Simone Zaza admitted Italy are in dire need of goals after their 1-0 defeat to Portugal, but insisted “at times we dominated the game.”
The Azzurri were beaten 1-0 in Lisbon, following on from the 1-1 home draw against Poland in the Nations League.
“I think at the end of the day, the need to score goals is the simplest thing to understand,” the Torino striker told Rai Sport.
Simone Zaza admitted Italy are in dire need of goals after their 1-0 defeat to Portugal, but insisted “at times we dominated the game.”
The Azzurri were beaten 1-0 in Lisbon, following on from the 1-1 home draw against Poland in the Nations League.
“I think at the end of the day, the need to score goals is the simplest thing to understand,” the Torino striker told Rai Sport.
“Portugal are the reigning Champions of Europe, at times we dominated the game, but if you don’t score goals, it’s unlikely you’re going to win or even draw matches."
Ciro Immobile wore the captain's armband as the player with the most caps, just 33 this evening.
“When a player of any age reaches the Nazionale, he has to give his all and be considered capable of wearing this jersey. There is a strong sense of responsibility that goes with that.
“It is also true we have a lot of young players, we’re in an experimental phase and changed nine of the starting XI from the Poland draw.
“We just have to listen to what the Coach says and try to get back on our feet as quickly as possible."
Italy started with a 4-4-2 and moved back to 4-3-3 in the second half, the same approach they had against Poland.
“I played 4-4-2 at Valencia and did well there, while I played 4-3-3 at Sassuolo. In general, I don’t mind what system we play in, it’s just that in some you have to do more ‘dirty work’ than others."
Zaza was asked if he was finally recovering from the trauma of missing a penalty in the Euro 2016 shoot-out with Germany.
“It’s the media who keep bringing up the penalty miss. It’s an incident that hurt me a lot, but also helped me to grow. I left the insults behind me, the Italy jersey is still a dream and that is all water under the bridge.”