AN EMBATTLED Arrigo Sacchi woke up to a national panning yesterday after Italy struggled to a uninspiring 3-1 win away over Moldova in the opening match of their campaign to qualify for the World Cup finals in France.

Criticism roared out at the Italian manager from the front pages of the country's sports newspapers, with the respected Gazzetta dello Sport leading the charge.

"The same Sacchi, the same nothing," it said in an editorial on what its match report called "three goals full of nothing".

"Every time we kid ourselves that we have hit rock bottom, but this blessed rock bottom never comes, it said.

Corriere dello Sport said the Italian team's problems went beyond their manager but added: "Sacchi sure does a lot to make matters more complicated".

Saturday night's match in Chisanau was Italy's first since their ignominious first round exit from June's European Championship in England sparked calls for Sacchi to go.

Though the win reaped three valuable points in a group that includes England and Poland the style of the victory, with Italy bogged down for an hour and overwhelmed in midfield, earned Sacehi no praise.

He acknowledged that his decision to experiment with a three man attack, reducing his midfield from four to three, was part of the problem and suggested he would not repeat the error when Italy face Georgia at home in Perugia on Wednesday.

"What was positive were the result and the fact that the team continued to play for a goal when they were 3-1 up but we did not play well for an hour and we laboured too much," said Sacchi yesterday.

He said his players were not physically or mentally at their peak, given the anticipated strength of opposition, but admitted that he had made some wrong choices.

"I'd like to apologise to the fans...we've taken a step backwards," he said.

Middlesbrough striker Fabrizio Ravanelli put Italy ahead in the eighth minute from a free kick but Moldova struck back two minutes later when midfielder Alexandru Curtianu capitalised on a defensive blunder.

Pierluigi Casiraghi headed Italy's second in the 68th minute with Ravanelli contributing the third from the penalty spot three minutes from time.

Sacchi abandoned his three man attack in the second half, replacing Enrico Chiesa with Juventus midfielder Angelo Di Livio to restore a 4-4-2 formation.

His readiness to accept the critics' verdict contrasted with a defensive huff after Italy's Euro 96 demise, when he accused the media of looking for a scapegoat.

Some sports commentators speculated yesterday that the air of glasnost may have something to do with the resignation in August of Antonio Matarrese, one of Sacchi's great supporters, as chairman of the Italian soccer federation.

With Matarrese gone, the federation is in the hands of a special commissioner, Raffaele Pagnozzi, pending the expected election of league chairman Luciano Nizzola to the vacant post in December.

Neither man was jumping for joy after Saturday's outing.

"Sacchi won but I think the stiffer test will come on Wednesday in Perugia. Let's get both games over before judging," Nizzola said.