Cohen: Capello reminds me of Sir Alf Ramsey

The Italian has led the Three Lions to a faultless 2010 World Cup qualification campaign to date, winning all four matches, but has seen his side fall short in friendlies against France and Spain, losing 1-0 in Paris and Seville respectively.

However, former Fulham defender Cohen, who featured at right-back during England's one and only World Cup triumph on home soil 43 years ago, believes the Italian has - like Ramsey - stamped his authority on the England squad and their high-profile stars; something that previous bosses have failed to do effectively.

"Missing out a place at the qualifying for the European Championships last year was quite frankly a massive disappointment to all of us," he said at the launch of 'Our Sporting Life', a programme set up by the Sporting Heritage Network to celebrate British achievement ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

"It's been a long, long time since we won anything. I think the whole thing was poorly run for a long time, and without getting personal, the side has been badly managed.

"I think in Capello we have a real disciplinarian, he has players thinking only about the football, which is how it should be.

"In that sense he is the same as Ramsey. He would always make sure we concentrated on why we were there, with no asides, and he got results. Capello is the same.

"I think Capello is right to impose some discipline on them and to say 'you are expected here at a certain time, we all eat at a certain time'.

"England have improved under Capello, there's no doubt about that. But it's very difficult to know if we are any closer to a second World Cup, because we haven't yet played the likes of Argentina."

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