Roberto Mancini vowed to start a new era with Italy as the Azzurri look to rediscover their Euro 2020 magic, but warned not to expect instant fixes as he cannot "invent players".
Italy lifted the European Championship last July, their first since 1968, with a penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley.
The Azzurri followed that up by failing to make a second straight World Cup, following play-off defeat to North Macedonia in March, which led to questions over coach Mancini's tenure.
Development problems were also cited with the Italian system, which was bemoaned for struggling to produce younger players for the national team with Serie A coaches reluctant to trust the youth.
Italy were 3-0 losers to Argentina in the 'Finalissima' on Wednesday, a meeting between the Euro 2020 winners and Copa America champions, and Mancini promised change after that game.
The former Manchester City coach reiterated his desire for new beginnings with Italy, although he does not expect quick solutions ahead of the Nations League opener at home to Germany on Saturday.
"The victory of the European Championship is part of the magic that are part of those tournaments. Now we have to start again and go back to that magic," he told reporters on Friday.
"I have never had this type of problem. In football, however, when you win everyone is with you and when you lose almost everyone against you. That's how it is.
"Against Argentina we paid for the loss of players, one after the other. We weren't such a huge group and the injuries affected us: Argentina were better than us, they had fresher players and maybe it's the first game in three and a half years where we find a team that has put us under pressure, even if we made two mistakes on goals in the first half.
"It takes time, we cannot invent players and we know that we will have to suffer enough.
"The restart is from now. The new cycle starts again from tomorrow.
"The common thread is the same: looking for players with quality, speed, who they will not be like [Marco] Verratti and Jorginho who played in certain teams and therefore it will take a little longer.
"If we can give some minutes to these guys who have never played in the national team, and see them integrated well, it would be better."
Italy host Germany and Hungary before visiting England on June 11, with a return trip to Hansi Flick's side three days later capping off the internationals for this month.
Mancini believes that England and Germany pose two of the toughest tasks in international football at the moment, and cited Brazil, France and Argentina among the favourites for the World Cup in Qatar.
"We face the two strongest teams at the moment, Germany and England," he added. "They are among the best, they have great players and we take a lot of risks by changing a lot, it could be a good start.
"The most important thing will be to defend well and attack better. We face one of the strongest teams in the world along with Brazil, Argentina, France...
"Germany are technical, very fast when they counter-attack and come to press. They will be among the favourites for the World Cup victory in Qatar.
"We must defend all together and attack and press as we did for three and a half years: we did it for three and a half years with players who didn't seem able to do it, yet they have done."
President of Brazilian FA confirms Ancelotti interest
The president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has confirmed an interest in appointing Carlo Ancelotti as the next head coach of the national side.
Brazil are yet to name a permanent successor to Tite, who left following a quarter-final exit at the World Cup in Qatar, with the role likely to be filled at the end of the season.
Ancelotti remains contracted with Real Madrid until the completion of the 2023-24 season, but the Italian has been heavily touted to take the reins of the South American giants, with players among those talking up the possibility.
Ednaldo Rodrigues admitted he was the favourite among supporters and players, while acknowledging he was the confederation's main target.
"Ancelotti is unanimously respected among players. Not only Ronaldo Nazario or Vinicius Jr but all those that have played for him," he told Reuters.
"I really admire him for his honesty in the way he works and how constant his work is. He needs no introductions. He is really a top coach who he has several achievements, and we hope he can have even more.
"Ancelotti is not only the players' favourite, but it seems the fans' too. Everywhere I go in Brazil, in every stadium, he is the first name the supporters ask me about.
"They talk about him in a very affectionate way, in recognition of the exemplary work he has done in his career.
"Let's have faith in God, wait for the appropriate time and we'll see if we can make it happen as we look for the new coach of the Brazilian national team."
However, despite the abundance of praise and appeal of hiring Ancelotti, Rodrigues made it clear no formal approach has taken place and called for patience in the hunt for a new boss.
"We will be very ethical in our approach and respect the contracts that are in place. We also greatly respect the work that is done by any coach and his club to get there and make any kind of approach, it would be a lack of respect for the president of the clubs in question," he added.
"Therefore, we have the patience to wait for the right moment so that we can hold these conversations.
"Nothing is really defined yet to say the name [of the next coach] for sure, but it's within this line, you understand? We need a coach who has the players' respect and admiration."
Eriksen recovery 'going well' with hope of Man Utd return before end of season
Christian Eriksen is set to step up his recovery from injury as he attempts to at least play some role in Manchester United sealing a potential treble.
The Manchester United midfielder suffered an ankle injury during the FA Cup victory over Reading in January, sparking fears that it would result in a premature end to his maiden campaign at Old Trafford.
However, the Denmark international is optimistic that he can return before United's season – which could result in further honours in the FA Cup and Europa League following their EFL Cup triumph – comes to a close
"Yeah, it is going well. I have just started being outside as you saw [on Instagram] with football boots on," he told the club website.
"And then we take it from there, that is the next step. I have been in the gym for some weeks now and now it is time to do the next rehab session outside."
"I think earlier in my career I would have taken it a lot harder than I do now.
"You learn later on that it's just part of your career. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you are not.
"With this one particularly, when I can't do anything myself, when somebody came on to me, the mindset is just getting back as soon as possible in a healthy, strong way and not to get any setbacks."
Zaniolo hits out at Roma for treating him as a 'capital gain'
Nicolo Zaniolo hit out at Roma for "unfulfilled promises" and treating him as a "capital gain" after he joined Galatasaray last month.
Zaniolo left the Eternal City giants to join the Turkish Super Lig leaders for a fee €16.5million early in February.
The Italy midfielder had been expected to move on during the January transfer window, but he turned down a move to Premier League strugglers Bournemouth.
Zaniolo signed a four-year deal with Galatasaray after being left out on in the cold at Roma and the 23-year-old has pointed the finger at his former club over the way he was treated.
He told the Gazzetta dello Sport: "I could talk for hours about unfulfilled promises. They [Roma] told me I was a spearhead, instead I've always been considered just a capital gain.
"For two years I was told that the new contract was ready. In January of last year I would have signed for slightly more than what I was earning, because I was fine in Rome and I knew there were problems with Financial Fair Play. After much talk I'm bored. If I have to reflect on my farewell, I think others must do it too."
Zaniolo was hurt by being called a traitor.
He added: "It's something I'm very sorry about. Roma gave me everything, thanks to Roma I won and I made my debut for the national team, my son was born there. Being labelled that way was a big blow."
Zaniolo continued: "The truth will come out. I'm just saying that I've always trained, even if not with the others."
Much was made of a supposed fall-out between Zaniolo and Jose Mourinho, but the playmaker has no problem with the Roma head coach.
"He's a great coach and a great person," Zaniolo said of his old boss. "He made me play almost always. Sure, he's used to managing star players and I wasn't [one]. I would have liked to have him in four or five years, but he gave me so much anyway."
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