Gattuso experiment with new Italy tactics in training | OneFootball

Gennaro Gattuso is testing out a new three-man defence for Italy ahead of the World Cup qualifiers against Estonia and Israel.

The Azzurri will be in Tallin for the first match with Estonia on Saturday at 19.45 UK time, then host Israel next Tuesday at the Stadio Friuli in Udine.

They held their first training session at Coverciano today and Gattuso immediately wanted to test the fitness levels of his players with a very intense set of exercises.

Italy ready to test out new tactics

Gennaro Gattuso during his first Italy training session on September 1, 2025.

Having adopted a very attacking 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1 formation in his first two games, the coach hinted in his press conference that he was ready to “put ego aside” and experiment with a three-man defence, even if it was not his favourite system.

The absence of injured players like Matteo Politano and Mattia Zaccagni also force adjustments, so we could see Giacomo Raspadori in a wide left role, especially considering the way he has been playing with Atletico Madrid.

He is expected to stick with both Moise Kean and Mateo Retegui together as joint centre-forwards.

BERGAMO, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 05: Moise Kean of Italy in action during the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match between Italy and Estonia at Stadio di Bergamo on September 05, 2025 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)

During this session there were exercises with the team split into groups.

Orange team: Di Lorenzo, Kean, Nicolussi Caviglia, Bastoni, Tonali, Orsolini, Dimarco, Gabbia

Green team: Locatelli, Calafiori, Barella, Pio Esposito, Retegui, Cambiaghi, Coppola, Cambiaso

Blue team: Mancini, Cristante, Spinazzola, Raspadori, Udogie, Frattesi, Piccoli