England coach Fabio Capello has spoken of the pressure he feels in the job, saying he feels it more than he did at Real Madrid or AC Milan.
Capello had an outstanding qualifying campaign for the World Cup, and England go into the tournament rated as third favourites at 6/1 to win the trophy, behind Spain at 4/1 and five-time winners Brazil at 5/1.
But he said that one of the biggest frustrations he has encountered is not being able to work with his players more often.
“Obviously, it’s a very different job being a national manager rather than a club manager,” he said.
“The pressure is bigger as England manager because behind the national manager and the team you have the country. The country expects a lot and the fans believe a lot in the team.”
He added: “As a club manager you can work with your players every day, you can train to improve and study what happened and why in between each game and you can usually rectify things quickly.
“As England manager, I can do a lot of in-depth preparation and then there’s an injury and everything I have prepared is for nothing.”
The 63-year-old Italian said: “For me, the World Cup is a really big challenge. I think England are one of the best teams in the world and we can win against anyone.
“My approach to the World Cup is relaxed now. I have to study the other countries we will be playing against and hope that everything we are preparing will be ready for the tournament.”
One of his major concerns is the “quality of the pitches” in South Africa, Capello said, which is why he has been so obsessive about England’s training facilities in Rustenburg, before adding: “But my most important hope is that all of my best players will be injury-free and available to play in the World Cup.”
That hope is currently being tested, not least with first-choice midfielder Gareth Barry struggling to recover in time from an ankle injury.
Capello, in an interview with The Manager magazine, reiterated his belief that Wayne Rooney (10/1 to finish as the tournament’s top goalscorer) is “one of the best players in the world” and, once again, compared him to the Spanish striker Raúl, who he coached during his two spells in charge of Real, in terms of his influence.
“Wayne Rooney is one of the best talents I have ever coached,” the Italian added.
“He’s like Raúl, in that he’s a very important player and a big talent. Every time Rooney trains he wants to learn and he always wants to stay on that training pitch for as long as possible.
“It’s really important that the other players see that Rooney, one of the best players in the world, wants to stay on the pitch and wants to continue to learn.”
It’s a process that Capello, also, continues to undertake and he offered an insight into his own managerial philosophy.
“Instinct does play a part but you also have to be able to understand your players,” he said. “When your players are all in good form it is easy but you have to realise this is not always going to be the case.
“You have to be able to react when they lose form and make changes during a game and even during training sessions.”
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