Fabio Capello admitted for the first time on Tuesday that he has made mistakes during the course of England’s faltering World Cup campaign. The Italian’s position will come under pressure should England fail to reach the second round by beating Slovenia on Wednesday, and he accepted that he must take his share of the responsibility.
“Sometimes we make mistakes, but we win,” Capello said. “Now we haven’t won, but we haven’t lost either. It’s possible I’ve made some mistakes. It’s possible. But I don’t know if some players had changed something, we would have won. You can only speak about the results.”
Capello insisted that the mood in his squad is upbeat despite a troubled week that has seen John Terry expose rifts in the dressing room and dissatisfaction with aspect’s of the manager’s leadership style.
“The players are really good, because every time when I speak with the players they follow me,” Capello said. “The players are happy and they trained very well. I think it’s normal to have pressure at the moment. We have a play-off to be in or out. We have to win.
The England manager claimed that he had never contemplated dropping Terry after the defender’s choice to raise a number of grievances within the squad in a public forum on Sunday and not behind closed doors. “John Terry is one of the most important players,” Capello said.
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Steven Gerrard also gave Terry his backing despite being privately unhappy at the former captain’s untimely intervention. “He’s gone out and said what he said, but I think it’s time to move on,” Gerrard said. “As captain it’s important I switch attention to the game as it’s a do-or-die situation. Training was very good and sharp this morning so we need to go out and do the business.”