Luciano Spalletti held a press conference at the Suning Training Centre in Appiano Gentile ahead of tomorrow’s away fixture against Crotone where the Nerazzurri are looking for their 4th consecutive win in the Serie A. Below Spalletti’s pressconference is reproduced in it’s entirety.

What mistake must the team avoid tomorrow?

“We cannot be presumptious and think we’re superior. If you think that you are one of the top teams in the league there is less chance for you to improve. In the last match I saw a the right availability as well as the right attitude, the availability to sacrifice yourself, to be a team, I don’t think that Inter will make this mistake tomorrow.”

Last season the team lost a lot of points against the minor teams, what will you do to avoid repeating this mistake? Will Borja Valero play tomorrow?

“Fixtures like this can be interpreted as a casual league match. Instead we can make this match our own. It is not the great matches and nights that make you great, we have to play 35 matches and they are all important and need to be played in the best way in order to get the right result. I know Crotone’s coach well, he has demonstrated that he has a lot of quality, he knows how to motivate his players, last season when they looked certain to go down he motivated them and he knows what to say in the dressing room to get his players to believe in something that differs from how things are. They are a dangerous team and we need to be strong and play well. All the players are training well and they are making my job difficult, they are stimulating each other to always do better. What is fundamental is the result, how many matches they play, how they play them and to give a good contribution. They need to make their quality available to the team.”

The feeling is that some European countries have overtaken us, what needs to be revisited to change this?

“The Spain vs Italy fixture was only a one-off and before Italy won 12-13 matches playign really well. It depends on the moment when you take on certain matches. In my opinion our football is reaching the levels of other European teams, we saw that yesterday. Our football is no longer about lost balls, SPAL came here to play and to create something when going forward, nowadays almost all teams have a goalkeeper who is good with his feet. Not many kick the ball away and try to play the ball through the middle of the park. Italian football is on the right trackand is building an important organization. Napoli has shown us interesting things when playing in Europe. I am always optimistic, the sun always shines in my room and I want to go forward like this.”

The defence has only conceded 1 goal, did you expect this?

“I expected an improvement from the team because I see that they work well, they are very attentive, willing and they’re sgow that they want to work hard. We’re not in a bar where we can chat about who might play. That is the job of the newspapers and when you see the team express itself in the right wayyou are also optimistic regarding the result. Then we have some very strong players amongst those who start, you can see Skriniar and Miranda who help out in defence. In midfield you can see that those who play give their all, you see Gagliardini, he can always come on and make himself and his quality available to us. In some matches you prefer one player, in other matches you prefer others, but they are all great players and if they do what they’re supposed to, you will get a good result. If the midfield does well you don’t concede many shots on your goal, if your strikers don’t remain up front after having missed a chance but instead return to win the ball back, then everyone is helping out in defence. If we all share our duties everyone helps out and give more quality.”

Icardi and Perisic are strong and have scored a lot but if they’re absent does that limit you?

“They’re not good players they are exceptional players, the best in their roles. But we also have different players who can score. They have great qualities but also Miranda is very good in one on one situations, it’s a collective that works, that looks to give their all in every match because this is what counts. If the team prepares well it will know how to defend and score independantly. We have to be in the running to qualify for the Champions League.”

Counting all the pre-season matches you’ve won 8 fixtures in a row and sooner or later there will come a time when the team will struggle. Are you curious to see how the team reacts then?

“No I am not curious to see this [laughs]. There are still 35 matches left and tomorrow is one of these that we have to win. We cant think about reactions to the lost ones, we have to win.If we lose then we will see how we react. I am curious to see the motivation that the team brings to the pitch in order to win, as I said before the SPAL match.I have no standardized discussion which I use if we lose, it depends on how the match plays out. Footballers always need to be stimulated, if I were to leave one player at home psychologocially I’ll kill him, we need effective time and 5 substitutions, we need a winger, a midfielder that wins the ball, one that takes the ball and leaves the opponent behind him, a full-back that attacks space, that creates. If a player doesn’t play well but the team, produces a great result, he will think that he wont find space in the team and will be more difficult to train and to stimulate every day.”

Should Inter play with those who always deliver like Borja? Or are you thinking of a mini-turnover?

“We haven’t played enough matches to think like this. We need patience to wait. Borja knows how to play, if I were to put him in Barcelona he would play there too, there are many passes that at first sight seem pointless which create a chance. You remember the assists and goals but I also look at the 70 times a player touches the ball and 65/68 touches are good, even though they may seem simple and pointless, but at times this helps the team to create something important.”

At times it seems that you are still missign the right player to play behind th striker, you have rotated many players in that position, is there still something missing?

“We have to improve, not only in this department for sure. A player who dismisses the chance to grow betrays the results of the team. Against Roma I could have played Eder there if things hadn’t changed. It depends on the way in which you think, how you interpret the training sessions. We are reasoning in the correct way to do things in a serious manner.”

Radja Nainggolan said that you made him a trequartista. Are you repeating the same thing here?

“Di Francesco knows the job he has ahead of him at Roma, maybe he has told them different things. I think that he could play there and he proved me right thanks to his quality. It depends on the results you get, if you don’t get the results everything becomes more difficult.”

Source: FcInterNews.it