Italy coach Roberto Mancini admits they’re opening up a new cycle after their World Cup qualifying failure.
Mancini saw his ageing team thumped 3-0 by Argentina at Wembley this week.
“The victory in the Euros is part of the magic of that tournament, now we need to start again and find that magic once more,” the former Inter Milan coach said.
“In football, everyone is behind you when you win and when you lose almost everyone turns against you. That’s just how it is.
“We paid a price against Argentina for losing so many players. It wasn’t exactly an enormous squad to begin with and injuries did the rest. Argentina are in better shape right now and perhaps for the first time in three-and-a-half years we found a team that genuinely did dominate us, at least in the second half.
“It takes time, we can’t just invent new players straight away, we knew it was going to be a tough process. It’s going to be a total reset, many of the players have already left and weren’t in any shape to play four games, it would’ve just created even more problems in September.
“The new era begins tomorrow.
“The focus remains the same, finding players with quality and pace, it’s just that while Verratti and Jorginho play for top-level European clubs, these new faces don’t and so it will take a little more time.”
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