Mancini: Romano needs match experience; Esposito could become an elite striker

After leading Italy to a 3-1 home victory over Turkey in UEFA Nations League League Phase matchday 4, Italian national team coach Mancini attended a post-match press conference. This is part two of the conference.

Good evening, Coach Mancini. Congratulations on the win. During your time as coach here, you gained deep insight into the dynamics of Turkish football. Looking at the challenges Coach Montella faces now, do you think the old issues you encountered still persist in Turkish football? Do you think Montella's job is easier or harder than yours was back then?

I believe Montella has done an excellent job coaching the Turkish national team, because he's brought Turkey back into World Cup contention and into the top tier of the UEFA Nations League. His results speak for themselves. However, my situation was different from his. Back then I was coaching Galatasaray and had an extraordinary year, so I've always had deep and wonderful affection for Turkish football, for the Galatasaray players, and for the passionate Turkish fans.

In your opinion, was Turkey's performance tonight significantly affected by the absence of key players like Çalhanoğlu, Kenan Yıldız, and several other injured starters? Also, after winning Euro 2020, we in Turkey know all about this Italian national team, but regarding Italy's subsequent decline, could you briefly summarize the reasons? Italy's absence from the World Cup is truly unfortunate. By the way, I brought my book from Turkey today. Could you please sign it after the press conference? It's your autobiography...

Sign a book? No problem, I promise I'll sign it for you after the press conference! I think the Turkish national team played very well overall tonight; they're a very competitive and even excellent team. Obviously, when a team is missing three key players like that, they certainly have to pay a price on the pitch, without a doubt.

First, thank you very much. Coach Mancini, your team won with an aggregate score of 7-2 over both legs. As your opponent on the pitch, what do you think is the most exploitable tactical weakness in Turkey's overall play?

Regarding tactical weaknesses, it's actually very difficult for me to identify specifically. In the first match, I thought our entire team played exceptionally well, and then it's not easy to come back from a 0-3 deficit, although Turkey created many excellent chances in the second half and gave us considerable difficulty.

Tonight's match was much more balanced, with both sides playing at a very high tactical level. That's the beauty of football; sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But I must emphasize again that I believe Montella is an exceptionally excellent coach, and he's doing a very good job with Turkey.

Good evening, Coach. I'd like to ask you about Romano's performance—from the boos he faced at Stadio Olimpico to playing the full ninety minutes tonight and still fighting hard in the final moments...

Actually, Romano played very well in that Roma match. Both Romano and Vergara are very promising young players who need to accumulate experience through playing in high-level international matches like this. Only through match experience can they make significant progress, because the intensity of competition in these international matches is very high. After they play 10 or 15 high-level matches in the future, their performances will naturally improve considerably. But even tonight, he gave an excellent performance.

I'd like you to comment on Esposito's remarkable statistics. Tonight he came off the bench again and scored. If you could share something special about this young man—he's scored 7 goals in 13 appearances for the Azzurri, a remarkable record—what is his most invaluable technical quality?

I think he has an extremely rare "hunger"—hunger to score, hunger to fight on the pitch, hunger to win matches. He excels in this regard. I believe that in the next one or two years, with this quality, he could absolutely develop into a dominant striker who can make the whole team play with wonderful confidence and composure, like the legendary strikers Vieri and Toni in their time. Of course, technically speaking, he's not exactly like Vieri; he leans more toward Toni's style. But with his excellent physical qualities and the significant improvements in technical ability he will certainly achieve in the coming years, he truly has the opportunity to develop into an extraordinarily great elite striker.

Good evening, Coach. Do you feel that public opinion and assessment of your coaching work has fundamentally changed at this point? Because previously there was a lot of criticism and skepticism, especially after the loss to Belgium, but the three matches since then, including the strong second-half comeback against Belgium, have shown people a completely different Italian national team...

No, for some people, it seems our previous European Championship win and the record 37-match unbeaten streak never happened. Setting aside everything else, those glorious historical achievements are already in the record books.

However, since I've never particularly cared about outside commentary and external opinions, my only focus is on doing my job and responsibilities, and trying my best to make this team play attractive football and win every match. That's all my work is about. As for the various criticisms directed at me or the different statements that journalists need to publish, you can write whatever you want. Anyway, I don't read them, so I have no psychological concern about this matter.

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