Legendary Italian coach Fabio Capello is looking forward to the return of Serie A: “I want to see courage and imagination.” The season starts again with titleholders Inter travelling to Genoa, while Milan host Torino at the San Siro. Speaking with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Capello, explained his hopes for the campaign ahead, and the brand of football he wants from teams in Serie A:
“I hope to see fewer balls passed back to the goalkeeper, with the pretext of building from the back, and more vertical and quality play. Let’s copy Spain European champion that practices the football that I like, made of fantasy, one-on-one and, precisely, verticality”.
“Inter start ahead of all the others. It is the favorite: they have strengthened, they have two teams available. Inzaghi runs on all tracks, including the one that leads to the Champions League. If the team got there two years ago I don’t see why it can’t succeed also in the next one, having in the meantime acquired greater confidence in its means thanks to the scudetto, fruit moreover of an overwhelming superiority over the opponents. I really think that for the Nerazzurri the Champions League is a concrete objective, if not the main one”.
You were saying of an Inter with two “elevens” of equal level: in fact it is difficult not to consider the new Zielinski and Taremi up to the starters.
“They are two additions that convince me: in Naples Zielinski has always done very well, except in the last season. Taremi is a solid, experienced, concrete center forward, who knows how to play also outside the area. They are two Inter-level purchases, two starters in all respects”.
A battleship without weak points?
“One: the high average age. In particular in fundamental elements like Acerbi, director of the defense. Inzaghi will have to be good at rotating the men at the right moment”.
Of young people however there are, like Bisseck or Asslani.
“I like Asslani, but the problem is that in Inter’s midfield they are all strong… But the most important aspect is the team spirit: if Inter will preserve that of last year, it will have already taken an important step forward”.
Right behind Inter who is there?
“Milan. It seems to me that beating City, Real and Barcelona, albeit on penalties, is a nice calling card for the season that begins. True, they were pre-season friendlies and the opponents were not fielding their best formation, but if it’s for this even Milan were missing some starters. It seems to me that an offensive mentality, a team compactness and above all a spirit of revenge have been seen that bode well. The Pioli-Fonseca change has been absorbed without shocks by the group, and moreover Fonseca is one who has ideas. For example, it seems to me that he is well aware that in football the defensive phase is also important and has therefore put his hand to it, given the unacceptable quantity of goals conceded in the past season”.
On which players will the Rossoneri fortunes depend?
“The “old ones” must return to the levels of the scudetto year. I think of Maignan, of Theo, who at the European Championship seemed to me very applied, of Leao, who must grow in concreteness and productivity. Fonseca is recovering Chukwueze, who last year was the stand-in of the player I had admired at Villarreal. In a football like the modern one, where so much density is made in the middle of the field, one with his dribbling can be decisive”.
Isn’t it a too unbalanced Milan, the one with Chuk-Pulisic-Leao behind Morata?
“Pulisic is one who sacrifices a lot, comes back a lot in coverage. Speaking of Morata, I like him a lot because he is a center forward who makes his teammates play”.
Juve?
“It’s a nice construction site. It seems strange to me that a national team player like Chiesa is put on the margins. On the other hand Motta is one with clear ideas, very determined. It seems to me he is imposing his choices. Should he arrive, Koopmeiners would be a very important addition. The Dutchman is a complete midfielder: he defends, makes play, scores. The classic player that everyone would want”.
Does the Douglas Luiz-Thuram pair form a scudetto-worthy midfield?
“Let’s say it forms a midfield capable of battling with Inter. They are two midfielders able to do everything, Thuram seems to me one endowed with great personality”.
What idea have you formed of the new Napoli?
“That Conte has brought an enthusiasm that the city needed, after the terrible, last season, all the more serious for the fact of wearing the scudetto on the chest. Now Antonio has on his shoulders the weight of a team and an environment all that asks him for the relaunch. Conte will have to motivate and bring back to their best levels players who after winning had settled. Without Osimhen it will be a bit more difficult”.
Does it convince you, the possible exchange with Lukaku?
“If one had to go around choosing, he would take Lukaku, a center forward with sure performance and who knows the coach well. It’s a purchase that I approve”.
Atalanta?
“Here, I gladly spend a few more words on the Goddess. I’m very sorry that Gasperini finds himself with players like Scalvini and Scamacca out of use due to injury, and dealing with the Koopmeiners issue. The club has just won the Europa League, it was rightly ambitious for the season that begins, for this it’s a pity to see it dealing with unpleasant situations not dependent on its will. But the club is healthy and organized: President Percassi is a former footballer, Gasperini knows his stuff. Together they will solve problems as they have always done”.
They started by taking Retegui to plug the hole opened by Scamacca’s absence…
“It’s a right choice. He’s a player who knows our championship, Scamacca’s deputy in the National team. Atalanta has moved quickly and showing to have clear ideas”.
Do you like De Rossi’s new Roma?
“I define it the “fantasy team”. It seems to me that the arrival of Soulé, who flanks Dybala, expresses a will for offensive football, in which technique and genius stand out. Daniele De Rossi is in his first season in which he takes on the responsibility of building the team: he is doing it showing courage”.
Speaking of coaches, this championship is characterized by the many changes on the benches: 13, as only in the 2011-12 season in the new century.
“I’m intrigued by Italiano’s passage to the Bologna bench, as well as that of Palladino, of whom we all speak well, to Florence. Nesta has arrived in Monza, but there is Galliani who controls everything and will protect him, even if it will not be easy to do as well as in previous years. Then Vanoli in Turin: he is a coach who has done very well in Venice, he brings something new to Toro. I like him a lot, like Palladino: Toro and Fiorentina are clubs of a certain level, ambitious. They will be a nice test for them. Finally, Di Francesco: he deserves a bit more luck than in the past”
