Fabio Capello analyzes the Italian national team. Luciano Spalletti’s Azzurri are coming off a home defeat against Germany in the first leg of the Nations League quarter-finals. Two goals conceded from as many set pieces in the box exposed some problems. And it was the former coach of Milan, Roma, Juve, and Real Madrid who commented on this to the notebooks of Gazzetta dello Sport:

“A chronic problem, by now. Against the Germans, it was a matter of centimeters, sure, but height is not the only factor that matters. It is also and above all a matter of attitude, of how you mark. Italy suffers in this regard and we need to work on it: we have defenders who are very good with the ball at their feet, like Bastoni, Di Lorenzo, and Calafiori, but in a one-on-one situation, it's not the same. We’re missing what Acerbi provides with Inter, to give an example.”
Capello focused on another flaw in the Italy national team's game, then extending the discussion to all of Italian football:
"Speed: I’ll be repetitive but I insist, in Serie A, the game is played at too slow a pace. And the many referee stoppages certainly don’t help. It’s no coincidence that when we step outside the boundaries of our league, we often struggle.”
