Italy's search for answers after another World Cup absence has produced plenty of debate, but one message has repeatedly emerged from the former players and coaches speaking to Football Presse this week.
The Azzurri's problem is not simply tactical.
It is cultural.
After hearing from former Napoli sporting director Mario Meluso, ex-Italy assistant Alberico Evani and Cagliari legend Marco Sanna, Football Presse continues its series "Italy's crisis" with Giuseppe Incocciati — a player who experienced Italian football during one of its greatest eras.
Incocciati knows what it means to play in a country obsessed with technique and creativity. A forward who represented clubs including AC Milan, Napoli, Bologna and Atalanta, he also worked under Arrigo Sacchi at Milan, experiencing first-hand the balance between tactical organisation and individual quality.
And for Incocciati, that balance is exactly what Italian football has lost.
"There are two aspects regarding Italian football," Incocciati told Football Presse. "On one side there is the governance, where hopefully people with great sporting experience will know where to intervene to improve the organisation of Italian football and also everything connected to the economic side.
"But then there is the technical aspect, where governance can do very little."
For Incocciati, the key decisions will be the people chosen to rebuild the footballing structure.
"We need to identify people who are capable not only of managing the technical area, the collaborators and everything around the environment, but above all people who understand what is missing today.
"Because I believe the most important ability in football is individual technique."
That, he believes, is where Italy has fallen behind.
"I hope the new people responsible for football education will be capable of transmitting desire, imagination and protecting the young players who have talent. We cannot just create players who are simple executors of tactical instructions, as we have seen until now.
"Looking at the results, it has not been productive. We have to change direction."
Those words follow a similar theme to the previous Football Presse interviews in this series.
Meluso argued Italy must reform its youth development system and create greater opportunities for Italian players. Evani called for a return to proper technical education. Sanna warned that Italian football has lost part of its identity.
Incocciati believes the root problem is that Italy is no longer developing players who can change games by themselves. The evidence, he argues, can be seen at international level.
Watching this summer's World Cup has only reinforced his belief that football's future belongs to teams with courage and technical ability.
"When I look at this World Cup, I see things that refresh my memory," he said. "I come from a football culture that was this football we are seeing today — a football of quality."
For Incocciati, the biggest lesson is that modern football is not moving away from technique. It is returning to it.
"Paradoxically, the teams that have more courage because they have the ability to play and keep possession are the ones that are progressing."
He pointed to the rise of unexpected nations and the changing international landscape.
"We have seen Paraguay eliminate Germany. We have seen teams that were perhaps not considered among the favourites showing quality and personality. In other countries football has evolved and produced great results."
His concern is that Italy has not evolved in the same way.
"Even at European level, we have stopped a little."
The irony is that Incocciati comes from a generation often associated with tactical football. But he believes the greatest Italian teams were successful because tactics were built around extraordinary players — not because systems replaced them.
His message is that talent still needs protecting.
"Diego Maradona was unique," Incocciati said when discussing the greatest players he faced. "There was only one player like him in the world. His talent would have come out anyway."
But for everyone else, development matters.
"The great players we had — Baggio, Totti, Del Piero — had talent, but that talent was brought out. They were trained, they were developed, they were helped to express themselves."
That is the challenge facing Italian football now. Not simply finding the next superstar.
But creating an environment where talented players have the freedom, education and confidence to become one.
For Incocciati, the answer is not abandoning tactics.
It is remembering that football begins with the player.
Before the system.
Before the formation.
Before the instructions.
With technique, imagination and the courage to make something happen.