Overview
- Ancelotti, speaking Friday, urged Italy to restore a defensive mindset and warned the team will keep suffering without stronger defending.
- He said Serie A has lost physical and mental pace compared with top European competitions, which lowers the level of play.
- He argued the league no longer attracts world‑class foreign players, leaving fewer elite examples for young Italians to learn from.
- He linked recent goal‑heavy games to defensive mistakes from risky pressing and man‑to‑man schemes, citing Atalanta’s one‑on‑one approach as exposing fragility.
- Italy’s playoff loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina sealed a third straight World Cup absence and prompted exits by FIGC chief Gabriele Gravina, delegation head Gianluigi Buffon and coach Gennaro Gattuso, with a Nations League group against Belgium and Turkey next in September.