Netherlands coach Dwight Lodeweges heaped praise upon Italy. ‘We lost to a good team that wants to do the same things we do, but they did them much better.’

Nicolò Barella peeled off defenders to nod in Ciro Immobile’s cross, despite being the shortest man on the pitch, as the Azzurri earned a 1-0 victory in Amsterdam on Monday evening.

Netherlands coach Dwight Lodeweges heaped praise upon Italy. ‘We lost to a good team that wants to do the same things we do, but they did them much better.’

Nicolò Barella peeled off defenders to nod in Ciro Immobile’s cross, despite being the shortest man on the pitch, as the Azzurri earned a 1-0 victory in Amsterdam on Monday evening.

That result puts the Azzurri top of their Nations League group on four points, followed by Holland and Poland on three, Bosnia-Herzegovina with one.

“We lost to a very good team who basically want to do the same things as we do, but they did them much better tonight,” interim coach Lodeweges told uefa.com.

“We didn't help each other enough in the first half. Just running very fast and working very hard is not enough. When we won possession of the ball, we were not fresh. The spaces were too big.

“Losing to a top opponent is not fun but it is a good chance to learn from it. We can still take a few more steps forward.”

Lodeweges took the temporary job after Ronald Koeman left to lead Barcelona, and had already praised Italy as taking a ‘very similar’ tactical approach to the Dutch before this game.

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