Walter Mazzarri talked in an exclusive interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport in occasion of the release of his autobiography edited by Sky journalist Alessandro Alciato. Here are some of the quotes from the interview and excerpts from the book (written in cursive are quotes from the books);
“Sometimes I feel misunderstood, but with regards to the past what has happened the last month is nothing. I’ve never said it neither in a polemic nor negative way regarding Moratti, and in fact I write about not having asked him (Moratti) anything about the subject (the sale of Inter). I’m not denying, I’ve found myself in a different scenario than the one that I’d imagined. But with the ‘what ifs’ you don’t create history; as always I try to change an unexpected and complicated situation into something positive. For me this is just another incentive to do well. There are still many margins to evaluate this season into a positive one, we all believe in it. And what the fans wrote to me in Inter-Chievo (“We are not stupid, we see who is working; keep going mister”) repays me for all the difficulties. The fans can give a strength that they can’t even imagine.”
But they are not enough to get Inter out of the labyrinth that is has gotten itself into the last month..
“We need to help ourselves, to put ourselves as a minimum on the level of the adversary when it comes to the running and concentration. Regarding the athletic part we will work on the brilliance this week, also we need to improve the awareness when we search for the right solution. Because if you ask me the real involution in the way Inter plays is this, we aren’t calm anymore when it comes to the final play on the pitch.”
Is it because of this that you have said that Inter plays better away than at home? Or is it an exorcism seeing the 3 terrible away games that are awaiting you?
“It was a paradox to say that against who will play, anyway it leaves us to play more, we’ve always done well. Against strong teams as well. We now face off against Juve, then Fiorentin and Roma; I push for the home games to be able to play with more strength and without fear away. For this we need to return and play at San Siro hoping to find in our stadium what was always there and that will help us overcome this moment. I hope it will happen as soon as possible.”
Also because away at Juve it can be difficult.. ‘Often I don’t even shake hands with the opponent’s coach and it is not about being mean. Sometimes I just forget to do it. An hour and a half before the game I am already in a competitive trance, I don’t want to talk to anyone. I turn into a caged lion, possessed.’ In the book you also write that Conte is better than some of his past words, will you forget to shake his hand Sunday?
“I haven’t forgotten to do it since some time; I have learned to remember it. He and I already shook hands this summer in the US when we faced off in the Guinness International Champions Cup, if that is the problem.”
‘If my team is worth 100 and I achieve 90 then I’ve done poorly. If it is worth 90 and I get 100 I’ve done pretty well. If is worth 100 and I get 100 then I’ve done what they pay me for. If it is worth 50 and I get 100, then I am Mazzarri.’ How much is this Inter worth and what is Mazzarri achieving?
“You’ll have to be the judge of that. Regarding what we are achieving I say that we await the end before giving votes. Obviously the great start has influenced the opinions but I have never lost track. Sometimes I think (at this point a smile plays on his face) that maybe the fact that I have shown my presidents that I can do things out of the norm in regards to sports result and business results has turned into a sort of boomerang for my career?”
‘This happened when the Inter machine was maybe moving beyond its limits, the evening of Inter-Juve when I was exciting from the stadium. A lady in the car next to mine was waving, she seemed like she wanted to talk to me. “Thank you mister for what you have done for my child”. I asked who she was and she responded that she was the mother of Alvarez. Alvarez has been the symbol of our escape from the quicksand.’ And now what? Is he falling back in?
“Any player, not just Ricky expresses himself best in the confidence of the team. And then the unfair red card against Napoli and having to miss the derby are things that have hurt him. Alvarez just needs to feel the responsibility that has been laid upon him a bit less, to just do what he has done before without thinking.”
At the start of the season you played with one forward (Palacio) and Alvarez behind; maybe now that you’ve inserted the second striker (Milito) and the results aren’t coming that it is better to return to the first option?
“Organization, humbleness and rigid tactics; with this recipe we arrived to be the best attack in the league. If it were up to me we’d always play with four strikers, but valuations are made from time to time to then be able to take the tactical decisions that you are looking for and are dependent on how the players are doing. This goes for the strikers as well.”
Guardiola told you something in these terms in his office at the Camp Nou after the Trofeo Gamper in 2011; “Here the first ones that have to win back the ball are our strikers, those who don’t stay on the bench. The real superstars are the ones who are most willing to sacrifice themselves.”
“There it is, exactly. Of course up to now it has been a run-up to get the strikers in the right conditions and of the availability of strikers.”
“There is a tendency among presidents to push the coaches to do what they want, nobody has been able to do that with me; I’m not a yes man.” Will it be the same at Inter?
“When Pulverinti or Spinelli were questioning what I was doing, I still had to prove who I’ve become today. At Inter I haven’t felt that pressure yet. Even at this difficult stage I can still feel the will to rely on my experience. Also last Sunday and with Thohir; his confidence continues to go beyond results of the moment.”
“I told Foti that before he should take any decision (to fire me) he should re-watch the game with me. I explained everything in front of the tv, action per action, minute per minute. I paused the tape, I rewinded, it was a continuous replay. ‘Thank you Mazzarri. Today I saw a different game. I’ll never send you away’..” Would you like to seat yourself like that with Thohir or Moratti, to have them re-watch a game with your eyes?
“If there is a need, that I feel that my work isn’t being valued the right way, then I’ll do it. But with Inter I am at my tenth year in serie A, with high demands behind me, as a runner up to the serie A; they trust in what I do and up until now there has been no need to do that.”
You don’t even feel the need to say anything to Icardi who arrives at the stadium listening to music at a high volume? Yet; “Before a game chaos destabilizes me, I want silence; the only sound should be the imagined rustling of concentration, mine and the players.”
“Let’s put it like this; I know that times have changed and I’ve allowed a thing like this in other teams as well. Everything that I do needs to be good for the group, and in this case I understood that the group handles this in the right way.”
“Before a game the silence. After a game though; I’ve weighed myself, I lost two and a half kilo. During a game I evaporate and I wear myself out. After a game I have the Cpk (enzyme showing toxins in the muscle tissue) at 1100 where the normal value is around 200. It is as if I had run from the first to the last minute, added time included.” How long ago is it that you last checked your Cpk?
“My way of living the games is still the same, but maybe if I measured it today I’d find it to be a bit lower; experience, the certainty that comes from what you’ve been through come to this, to live things a bit more balanced. Calmer if you can put it like that.”
Are they also helpful when saying that at your first season at Inter, the best is yet to come?
“There is a lot of talk of the code of conduct that I give my players, this is one I have given myself; in my career I have always expected something better ‘the next day’ and I still do. And that this book comes out coincidentally during such a particular and difficult time in the history of the nerazzurri is something that I see as an omen for me and all interisti. A good omen.”
Source: fcinternews
