Mancini encourages football multiculturalism

By Football Italia staff

Italy Coach Roberto Mancini urges Serie A sides and tacticians to learn from different cultures, just as he did at Manchester City, Galatasaray and Zenit.

The tactician held a lengthy interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport and you can read the rest of it HERE.

He turned his focus to the current Serie A scene with Antonio Conte taking over at Inter and Maurizio Sarri for Juventus.

“We’d need two or three teams capable of competing for the Serie A title right to the end, as that is how we can raise everyone’s level together. You can’t train a player only with friendlies, he needs to feel the pressure. Every match leads to improvements.

“Inter are known as Pazza (crazy) because they are capable of absolutely anything. They can beat the very best and lose to the weakest opponents. Having good players is not enough, you need to put them together.

“I think Conte can do well and it looks as if the club is working in the right direction. It’s not easy to find players who can make that step up in quality, as those tend to be purchased by Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United, clubs with incredible financial resources.

“It is a pity that we won’t see the likes of Eden Hazard in Italy.”

Manchester City can also spend big and Mancini won the Premier League title there in dramatic fashion.

“It was an important experience and I advise anyone to try going abroad, whether it’s England, Turkey, Russia or anywhere,” continued the Coach.

“When I arrived, Manchester City hadn’t won in a lifetime and were constantly humiliated by their neighbours United. It was enormously satisfying to turn that history around and win silverware outside of Italy too.

“The atmosphere in England is wonderful, as the stadiums are always packed and nobody insults you. People just want to have fun.

“At the same time, you have to adapt to their culture and training methods, which are very different. We pay more attention to tactics, whereas they train and play the exact same way, at 100mph as if it was a Champions League Final. That is why they maintain that extraordinary tempo.

“However, the influx of foreign Coaches have brought a new element to English football and improved the overall approach. It’s important to learn from other cultures, as for example I’d love to watch Tite train Brazil for a week or two.”

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