Arrigo Sacchi believes Roberto Mancini can improve Italy but “as long as the Federation doesn’t improve, it won’t do any good”.
The legendary tactician is himself a former Azzurri CT, and he spoke about the national team in his interview with Corriere della Sera.
“It won’t be easy,” Sacchi warned.
“There was only one in Italy who tried to fix things alone, and look how that ended. Mancini can do his bit, but as long as the Federation doesn’t improve, it won’t do any good.
Arrigo Sacchi believes Roberto Mancini can improve Italy but “as long as the Federation doesn’t improve, it won’t do any good”.
The legendary tactician is himself a former Azzurri CT, and he spoke about the national team in his interview with Corriere della Sera.
“It won’t be easy,” Sacchi warned.
“There was only one in Italy who tried to fix things alone, and look how that ended. Mancini can do his bit, but as long as the Federation doesn’t improve, it won’t do any good.
“Look at Germany and the project they put in place when they lost the 2006 World Cup at home. A broad, modern plan which bore fruit in 10 years.
“Without planning there’s no future, only improvisation.”
Sacchi has previously courted controversy for claiming there are “too many black players” in youth teams, a statement not helped when he tried to clarify he was talking about foreigners.
“It’s a complicated subject which only lends itself to polemic and populism. I’m only talking about football.
“I ask you: when did we win everything? We know the answer to that, when there were three foreigners [on each team] and all were champions.
“Before they had won nothing, here they matured. We helped them and they helped us. That’s progress.”
Another hobby horse for the Milan legend is what he perceives as the innate caution in Italian football.
“There are five or six [Coaches] who understand football must go in another direction,” Sacchi said.
“They put courage, ideas and beauty at the centre of their project. I’m very impressed with [Marco] Giampaolo and I’ve said that several times, and Roberto De Zerbi really struck me, against Inter he had the courage to cause a shock.
“Sassuolo had confidence in the work they’d done and you could clearly see he’d imposed his own game, without fear.
“What a nice surprise [Empoli’s Andrea] Andreazzoli was too. He’s no longer a young man, but he knows how to get his team playing well. He knows how to have fun.
“And what a show Atalanta put on for 90 minutes.
“The best in the world today and the model to follow is Pep Guardiola’s [Manchester] City. In the 80th minute at 5-1, they try to score the sixth goal.
“He’s constantly looking for beauty, although of course beauty isn’t an end in itself. Beauty helps you to get better.”