PHOTO | HERBERT L. WHITE

Charlotte FC interim coach Christian Lattanzio answers a reporter's question during a media availability Thursday at Bank of America Stadium. Lattanzio, who replaced the fired Miguel Àngel Ramírez, counts NYCFC and Manchester City among his previous coaching stops.

Christian Lattanzio, whose resume is one of the most accomplished in all soccer, has a new title – Charlotte FC interim coach.

Lattanzio, who took over last week for the fired Miguel Ángel Ramírez, worked in youth development at Manchester City, coached alongside French legend Patrick Vieira at New York City FC and OGC Nice in France, and former players turned coaches Gianfranco Zola, Fabio Capello, and Roberto Mancini, who led Italy to the Euro 2020 crown.
While Lattanzio predominately worked with Manchester City’s first team in the English Premier League, he also oversaw the Elite Development Squad, a program for youth talent.

In his first meeting with reporters, Lattanzio talked about the focus needed as head coach, the makeup of Charlotte FC’s roster and standing up for players. Responses are edited for brevity and clarity.

Whether he must rethink how to approach his duties as head coach as opposed to an assistant:
“When you are in this role, obviously it is different because from a football point of view, not so much so because as an as an assistant you have to prepare training you have to look at details you have to do a lot of things that actually organize the team for the coaching sessions. So, from a substantial point of view. In football terms, the difference is not so great.

“What is great now that I'm talking in front of you guys that I have to take all the commitments, and I have to be careful that I don't shift my attention my energy too much into all the expectations of this role and because I want to give my full-time support and my full energy to the to the players.”

What he would tell the fan base about the change in coaches and how he envisions the season playing out:
“I think this fan base, and I said this from day one, is one of the best I’ve seen. Honestly, the atmosphere that they generate in the stadium is something magical, even starting from the [national] anthem that became like iconic already after a few weeks. The atmosphere, and I’ve been in a few stadiums over the years, is really joyous, it really feels like a party. … Also some players that I know that play for different teams, when they play here they say the same thing is something completely different from any other stadium.

“I love what they do and I can understand that they also were surprised, some of them possibly upset, but I can guarantee that the team will keep working hard on a daily basis for them.”

What it’ll take for Charlotte to develop a winning mindset on the road, where they’ve scored only one point:
“When you are a new team, you don’t have anything to look back [on], and therefore any win, any result, starts to build belief. So we win a home and then the belief with that [is] you can look back and say ‘yes, we have done it,’ because you can talk as much as you want, but you have to do it. And because this unfortunately happens away from home, we feel a little bit of pressure, but we need to be calm and keep going and believing in the process.”

What he thinks of the roster, which at 16 points is two points out of the seventh and final playoff position:
“I am obviously biased because I know all the guys from day one. I love this group of players, I really do. I said on a number of occasions, and it doesn’t change – they have a good attitude is different a generous group of players. Everybody comes in with their own culture, with their own way of seeing football. It’s up to us to organize them and to give them a common goal which already started before. But this current squad for me is able to compete against everybody. The results are not in our control, but the way we go about it, the way we compete, the way we play the way we put intensity, it’s up to us.”

Why it’s important for Charlotte to improve inside the 18-yard box on both ends of the field:
“Whatever is in the two boxes is what very often determines the results. So, to be able to attack the goal in a determined way, in a focused way, in an aggressive way is something that we need to prove.

“Likewise, we need to improve compactness and the certain way of defending when the opposition has control of the games because that happens as well. It’s difficult to control the game for 90 minutes, even for the big teams.”

If he’s thought of the promotion as an audition for permanent head coach:
“I am totally committed to serve this group of players. … I have obviously a plan for how we want to play football. I don’t go ahead of myself. I was in this situation and my focus is on a daily basis. I'm not looking at the plan. I don't have any agenda. My agenda is that I don’t have any agenda. I want to serve the players. Each one of them, help them to develop, help them to become as good as they can be, and obviously in the process to form a team that is going to make Charlotte FC proud and the fan base proud.”

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