Lack of depth could hamper Capello - Hoddle

Glenn Hoddle believes Fabio Capello will have to act quickly address a lack of depth in quality of English players which contrasts unfavourably with his own time as national team boss.

Capello was confirmed as the new England manager by the Football Association and has agreed a four-and-a-half-year contract to lead the team to the 2010 World Cup and 2012 European Championships.

However, Hoddle claims the Italian will be hampered by the lack of strength in depth and believes it has grown more acute since he led the team in the 1998 World Cup.

Hoddle told Sky Sports News: “Our squad has got more and more limited to the base of it.

“I don’t think we’ve got it in depth as we did when I was playing, certainly in the mid-90s and what I had as a manager in the 98 World Cup.

“So I think it’s limited – it isn’t even a squad like Chelsea have got, or Manchester United or even Arsenal, the depth isn’t quite there.

“We were without five experienced players for the Croatia game but we didn’t have the depth in our substitutes or second string who were good enough to go on and win that game. So that is a problem for him and one he is going to have to learn and find out pretty quickly.”

The former Tottenham and Swindon boss also believes Capello might have to change his confrontational approach if he is to succeed.

The Italian has fallen out with a number of high-profile players in the past including last year at Real Madrid where he dropped David Beckham for a number of weeks.

“I think it’s very difficult to do that as an international manager,” Hoddle added.

“I feel he may have to change that style because that works when you are day to day and you play Saturday, resume Sunday or Monday and you’ve got things to say.

“I think it’s pretty difficult for him, especially at the beginning if his English isn’t perfect, he might find that a real challenge and that maybe he has got to manage it in a little bit of a different way.”

Capello has a reputation for producing sides who achieve success through being well-drilled and disciplined.

Hoddle believes this approach may suit England.

“He has based his style on defence, he has got an old Italian head but it has been successful and in the end maybe the press and the public are going to have to give him a chance to see if we can get results in that way,” he said.

“Because at the moment we haven’t had the results we wanted.

“So they’ve chosen someone who isn’t going to be playing free-flowing football and in some ways that might suit us a little bit because at this moment in time we can’t go and dominate matches at national level.

“A little bit like Scotland had to find out that they were better on the counter attack and maybe the press and the public have to understand that this might be a different English way of playing.”