Despite a last gasp penalty from Lorenzo Insigne rescuing a 1-1 draw with England at Wembley Stadium, Azzurri boss Luigi Di Biagio was adamant his team could have gotten more from the game.
Jamie Vardy put England ahead midway through the first half, but in the 87th minute Insigne fired home from 12 yards after Federico Chiesa was bundled over in the box.
“I’m disappointed to have lost one of the two games [against Argentina],” Di Biagio told the press. “We could have got more from it, and tonight we played a good match, playing with personality at Wembley, which we mustn’t forget.
“It has been a fantastic 10 days for me. I knew some of the players already and the gave me everything. I thanked them for the commitment they have shown.
“I think this is a starting point for Italy. People have said that we should start with defence, but if you don’t go out and try and play football, you don’t improve.
“If you play well in 10 games you’ll win 8 out of those 10.”
There has been increased speculation as to whether Di Biagio will be on the Azzurri bench for their next round of friendlies in June, though the interim coach isn’t too concerned.
“I don’t know if I’ll be there,” Di Biagio said. “This isn’t the problem. This is not what I’m concentrating on.
“If I’m there, I’ll carry on with my ideas and concepts, which are to play football, win the ball in the opposition half and take the game to the opponents.
“This group IS Italy, they are good players and need to know they are good, they aren’t as bad as people say. They need to know they can improve and do well.”
For England’s goal, both Leonardo Bonucci and Daniele Rugani switched off as Jesse Lingard’s quick freekick caught out the Azzurri backline.
“I wasn’t angry with the England goal,” Di Biagio stated calmly. “These things happen. They know they need to be focused and be careful throughout the game, but these things happen.
“It’s a pity not scoring a lot of goals, particularly after the chances we created in the last two matches. The goals will come if we keep doing what we are doing.
“The main things is that this group of players improve, they must be allowed to grow. There have been mistakes, but they need to try things.
“Those mistakes were made as they tried to do what I had asked of them. It is better to make a mistake then trying to do what is asked.”
