Andrea Stramaccioni held his pressconference today on Inters Birthday ahead of tomorrows game against Bologna.
What does it mean to be the coach of Inter on the clubs birthday?
”It’s an incredible honor, for me it’s a dream to train this club. Yesterday I felt the support from our fans, it gav eus great joy and motivation. I believe that everyone understands the difficulties we’re going through, and because they are such great supporters they stand really close to us. This 105th birthday is a reason to be proud and to feel the warmth from the supporters is really important.”
How much can this change your situation in the Europa League?
”We are going to give it our all to change the result, that’s for sure. The feeling that I got coming home from London was that Tottenham were in great form, and we simply were not. I stand by my opinion that there is not a three goal difference between the teams, so we’re going to do our very best even though it’s going to be really had. Tomorrows Serie A game is just as important though, and we are focusing on that right now.”
How do you recover from a game like that one agianst Tottenham?
”There is nothing to recover from, we just simply have to continue to work because the game against Bologna is fundamental, and the only way we can recuperate is through results. We have to focus and give our response out on the field.”
On Wednesday you said that the clubs primary goal was the 3rd position in the league. Has this anything to do with all the injuries that has made this season so difficult?
”What I said got misinterpreted. Inter is Inter and we are fighting for all our goals. It’s normal for u sto have the desire to return to the Champions League. Both for the prestige to play in such a great tournament and the financial aid it brings. Europa League and Tim Cup have never been regarded as less important, I only said that I didn’t want to lose anymore players to injuries. Ranocchia and Cambiasso returned to the pitch the very same day as the game, and by playing both we showed hos seriously we approach this tournament. We don’t think that were to good for this tournament, we know that Tottenham were the better team, but those how played on Thursday were our best players. Our problem is that we only have 12-13 players available.”
How is Cassano doing? Is he over-weight?
”It’s not true that he’s over-weight. His latest test showed nothing but positive results.”
How, do you believe, that todays difficult situation affects your credibility in the long run?
”I have to be honest, we’re going through a difficult period. There is a project based on the work effort from the entire club. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I am convinced by players value because we were only one point behind the league-leaders. Then we got into trouble and there are no excuses. We have to work hard to achieve the goals that we set and the start of the season, but we have also made important purchases on the market for the future, regarding talented players. We are Inter and we are always under pressure, so it’s only right that we the criticised when we lose. We shouldn’t question the project everytime we lose though. I have never retreated, not even after the worst defeats, but we are working to bring Inter back to the higher positions in the table. We have had our ups and downs, but we have to find the results out on the pitch. What’s irritating are all the injuries who have kept us form finding a rhythm, but we and our supporters still believe in us.”
Is the back four the best solution?
“We’ve had team problems, not only in the defense. We’ve let a lot of goals in and thanks to the goalkeeper we’ve been saved from letting more in. We’ll continue with the back four, but we have to improve.”
You have let a lot of goals in on set pieces, like the ones from Veronghen and Marchese?
“The two goals from Catania and Tottenham came after a longer time without letting those types of goals in. Against Catania we made a mistake because of a situation where we were outsmarted. In London we fell because of their structure, Veronghen scored an amazing goal. It wasn’t an error since we decided that Ranocchia had the first zone.”
Bologna are coming and it’s a team that have scored a lot of goals during the second half of the season..
“I have great confidence in Carrizo, we wanted him because he’d be ready to replace Handanovic if we’d miss him. In this way Belec can grow without pressure. Diamanti is one of the best players in the Serie A. Juan Jesus will be suspended if he gets a card, we trust Chivu but using him for many consecutive games is a risk. Samuel has started to practice with the team again, we’ll wait with him though to avoid mistakes and I hope to get Silvestre back soon. It’ll be hard to recover Samuel before the break, but the doctor will value his status day after day.”
How do you see the swap between Cassano and Pazzini?
“We have to value it after our thoughts when it happened. We needed a player that could play with Milito and they needed a central striker. The president thought the economical aspect was worth it, and the players also depend on how their team is doing. It was a tough choice for us, but I’d choose Milito over Pazzini 100 times out of 100 if I had to choose again.”
Our colleagues on Fcinternews.it ask about Ranocchia and Alvarez who’re in doubt for tomorrows game:
“I’ll know more today, they went through a recovering session today. Alvarez is growing, he could’ve scored against Tottenham and things would be different. Ricky is very important in the new formation. We’ll see how Ranocchia feels, I have three defenders so we’ll see who plays.”
Fcinternews ask is Diamanti would fit in Inters system:
“It’s a great player who can play both behind the strikers and in a 4-3-3 system, he has a great shot and is one of the best players in the Serie A.”
Have you prepared tomorrows game tactically or psychologically?
“I’ll get players like Stankovic, Rocchi, Kuzmanovic and Schelotto back who’ll give us fresh forces. I will put the players on the field who’re in the best physical shape because it’ll be a hard game both technically and tactically.”
How is Obi, was he under surgery in Finland?
“He has had bad luck this season. He has been under surgery to strengthen a muscle which means he’ll have lesser injuries when he comes back, if we compare to this season. I don’t know when he’ll be back, the doctor will take care of that.”
Who are you fighting against in the race for the third place, Napoli or Milan?
“We must think about winning our games, because in many of the games this season we’re the ones who made mistakes. We must think about winning, then we can focus on those who’re ahead of us.”
If you win you’re one point from the third place, are the critics exaggerated?
“The critics are right because we’re Inter. I only complain when they critisize us without a reason, but it’s normal that we’re under pressure since we’re Inter. Napoli lost 3-0 to a team that’s far worse than Tottenham and got normal critics, but Inter have been handled in this way for a long time. The president and the players explained that to me and I always try to defend my team.”
How important is Nagatomos injury and when is he back?
“It’s a tough injury for us since he’s one of six players who I consider fit to play on both wings. More than that he covers his space well. When he’ll be back? He’ll do a test in the beginning of the next week and then I’ll know if he can play against Sampdoria, or after the break. We’ll try to recover him as fast as possible.”
The article is translated by Siavoush Fallahi in collaboration with Matteo Pizzelli
