Spalletti expecting to learn a lot from Impact contest

The contest, which comes just two days after the 2-1 win over Liverpool in St. Louis, is the second and final match for the Giallorossi on the tour of North America – following two weeks of intense training.

And Spalletti expects the quality of the opposition and the recent exertions to give him a better idea of the qualities and fortitude of his squad.

“The objective is always the control the game, but to do that you have to give everything – in a number of different ways,” Spalletti said. “I expect what we saw yesterday – that the team does as well as it can.

“First of all, it is an important [game] because you can work on the mentality of the players, who must learn to cope with the cumulative work done in training and in games in recent weeks.

“It is important also because tomorrow we want to see how well we are following the tactical approach we want to pursue this season. Our opponents have good players in the team, some we know well like Marco Donadel. We know their ability so we need to be on it tomorrow to play a good game.”

Spalletti was once again asked for his opinion on the Liverpool match, reiterating his earlier assertions about the balance of the team.

“I expected what we saw yesterday from players that were facing a side further along in their preparations,” he noted. “The team made the right choices when you had to push forward and stay back. We conceded a few chances, as I said yesterday after the game, but overall the team showed promising balance.”