Italy were clearly second-best in a 2-0 loss to Brazil on Tuesday in London, a match that showed several frailties in the Italian national team.

Former Inter and Italy great, Sandro Mazzola, believes that the Azzurri lost the match because they adopted the wrong tactics from the outset.

"The first half played by the national team last night was completely wrong. After the goal wrongly disallowed [for an offside] by [Fabio] Grosso, we literally went haywire," sighed Mazzola to Radio Kiss Kiss.

"From the first minute, we were deployed in error against Brazil, you cannot afford to have three attackers and [Ricardo] Montolivo in midfield."

However, Mazzola believes that Italy did improve in the second half, when the formation was changed.

"They [Brazil] proved to have something more in terms of possessing the ball, but we were much better in attack when we switched to a midfield four, from then onwards we had the best opportunities," he claimed.

Italy will now go back to the drawing board, as they look to continue their World Cup qualifying campaign at the end of March. It remains to be seen if Lippi will respond to Mazzola's critique.