In the second part of his interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Fabio Capello compared Tammy Abraham and Romelu Lukaku to explain the crisis of Italian football.
The Azzurri won UEFA Euro 2020 in the summer but failed to qualify for Qatar 2022 in March. Serie A clubs have also failed to gain access to the Champions League quarter-finals for the second season in a row and Capello once again spoke about the crisis of Italian football in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
“We should think about one thing: Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi are struggling in leagues that are more competitive than Serie A, while Abraham wasn’t this strong in England,” he said.
“The ball isn’t moved quickly enough in Italy, so it’s easy to intercept it. We suffer the pressing because we never overcome it with one touch, we always need three. We should train all day on the technique, but we focus on tactics instead.”
Abraham joined Roma from Chelsea in a €40m deal in the summer and has become one of the most prolific debutants in the history of the Giallorossi, scoring 24 goals in 47 appearances across all competitions.
On the other hand, Lukaku is having a tough time at Chelsea, where he returned in a €113m deal in 2021. The former Inter striker has only scored 12 goals in 40 appearances with the Blues after netting 64 goals in 95 games during his two-year spell with the Nerazzurri.
Capello su Inzaghi: "Fa un buon calcio e se reagisce al ko resta il favorito. Ma serve qualità" https://t.co/msf3ZE4gck
— La Gazzetta dello Sport (@Gazzetta_it) April 29, 2022
says the most overly tactical person on earth stfu. also someone explain to me how ligue 1 is more competitive than serie a when the same team wins every year. sick of these dinosaurs man go to your nursing home and be quiet.
France is more physical. The uk is faster 1 touch football. I like serie a but its definetly far behind the premier league and la liga.
Capello is a Champion & thus deserves the maximum respect.
His career success speaks for itself
I mean you need to respect his opinion because he’s Capello… but cmon. Hakimi is struggling at PSG because France has a more competitive league? So same thing for Messi and La Liga? And Balotelli would surely serve as the counterexample, given his dominance for 2 French teams and failure to do anything afterwards in Serie A and B.
I just hate these league comparisons by individual player performances. You can find examples to prove any league is better than another.
serie a has 1 prb and that’s the governing body that rules against lifting the standards of serie A .. One time prem was the worst league in the world , now look how it’s grown e.g infustructure ,out dated rules while in serie a its to much red tape
He and Sacchi should not allow to speak publicly anymore.
Capello commands respect because this career was full of victories within different teams. He’s right that Serie A is obsessed with tactics and not technique. It’s OK to focus on tactics if you have the skill to implement them. Italians were master defenders for decades as well as being lethal at counterattack. Now we do neither particularly well.
For those trying to counter Capello’s comments by bringing up players and leagues, just focus on the pathetic state of Italian clubs in Europe. No need to look any further.
They should stop using players to compare different leagues… The fact a player fails at one club or league doesn’t mean he can’t do well at another! Lukaku for me is not meant to be successful at Chelsea! He has tried over and over again and hasn’t worked out! Capello shouldn’t forget this same Lukaku did very well with Everton and then pretty well with Man United and Abraham is still very young and started his career well before having some problems. Mohammed Sala wasn’t even recognized at Roma but has became a King in England, Ronaldo hardly scored Free kicks in Italy and so on… Italy should focus on improving their leagues, change their laws and allow for modern and new infrastructure and stop comparisons.. It’s getting boring!
Hakimi in a more competitive league?! Is he deluded?! Lukaku thiugh is just bad full stop but look how he was at West Brom and his record for Utd! And well Abraham rarely played for CHelski and didn’t do too bad when he did in these points Capello is wrong but on others such as pace and pressing he is right! But also mentioned technique! There is no technique in the EPL if there is it’s all foreign it’s more pace and power
So how doesn’t he explain Kuluwevski and Bentancur?
@Rob silly comment. Mentioning players is a proper counter because its the basis of his argument.
Ligue 1 is more competitive than Serie A? Please go away old man. Serie A is the third best league (By UEFA coefficient rankings, not your opinion).
Capello is right, but he really should STFU. We played some of the most boring football ever when he was in charge.
Definitely right about the ball being played too slowly. One touch football is something that is not done and players hold on to the ball too long. You only need to watch a few games to see it. He just did a poor job of explaining it and I don’t think his comparisons are valid.
Can you explain Salah then big Fabio? I love the man but he says a lot of rubbish these last few years
What is this guy on about? lol
Lukaku’s scoring record from play is identical in his 2 years in Italy to his last 3 full seasons in England.
Abraham is getting a league goal every 186 min for Roma, and got one every 155 min for Chelsea.
And what about Salah, B Fernandes, and the long list of flops from other leagues hat are stars in the epl?
Capello’s views (and his awful dinosaur football) were out of date 20 years ago.
@Ferban I couldn’t agree with you more. He used to be precise, like a Swiss clock, now he is as accurate as a broken clock.