Capello: ‘De Bruyne and McTominay remind me of Gerrard and Lampard in my England team’

Fabio Capello has compared Antonio Conte’s predicament with Kevin De Bruyne and Scott McTominay to his own difficulties with Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard while in charge of the England national team between 2007 and 2012. 

Despite a promising start to the 2025-26 season, including four consecutive league wins at the start of the campaign, Napoli have since lost three times over their last five matches across all competitions, including a 6-2 thrashing by PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League on Wednesday night. 

Now, some outlets in Italy are beginning to suggest that Conte has a bit of an issue getting the best out of star signing De Bruyne and reigning Serie A MVP McTominay while playing together in the same team. 

La Gazzetta dello Sport published an article on Thursday morning suggesting that Napoli’s swap to a 4-1-4-1 to get De Bruyne into the same midfield as McTominay, Frank Anguissa and Stanislav Lobotka is an experiment that only works when all four are fit and available, which hasn’t been the case in recent weeks. 

Capello, in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport explained where things went wrong for Napoli during their 6-2 loss in Eindhoven on Wednesday night. 

He believes that injury absences played were a factor in the PSV thrashing, but suggests that Conte has another couple of issues to deal with elsewhere. 

“Hojlund’s absence is a big problem, as are those of Rrahmani and Lobotka. It’s not easy to find the right balance without the midfield axle. But that’s not Conte’s only issue,” Capello explained. 

Capello explained that Napoli’s biggest issue is: “The defensive phase. I saw incredibly mistakes against PSV that Napoli would never have made last season. They also need to make a definitive choice in goal between Milinkovic and Meret. 

“Finally, in midfield, the more time that passes, the more I get the impression that the coexistence between De Bruyne and McTominay is difficult to put into practice.” 

Conte pointed to the example of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, who famously struggled to play alongside each other in England’s ‘Golden Generation’ of the mid-2000s. 

“Chemistry among great players is not something to be taken for granted, I know a thing or two about that. 

“McTominay and De Bruyne remind me of Gerrard and Lampard in my England team. They were two ‘number ones’, and everyone envied us, but they ended up stepping on each others’ toes.”