soft underbelly

By hook or by crook, Napoli are finding the way to accumulate the wins under Conte and the former captain and coach of Juventus is doing well to eradicate the Azzurri’s soft underbelly.

“I think she has exposed a soft underbelly of Democrats being weak on crime issues and basically embarrassed them into passing legislation,” said Steven Maviglio, a Democratic political consultant.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill thought of Italy as the "soft underbelly" of Nazi-dominated Europe, but the campaign there proved difficult and costly.

What's also in them - and what will hold them back from being true contenders in this tournament - is a propensity to implode, to make daft decisions under pressure, to give away penalties that keep opponents believing, to reveal a soft underbelly and invite hungry rivals to attack it, which Italy did.

But Ireland have now won 28 out of their past 30 Tests and you do not build such an astounding body of work with a soft underbelly.