A noticeably satisfied Walter Mazzarri spoke with Sky Sport after Inter came back from a goal down to beat Fiorentina with 2-1 in tonights Serie A fixture at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.
“It was the first time we were a goal down and you could see that we were shaky for about 5 minutes. But then we changed the game, we reacted strongly and we win deservedly against a very good team. Is Inter a Scudeeto contender? Fiorentina is a contender as is Juventus.”
Then Mazzarri was asked about Fredy Guarin’s performance and reaction to being substitued: “He committed a few mistakes and he also apologized. It was a heated moment. The crowd were roaring and I would like to ask them to at least wait until the game is over. But that’s football and everyone knows this, Guarin should have performed better and he shouldn’t let his mistakes effect him, he should remain calm. I have already spoken to him about this.”
“Fiorentina had 52% of the ball possession, hardly dominating. We conceded several clear cut chances through making mistakes, we also have to become better when we get chances, we had 3-4 chances where we should have scored a couple of goals. If I want the team to position themselves further up the pitch? We tried to put pressure on them high up but then maybe we lacked the courage since they are technically very skilled. We have to keep growing, we can still improve, but the lads are performing really well right now. Today we risked going down to 10 men, we lacked a little bit of courage and maybe a little bit of energy.”
Mazzarri was then asked if Ricky Alvarez is now a fundamental part of his Inter: “His runs are always well timed, he is physically very strong, he reminds me of Hamsik. He is a very important player if he continues to play like this. The most important thing is that the team I coach repays me and that gives me an enormous sense of satisfaction, I always thank them.”
“Fiorentina is a Scudetto contender. They are organized and know each other from last year and they have stregthened with quite a few quality players, they lack nothing. Inter is working after another logic, given the events of last year. Today we made a few mistakes as we could have scored a few goals first and we also risked a lot. But we know no limitations.”
“Cambiasso? He played a great match, he has the experience and he’s doing well physically. He is also the person who is supposed to calm the younger players down, like Taider. Now we have to focus on the match against Cagliari because we don’t have a lot fo time until we have to play that match” Mazzarri concludes.
In the official post-match pressconference Mazzarri revealed that Mateo Kovacic will play from the first minute against Cagliari: “I can say right now that Mateo Kovacic will play from the first minute against Cagliari, other than that I haven’t decided who else will play.”
