Football Update: Fabio Capello not bothered by added pressure, it comes with the territory
English football coach, Fabio Capello has said that he is not bothered by the pressure on his team ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
There has been talk of new era after the world cup for England, but Capello is not expected to make drastic changes in the team that lost 4-1 to Germany in the world cup.
Manchester City goal keeper, Joe Hart would be replacing David James, and Phil Jagielka and Theo Walcott would make their way in the team instead of John Terry and Frank Lampard.
The Italian manager said that normally when he is put under pressure; it does bring out the best in him. He said that he has faced much tougher situations and this is nothing new to him. Capello said that during his time in Milan and in Madrid, he did face similar pressures.
The process of redemption for Capello can begin with wins against Bulgaria and Switzerland in the Euro qualifiers, while a loss may result in paving way for his exit.
The former Real Madrid boss came to England with a big reputation but has not been able to deliver as expected. World cup was believed to be the Litmus test for the manager but the team fell horribly at the round of against Germany where they lost 4-1.
After the world cup, England have played just one international match that was a friendly against Hungary that they won 2-1. Capello intends to make some changes in the team but not any drastic ones. He said that there is no need to panic as the team is capable of big things but it was the fact that they were not fully prepared in the world cup.
England will play Switzerland on Tuesday, and the manager knows that his team has to come away with all 3 points in the 2 games for his job to be safe.
Capello said that he never boasted about his credentials, and instead it was the media who built him up when he took the England job. He added that all he can do is do the job to the best of his ability and let the team do the business on the pitch. He said he can still remember the good things written about him in the papers when he took on the England job and also the criticism that followed after the world cup. He went on to say that, all of that comes with the high profile job and he is not bothered about any of it.
Capello said that the loss against Germany was massive, but one should not forget that referee made a big mistake and that cost the team heavily. The manager said that anyone who understands football should know that, if the score would have been 2-2 at half time. The approach of his team in the 2nd half would have been a lot different. He said that at 2-1 down, the team had to go out and get the goal and were caught on the break. Instead had it been 2-2 the team would have played their own game and waited for the right opportunity, so it is quite unfair to ignore that blunder by the referee and criticize the England team.
Meanwhile, England captain for the world cup Steven Gerrard put his weight behind the manager. Gerrard said that Capello has been worked for the interest of the team and laid out plans that actually worked. He said that he cannot speak for the whole team but as far as he is concerned, he is 100% behind the manager. Gerrard added that he has not heard anything from any member of his team that would suggest otherwise.
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