During today’s press conference Walter Mazzarri also talked about the transfer market and commented on rumors in the week claiming that midfielder Fredy Guarin could be heading to Chelsea for 15 million euros: “I won’t talk about the transfer market, especially not today. It’s an issue to discuss with the club regarding Financial Fair Play and to balancing the budget, but a coach can really only follow the decisions made by his club. The way I see it Guarin has responded on the pitch. I have had numerous individual meetings with him, in my opinion, he hasn’t expressed his full potential during 90 minutes. I called him on Tuesday and said he had played his best game against Napoli and demonstrated the consistency I wanted. Maybe these rumors stimulated him to give his best.”
Mazzarri goes on to stress that he is satisfied with the team’s play against Napoli despite the outcome: “I would always like to see my team play like they did against Napoli, but more attentive when they are defending themselves against counterattacks. We worked hard on it and I would like our performance to be repeated with additional focus on that, that’s all. It’s true that there are games against technically gifted teams like Milan that can force us back, so in those cases I would like us to focus on counter-attacks. It’s not something we have done particularly well so far. I ask for concentration in defense, aggressiveness and clear heads when we play our type of football. It can’t be tense, because the movements I play with require a certain self-confidence in some areas on the pitch. Big matches are more or less similar to each other, whether it’s a derby or not. I urge the players to give their hearts without forgetting that they have a better chance to reach a result if they do things well. Simple effort and aggressiveness aren’t enough, so you need good football too.”
Although Inter have a young team and repeatedly have stated that this is a year zero the team is nine points ahead of rivals AC Milan: “We can’t compare the two projects as Milan finished third last season and haven’t changed the squad much. If I would like to have Kaka or Mario Balotelli? I don’t like to discuss individuals because it’s a team sport and the organization is as important as the talent.”
Ricky Alvarez is suspended but Mazzarri revealed that it’s not certain that Mateo Kovacic takes his position: “Alvarez is an attacking player and I used him in midfield because he was moving well both the offensively and defensively. Kovacic has impressed but he needs to grow when it comes to defending so I think he’s not ready to play in the central midfield from the start. During the match, depending on how it goes, he can come in and play there, but he’s not ready to take on that role from the start in a game like the derby.”
On Esteban Cambiasso who has shown fine form: “Esteban Cambiasso can’t go too deep because then the whole team goes deep. He goes forward when it is right to move forward. He did well against Napoli, but perhaps he wasn’t sufficiently covered by those who were supposed to plug these areas and that was how we lost the game.”
On the captain: “Javier Zanetti has the right experience and characteristics to play in central midfield where he can cover the offensive runs. Kovacic can be used in Guarin’s role, so I could place Guarin on the wing. I still have doubts because if Saphir Taïder plays Guarin will be trequartista.”
Walter Mazzarri, with experience from Napoli and Sampdoria, was asked whether he noticed that there was something ‘different’ at Inter, like the fact that the team hasn’t received any penalties this season or the destabilizing rumors about troubles behind the scenes: “What’s important is to let this be a motivation to do better. I always evaluate performances, whether it’s players or referees, but it ends there. When I arrived they informed me about Inter’s history and it was new to me because I didn’t expect not getting any penalties at all. Anyone who knows me will realise that it spurs me, so I will not use that as an excuse.”
On the opponents coach Massimiliano Allegri that has been questioned lately: “I respect Massimiliano Allegri and we have no problems. This also happened when I met José Mourinho as we previously defended our respective clubs. The key is to maintain respect.”
Finally, Mazzarri got a question of whether he would quit smoking – again – if Inter won the derby: “Don’t make me promise such things… When you’re a smoker you will always find a reason to smoke. When I have the opportunity to relax a little more, I will initially try to cut down and then quit.”
Source: fcinternews.it