Former Italy boss Marcelo Lippi believes England coach Fabio Capello has a tough task ahead of him because of the lack of home-grown players in the Barclays Premier League.

The World Cup winning coach insists the lack of of top-level English players has led to the current problems with the national team, who failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

"Problems for a coach occur when he only has a few good players at his disposal,'' Lippi told a coaching conference in Florence.

"(Italy coach) Roberto Donadoni has a problem of abundance, while for Capello it's completely the opposite.

"Capello for example will have more problems fielding a strong English national team because only 38% of Premier League players are British.'' England might have three teams in the Champions League semi-finals but many of the star players at Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea are foreigners.

Neither the PFA player of the year award (Cristiano Ronaldo) nor the young player prize (Cesc Fabregas) went to an Englishman, while only four of the Premier League team of the year were homegrown.