Italy coach Giovanni Trapattoni has dismissed calls for his resignation in the wake of his side’s disappointing 1-1 draw with Yugoslavia on Saturday.
Saturday’s performance provoked a series of scathing comments in the Italian presss with Corriere dello Sport even demanding the return of Dino Zoff as national coach.
‘The truth is that you journalists would like to change the coach every two months,’ Trapattoni said.
‘When I was 40, I reacted to results differently. The ghost of Zoff? Now I’m calm, I don’t lose sleep about it. I don’t see ghosts.’
Trapattoni’s popularity has plummeted since Italy’s poor showing at the World Cup finals, when they were knocked out in the second round to South Korea. A subsequent friendly defeat to Slovenia did nothing to ease the pressure on Trapattoni and Saturday’s draw against Yugoslavia has hardly improved his standing.
Nonetheless, Trappattoni maintains tht he has the full support of his players.
‘Either the players are liars and they’re hiding their disaffection for me, or they don’t have a problem,’ he added.
‘I always say to them: ‘Trainers come and go. It’s you who must be responsible’.’
