CHARLOTTE – The interim tag on Christian Lattanzio’s title is no more after the club announced him officially as the head coach moving forward. For the Italian, there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
“This football club for me is perfect because it is a growing project, a project in which there is a lot of work to be done. The right people are involved in the front office, second team, Academy, and in the playing staff.
“Also, the place, Charlotte, I like a lot. I love the supporters and the atmosphere that they've been able to create in one year. It's really something remarkable so it feels like the most natural thing. At the moment, my heart and soul are in Charlotte, and nowhere else.
“I always said, from day one, even though the situation was not the easiest, the impression that I was working with a group of players that I had a good connection that I liked, the way they were, I always liked them from day one.”
Since day one Lattanzio is and has been very clear on the identity and culture that he wants to build at the Club. Inheriting a team midseason was always going to bring challenges but as time went on you could see that identity and culture appearing on the pitch. While the team made large strides at the end of the season, Lattanzio still believes the team still has much room for improvement.
“You know, in football, like in life, you require time for everybody to understand and digest the information. What we were trying to do here is to be very clear about the principle of play, increasing the intensity of training, and then obviously playing.”
“I always repeat this to the guys that we need to have players that are really efficient and good in their position but also have the have intensity, mental and physical. Without that you're only half a player in my opinion. Until I can see both, it is difficult to go places and what we need to keep working on and improving.”
Charlotte FC is now entering its first offseason so part of that improvement will come in the form of new signings to reinforce the team. Lattanzio wants to increase the competition within an already solid group of players with new additions that fit the club’s identity and the overall quality of the team heading into year two.
“We want to add real quality to the squad. We need to go out and find players that are aligned to this identity. So we want to have players that have quality, that are really good in their own position, but also bring a lot of intensity in the way they play.”
At the end of the day, Lattanzio realizes that he can say whatever he wants to say but that actions speak much louder than words. Like how he carries himself in his own life, he wants his players to put their heads down, work hard, and let their actions speak for themselves on the pitch.
“I don't want to say too much to the people that they are not in my corner because the words are words but it's the work and how the team plays that in the end counts and matters, so I want my work to talk, and I want the team on the pitch to do the talk.”
