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England were in tatters when I took over: Capello

When Capello arrived in England two years ago he found a group of players whose confidence was at rock bottom after their failure to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren.

The former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach immediately set about restoring the squad’s belief and his no-nonsense style has gradually transformed an underachieving side into a unit that qualified for the World Cup in impressive fashion.

Now England go to South Africa as one of the main contenders to win the tournament and Capello insists they must reach the final for the campaign to be regarded as a success.

“When I arrived and saw the players, they looked a spent force. They were scared and without any sense of belonging,” he said.

“It was really surprising. But I rebuilt England psychologically. I did a lot of talking and laid down the rules. I restored pride to the shirt.

“I tightened the bolts and imposed seriousness, and we now have a concrete group.”

England have been drawn to face the United States, Algeria and Slovenia in their World Cup group and, despite a spate of injuries to key players in the final weeks of the Premier League season, Capello is confident his side can go all the way.

“For me, not arriving in the World Cup final would be a failure,” he added.

Given that many England fans share Capello’s belief that his team can win the World Cup for only the second time, the Italian admits there is far more pressure attached to his current role than there has been at any of his former clubs.

“Obviously it’s a very different job being a national manager rather than a club manager,” he told the League Managers’ Association’s The Manager magazine.

“The pressure is bigger as England manager. The country expects a lot and the fans believe a lot in the team.

“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.

“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.”

Capello has a well-earned reputation as a hard taskmaster who imposes strict rules on his squads, but the 63-year-old insists he is capable of taking a more human approach with his players if the occasion arises.

“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 be able to react when they lose form and make changes during a game and even during training sessions.

“It is really important to let the player recover in terms of confidence.

“You do need instinct as a manager, but you need experience to back up your instinct.”