Valter Di Salvo on player preparation, management and performance in international football

00:05
Brief overview of his role within the Italy national team
Di Salvo provides a brief overview of his role within the Italy national team as Head of Performance and Research. In a nutshell, he is responsible for controlling the performance levels of players and the team itself, focusing on many different factors which could potentially have an impact on such levels: nutrition, physical performance, workload in training and matches and the psychological side of things.

00:46
Factors influencing the physical preparation of players for international football
Football matches put great physiological demands on players, which are closely related to player positions. For example, a centre-back will cover much less ground than a winger, implying that the required energy levels vary considerably between positions. The formation deployed by a coach must also be considered. Training methodologies must therefore be adapted to a coach’s demands and set-up, whether their preferred formation is more attacking or defensive. For instance, as Roberto Mancini favours an attacking 4-3-3 formation, his midfielders and forwards are required to work extremely hard, both in and out of possession. 

02:24
Key challenges of working with national-team players
The greatest challenge lies in successfully tweaking national-team training sessions to suit players’ needs and adapting them to reflect their typical club regimes. As training methodologies vary between clubs, the Italy national team has adopted a more inclusive approach, whereby clubs send their players’ training programmes to Di Salvo and his colleagues. This allows players to follow their usual regimes while on international duty without compromising the more general needs of the Italy national team itself. This gives Italy an advantage with respect to physical performance, as players can still carry out their existing injury prevention and strength work, for example.

04:43
Challenge of training players to adapt to the increasing importance of explosivity
Di Salvo explains that it is difficult to work on attributes such as pace and explosivity at international level. Although it is possible to coach and improve such attributes, national teams have very little scope to do so given the short duration of international breaks, whose training sessions are mostly based on management, match preparation, the game approach, and, most importantly, player recovery between games. As the responsibility for working on explosiveness and pace mostly lies with clubs, in his opinion, he and his colleagues are now focussing much more on the talent identification process, actively seeking players with impressive physical attributes.  

06:24
Difficulty of managing players’ workloads during tournaments
Preparations for tournaments are completely different to those for international breaks, with up to seven games to prepare for, as opposed to just two. Therefore, recovery and management plans are extremely important for players who have played many minutes, as well as for those who have played very few, if no minutes at all. Since post-match recovery is crucial for the former, the Italy national team has adopted a special recovery programme, based on diet, sleep quality and physical work. Those who have played the fewest minutes also need to train more intensely on wider pitches; it is difficult to recreate a match, so high-intensity training is the optimal compromise for such players.

08:12
Difficulty of balancing the achievement of maximum performance and soft tissue injury prevention
European club competition data shows that playing a high number of minutes can be the biggest determining factor of muscle and soft tissue injuries. This risk is ever-present, but the Italy national team is trying to implement injury prevention strategies, especially for hamstrings, the most susceptible body part to injury. These measures must be carried out daily throughout the year to strengthen muscles and improve their elasticity. This includes while players are on holiday, where they can follow specific training regimes tailored to their own needs and injuries. While club and national-team staff are there for support, players must take responsibility for their own performance levels.

10:42
Most interesting trends from the 2022 World Cup
Data from the 2022 World Cup shows that football is now being played at a much higher intensity. This means that players must now be able to execute technical moves with great quality and precision at high speed, putting considerable physical and mental demands on them. Coaches must therefore work on players’ focus, skills and ability to ensure they make the right decisions at great speed. Players also need physical prowess to operate within a well-defined tactical system and display technical brilliance at high speed. As a result, training schedules and methodologies must be tailored to the increasing intensity of the modern game.