I honestly thought the “turning Italian” quote was meant as praise, not criticism. For me, some of the best football teams in my lifetime have been your archetypical Italian teams.I couldn’t care less how we win games. If ‘turning Italian’ is something to be sneered at then they can sneer all they want.
Ancelotti will know the strengths and weaknesses of his squad. We are more likely to be compact and soak up pressure against the bigger clubs, but against the lower clubs he will let us attack more.