Italy coach Marcelo Lippi admitted he would ring the changes for Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Georgia in Udine but said he would likely stick by under-fire forward Luca Toni.
Toni had a disastrous Euro 2008, failing to score and generally inviting ridicule for some inept performances.
But Lippi kept faith with the big Bayern Munich striker and fielded him from the start in a three-pronged attack in Larnaca on Saturday, where Antonio Di Natale scored an injury time winner to save the world champions from an embarrassing opening result to their qualification campaign.
However, Lippi hauled Toni off at half-time and abandoned his 4-3-3 formation in favour of 4-4-2, introducing AC Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso in place of Toni.
Italy's formation was a controversial topic under Lippi's predecessor Roberto Donadoni, who used the 4-3-3 system in their first match at Euro 2008, only to change it after a 3-0 humiliation at the hands of the Netherlands.
Lippi, though, seems to have more faith in his chosen formation.
"I'll definitely change some players with respects to Larnaca," said Lippi. "I still believe in the three-pronged attack but I'll start with three or four new players and then I'll make three changes through the course of the match.
"The aim is to grow, to win, to have as few problems as possible and to play the best possible."
Italy were so disappointing in Cyprus that Lippi even admitted afterwards they had been fortunate to come away with a victory.
Things started badly with defenders Alessandro Gamberini and Fabio Grosso leaving the field injured and they have both been ruled out of Wednesday's match.
With Juventus centre-back Giorgio Chiellini -- Italy's one success story from Austria and Switzerland in June -- already sidelined, the azzurri are short of cover at the back with Wolfsburg's Andrea Barzagli likely to partner captain Fabio Cannavaro at centre-half.
To make matters even worse, defensive midfielder Gattuso broke and dislocated his wrist in a freak training ground fall that rules him out of action for a month.
Despite all the difficulties, though, Lippi can at least rely on Di Natale, who will be playing in front of his home fans in Udine.
However, the veteran coach stopped short of suggestions from the press that the Udinese winger should be given the captain's armband for the game.
"To the Udine public I can say that Di Natale will play, not because he is their idol but because he deserves to," said Lippi.
"Captain? I think that would be going too far, Cannavaro will play and this is not a festival.
"Whether or not Toni plays, you'll find that out tomorrow (Wednesday). To his fans in Bavaria I can only say turn on your televisions, tune in and that way you'll be able to satisfy your curiosity."
For all Italy's worries, though, Georgia are hardly in good shape themselves and lost 2-1 to Ireland in their opening nominally-home match on Saturday -- a game that due to the recent war with Russia was played in Germany.