The headline said it loud and clear - Enough of Trapattoni, Bring on Zoff. If he did not already know it, Sunday's front page banner headline on daily Corriere Dello Sport would have served to inform Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni that tomorrow night's European qualifier away to Wales in Cardiff will be a case of do or die.
Another false step, the headline suggested, and it will be time to hand over to his predecessor, Dino Zoff, the man who led Italy to that last-gasp Euro 2000 final defeat by France two years ago.
Sixty-three-year-old "Trap" has been around a long time, and we can probably believe him when he said yesterday that "the thought of Zoff doesn't stop me sleeping".
We would believe him just a little less, however, if he suggested that tomorrow night's tie against a Welsh side that started Group Nine with an impressive 2-0 away against Finland does not worry him, just a little.
There was a time when Italy would have approached an away fixture with Wales in a spirit of manifest confidence. When the two countries last met, in the qualifying round for Euro 2000, Italy had the better of the exchanges, winning both games with an aggregate 6-0 scoreline.
It should be more or less the same this time round, but Italy and Trapattoni are under fierce pressure.
A 1-1 qualifying draw with Yugoslavia in Naples on Saturday was only the latest in a series of disappointing performances that go back to Italy's mid-summer debacle at the World Cup finals. Since their Golden Goal World Cup exit at the hands of South Korea, Italy have lost to Slovenia in a friendly, struggled to beat Azerbijan 2-0 in their opening qualifer and then had to fight hard to equalise against the Yugoslavs.
There are extenuating circumstances. For a start, Italy were without Christian Vieri, Francesco Totti and Gigi Di Biagio in Naples. If you take away the team's most effective goalscorer, its most skilful playmaker and its most solid midfielder, then you may have problems. If you add the consideration that former captain Paolo Maldini, a pillar for the last decade and more, has retired from international football, then more problems could be on the way.
It is also worth recalling that when they are in the mood Yugoslavs such as Darko Kovacevic, Pedrag Mijatovic, Dejan Stankovic and Sinisa Mihajlovic can still play a bit. Given that more than half the side which lined out against Italy last Saturday either plays or has played in Serie A, motivation was not lacking.
The problems continue for tomorrow night. In-form striker Filippo Inzaghi has joined Vieri and Totti on the injured list, forcing Trapattoni to call up Middlesborough striker Massimo Maccarone. Maccarone may well get his game too, alongside Alessandro Del Piero and in front of Andrea Pirlo.
It says much about the ad hoc nature of Trapattoni's side that Maccarone and Pirlo between them have earned just three caps. Behind Pirlo, Di Biagio, Massimo Ambrosini and Gennaro Gattuso form a ball-winning trio that ought to be well able for the Welsh harry and hassle.
If the thought of Zoff does not cause Trapattoni problems, what about the image of Ryan Giggs? If Italian right back Christian Panucci had problems against Azebaijan's Aliyev and Yugoslavia's Dragutinovic, then what are his chances against Giggs? Given that all of Italy knows about Giggs, then the winger can expect to come in for some close marking tomorrow, with perhaps Gattuso called on to help out Panucci.
Trapattoni and Italy need nothing less than a win. Notwithstanding new-found Welsh enthusiasms, they should be good enough to pull it off: "I've already been through moments like this, it happens. I've seen better teams of mine than this one go through a crisis and come out of it," said Trapattoni yesterday.
The "crisis" had better end tomorrow night in Cardiff.
