BORDEAUX, France -- What do you do when your tactical game plan is crushed underfoot by the opponent?
When the Germans rumble into your final third, destroying whatever semblance of advanced press you might have had and sending your midfield to search for cover?
That's when you go to the well; the safety blanket that comes standard with the job of coaching Italy. Some roll themselves up in it from the start. Others, like Antonio Conte, have kept it for special occasions.
We're talking about that seemingly inveterate quality Azzurri sides have harbored for the past 60-odd years: The ability to defend.