Italian coaching legend Fabio Capello has advised Italy coach Roberto Mancini to change his playing style and implement the gegenpressing tactics of Liverpool’s German coach Jurgen Klopp instead of a possession-based game like Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
The Azzurri have missed out on the World Cup for the second time in a row after they lost 1-0 to North Macedonia in the World Cup play-offs, prompting a rethink of the Italian game.
Capello in particular wants Italy to move away from trying to monopolise possession, and focus on intense pressing as well as breaking quickly.
“We stopped 15 years ago, at Guardiola’s football in Barcelona,” Capello told La Repubblica. “In the meantime, Guardiola has evolved and offers another football today.
“I say that we must look to Germany and Klopp. Reconquest of the ball and fast restart. I think that is the model to follow.
“Spain is unique: they have an extraordinary individual technique, unthinkable for us today.”
