Italy forward Federico Bernardeschi has asked for patience after criticism directed at the Azzurri and coach Roberto Mancini over their recent poor outings.
A 1-1 draw against Poland on Friday was followed by another dismal performance in a 1-0 defeat to Portugal on Monday, with many hitting out at the inexperience within the squad, along with Mancini’s turnover between matches.
Bernardeschi believes expectations are too high for Italy after their recent failures, but he is confident Mancini is the right man to get them back on track.
“Mancini is the right man to start over with,” he told Undici. “He’s played football, he knows football, he was a great player and he is a great coach.
“He will show that again. Faith must be shown in him, and there has to be some patience with his work. If you want everything right away, in the end you ruin things.
“If you’re expecting Italy to win their first five friendlies 4-0, then something isn’t working. When you reach rock bottom you all have to join hands in order to rise up.”
Mancini has been criticized for his experimental line-up against Portugal on Monday, but Bernardeschi insists faith must be shown in Italy’s youth.
“We need a mentality that brings us back to where Italy deserves to be, there has to be a group working for the same objective: to restart Italian football,” he added.
“This is a good group of players and there are a lot of youngsters with personality and potential. We have a strong and healthy group with which we can start again.
“Obviously a youngster cannot be a veteran, it takes a bit of time. What wouldn’t be right is to criticize a group of youngsters, and the fact that they’re not ready.”
Italy’s next match is a friendly against Ukraine on October 10.
