Giampiero Ventura suggested Italy's struggles against Macedonia were down to a lack of experience.
Italy were facing the humiliating prospect of losing to a side ranked 133 places below them in the FIFA world rankings in Sunday's World Cup qualifier in Skopje when they trailed 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining.
However, Ciro Immobile scored twice in the last quarter of an hour - including an injury-time winner - to rescue a 3-2 win that leaves Italy on seven points from three Group G matches.
Head coach Ventura believes Italy showed they have the fighting spirit required to be a top team and expects his young side to learn from their mistakes.
"About 90 per cent of our mistakes were down to a lack of experience and, if you can say that, superficiality," he told Rai Sport.
"It requires patience when you have a lot of young players on the pitch.
"The fightback showed great character. We had 10-15 minutes of confusion in which we were not a team, but we got back together and went out to find this victory.
"This is further proof that we can achieve something very good."
‘The pure simplicity of the way Slot has managed the squad is probably the biggest thing I could say about him. It’s not broken, so let’s get on with it’: Liverpool legend full of admiration for Jurgen Klopp's successor at Anfield
‘I trained at Spurs and thought they’d give me a chance. But I received a letter thanking me but saying they didn’t think I was good enough – I was gutted’: How Tottenham missed out on signing Wales legend John Toshack
