enschede, Italy was able to withstand pressure from a stronger Spain team for the most of the game, but they were unable to produce many scoring opportunities and ultimately fell victim to a goal scored by a replacement named Joselu.
“We already began to freshen things up and will continue to do so,” Mancini said to the press.
“There are some decent children. However, talent arrives in swells. I don’t know why we don’t have any great attackers, but right now we have some strong midfielders and defenders.
The European champions maintained their inconsistent play with a loss to Spain. They failed to qualify for the last two World Cups and suffered a loss to England in the qualifying round for Euro 2024 in March.
Mancini said that his side’s newly implemented tactical game plan with three center backs and two wing backs had worked well in the first half, but that after the interval, his team had made things much too easy for Spain.
“We set up things differently, and we did things well in the first half when we managed to cut Spain’s passing lines,” he added. “We did things well in the second half when we managed to cut Spain’s passing lines.” “However, our performance during the second half was unacceptably poor.”