"Gattusoism" Captivates the Italian National Team

DEBRECEN, TUESDAY — Gennaro Gattuso is known to the global football community as a player and coach characterized by his erratic behavior, lack of order, and explosive emotions. This style began to manifest in the Italian national football team, particularly when "Gli Azzurri" triumphed over Israel, 5-4, on Tuesday (9/9/2025) early morning WIB, at the Nagyerdei Stadium, Debrecen, Hungary.

Gattuso's identity, or what we might call "Gattusoism," undermines the Italian football philosophy that values order. Everything must be controlled and planned. This is the reason catenaccio remains enduring in the "Land of Pizza," as it is an organized style of play based on solid defense.

Gattuso, who began his tenure managing Italy this September, seems to be fed up with the constant orderliness. Moreover, Italy's journey towards the 2026 World Cup has been stalled.

As a member of the Gli Azzurri squad that won the 2006 World Cup, Gattuso's dignity is at stake. He certainly does not want Italy to fail once again to reach the grand stage of world football as it did in the 2018 edition.

He employed a 4-2-3-1 tactic that transformed into a 4-4-2 on the field when facing Estonia. Instead of sticking with that formation, Gattuso instructed his players to adopt a 3-5-2 formation in the away match against Israel.

The two-striker formation approach advocated by Gattuso indicates that Italy needs a better attack. The striking duo of Moise Kean and Matteo Retegui is Gattuso's mainstay in the offensive line. As a result, the two players, who occupy the top two spots in the goal-scoring chart of the Italian League for the 2024-2025 season, have improved Italy's productivity.

In the victory against Israel, Kean scored two goals and Retegui contributed three assists. Specifically for Kean, the Fiorentina player was able to maintain his goal-scoring consistency after also contributing a goal when Italy defeated Estonia 5-0 on Sunday (7/9/2025 WIB). Meanwhile, Retegui recorded two goals against Estonia.

Together with Kean and Retegui, Italy has set a new record. This is because Italy has managed to score five goals in two consecutive matches for the first time since playing its inaugural match on May 15, 1910.

"Mateo (Retegui) and I worked hard today. We made an impact and collaborated well. So, we want to continue that," Kean told Sky Sport Italia.

Nevertheless, Kean acknowledges that his cohesion with Retegui has not yet reached its best level. He realizes that the Kean-Retegui partnership is still in the early stages of becoming a new hope for the Italian national team in their quest to secure a ticket to the 2026 World Cup.

"I believe I am slowly beginning to understand Mateo's character. I have recognized the direction of the ball he provides and just need to follow that," said Kean about the two assists that Retegui delivered to him, resulting in goals.

Kean and Retegui's sharpness helped Italy play effectively in attack. Italy's chances yielded only 1.81 expected goals (xG). However, in reality, they managed to score four goals.

In addition to Kean, Matteo Politano (58'), Giacomo Raspadori (81'), and Sandro Tonali (90+1') also registered their names on the scoreboard. Tonali's goal helped Italy secure three points after Israel had briefly equalized the score to 4-4 with one minute remaining in the normal time of the second half.

Only the midfielder of Maccabi Tel Aviv, Dor Peretz, an Israeli player, was able to conquer the Italian goalkeeper, Gianluigi Donnarumma. This moment occurred in the 52nd and 89th minutes. Two other goals for Israel were contributed through own goals by Italian players, namely Manuel Locatelli (16’) and Alessandro Bastoni (87’).

Four goals found the back of Donnarumma's net, highlighting the chaos in Italy's defense. It was not due to the poor quality of the players; the Gli Azzurri defenders appeared to panic easily when Israel managed to penetrate the final third of their defense.

In fact, Israel only created two significant chances. Israel also recorded 1.41 xG. These two factors indicate that Israel's attacking play is not exceptional.

"This match was like murder. It was the craziest game of my time as a coach. This is my problem, not the players'," Gattuso told RAI Sport.

"If we want to play a certain way, we must be better. We are systematically crazy in our attacking, which is what Israel is waiting for. They counterattack us at every moment. We should defend deeper when we are in the lead," he added.

Despite conceding too many goals, Italy proved that the “Gattusoism” had been felt by the entire squad.

The Azzurri displayed a resilient mentality. Although they fell behind twice and then equalized in the final minutes, the Italian players were able to respond positively, culminating in the decisive winning goal from Tonali.

"Mentality is the best part, even though we did not have a good night. We showed heart and passion to react. With better experience and a little improvement, I am confident we can handle the advantage better," said Gattuso.

Locatelli agrees with Gattuso. According to the Juventus midfielder, victory is indeed the primary objective of every match, but Italy must improve its performance in order to achieve positive results comfortably.

"I think we are emphasizing the character of this team. However, we made many mistakes that need to be analyzed. We did not have the right approach from the kickoff, and that must not happen again," he stated. (AFP/REUTERS)