It’s time for Inter to take on Hellas Verona. Just like always, before each match, Inter coach Walter Mazzarri answered questions from reporters in the conference room at the Centro Sportivo Angelo Moratti.
What strategy should the team have?
“I’m pleased with recent games. Now we face a team away from home, so I hope we can continue with what we do.”
Do those that played last Sunday deserve to get new confidence?
“If the team is winning and doing well, I think it is right that those who played the previous game get new confidence. I always try to work with that perspective, and I want to continue with this principle.”
Does it matter if your end up fifth or fourth?
“I’m focused on the present, I will not go into those aspects that will be analyzed at the end. I will go into more detail when the season is over and I will be able to talk more directly.”
Will your opinion be crucial for the other contract extensions after the Palacio?
“Everything will be decided at the end of the season.”
Is it important to you that these contract extensions arrive?
“When I came here I knew there were some contracts that could potentially be extended, I can’t go into detail about this. There is a sporting director and a club. A player who could get a contract extension will be more motivated.”
Is Palacio a top player?
“He is having a great season, if we look at how much he runs, he’s the one who runs the most. This is the basis, to think of the team first, and then on scoring. This is the principle that will pay off.”
You have said that you feel ready to be the coach and manager. Can you do it at Inter?
“It’s not up to me to ask such a thing, I haven’t talked about it and I’m focused on what I started this summer.”
Is it better that Fiorentina eliminate Juventus in your bid for a place in Europe?
“I’m just looking at Inter, I don’t watch others. We think only of ourselves, we want to reach as far as possible.”
Do you think that Verona has cooled off since Jorginho left ? Has Iturbe been one of those who has had the best performances?
“I have great respect for them, a few times they have lost undeservedly. In such a long tournament is hard to play as well as in the first half. They are dangerous and I don’t think one player changes everything.”
What did you learn from Verona’s second half against Juventus ?
“They rebounded in a game that seemed to be lost. They have enthusiasm, a hostile crowd and it will be a tough match and the result against Juventus says a lot about their strength.”
Thohir has talked about the project, will we also need to talk about your future at the end of the season?
“Of course even I will be subject to evaluation, but all of this at the end of the season.”
How will you limit Toni?
“We will try to do everything, but only the players know what they are doing. We must be alert both in defense and in attack. We will do the former in many ways and it all starts from the back.”
You have always won with Hernanes, a coincidence?
“In these cases, you must also be superstitious, I think he is a player who can both give strength and courage to the others. He has experience and that benefits everyone.”
Inter are currently in a positive period , what do you think about the fact that you have conceded fewer goals?
“The Italian league is special, it is very tactical, the others are waiting for you, studying you and the second half of the season is always different. Campagnaro said it right, after the loss against Juventus we looked ourselves in the face to analyze the errors and without the first two goals things would have been different. All this has been useful for the guys, and anyone interested in playing must know everything.”
Would you give yourself new confidence if you were president?
“At the end of the season I’ll tell him, wait for the end of the season.”
Do you work also with the mental aspect with Kovacic?
“What counts is the points and it comes before the development of a player. His use at the present time is the right one in my opinion. The most important thing is the points and the position in the table.”
When do you think Alvarez will come back?
“On Tuesday we will be updated, before that we focus on the match in Verona.”
Source: fcinternews.it
I see three types of opinions here: Some want results, some want to develop the squad for the coming years and some other they want both results and improvement! Guys, Mazzarri doesn’t have a magic wand, no one does. He tries imo to blend these things. Thre pressure he feels from the board, the fans and the media its enormous yet he doesn’t make the players feel stressed and tries to make a positive atmosphere even though the bad results. Please be a little less harsh, I think Mazzarri is doing a good work, give the man some time for God’s sake!
Well I always said that I’m in the middle, i never blame him because the players we have right now aren’t very super, but i do blame him for his stubbornness and wrong decision time over times, so my conclusion is everyone guilty for their own portion, just as simple as that.
I completely agree. Mazzarri is an excellent coach. Inter finished 9th Last season!!!! Serie A is one of the toughest leagues in the world. Mazzarri still only inherited this team last year from Strama and Moratti, now both of them are gone and this year has been a clear year of transition…not many coaches anywhere could have navigated their team and shielded them from the huge distraction of a change in club ownership, teaching players a completely new system, and getting them to buy into fully and maintaining the faith. Mazzarri has done all of that. I predict Inter finish 4th this season, qualify outright for Europa and next year we will see the true Inter team that Mazzarri and Thohrir are building! Il Meglio deve ancora venire!!!….The best is yet to come!!!
“ElPrincipe” – we are INTER not some small team like Udinese or Atalanta!! We demand vicories and results !! and then Kova and Taider have to be greatefull for 15-20 mints a game untill next year!
Yes, a big club with 30 points away from the leader and will be out of uefa top 20 rank start from next year, yay such a big club Inter is, right? Historically it’s true we are big club, but the truth is we are not in a level of a “Big” club right now. Just accept it that our team right now are just as good as a team who compete for fourth or fifth place, not top three, which mean we are just better than the mediocre teams below. Also, it is true that Kovacic should be grateful for 15-20 minutes a game, i can accept that, ONLY if he played for EVERY game. We’re talking about continuity here, what’s the point of 20 minutes of play if you can’t play continuously? You’ll gain nothing!
Agree – none of Taider or Kova are better at the moment than Hernanes or Guarin – but when the “worrier” Guarin has won the battle of the midfield Kova is fine to enter to spice things up (and yes I’d love to see Hernanes and him more together), and when your “general” Cambio runs out of steam, Taider could play – but remember he’s only 21 years old and Kova 19!!! They still have so much left to learn!
Nearly i gonna be in your lane, but consider one thing and that is despite Kovacic’s subject i would rather be fair about Mazzarri’s time, i mean him or every coach we could have need more time to be evaluated
Agree, 20 mins a game but for every game as much as he can play is better than 45 mins today, not playing tomorrow, 10 mins again, not playing again, etc. It’s so frustrating, but with continuity both the skills and mind can be trained little by little, maybe he can become a super sub too who knows? But it will be impossible to hope for such a thing that Kovacic play 20 mins for every games.
Well the way I see is, as lestat also put it, that we are no longer one of the very big clubs up there. We are not what we used to be.
The transition period is needed to get the elder ones out and give the younger players more playing time. That is essentially what transition is in football. If Thohir has changed his opinion and now wants to get as many points as possible ok, but that means we’re not really going to get that transition. But on the other hand he might have seen that whatever he said, Mazzarri did the opposite in not playing youngster that much.
In my oppinion Thohir needs to get straight exactly what he wants, secondly I think he should seriously evaluate Mazzarri at the end of the season cause with his tactics and ideas I can’t see us competing for any serious silverware. You have seen how he played with Napoli in CL, I don’t want that in Inter. If we get into Europe and he doesn’t rotate the players like in Napoli, we might end up playing worse in the league as a result of fatigue. I see him as a good manager for previous teams like Sampdoria and similar clubs of that size, but he is not a top coach when you take his ideas into consideration.
yes, but kovacic will be young next year too, but way better because he is working really hard to impress mazarri and will be the most important figure in our team.
“What counts is the points and it comes before the development of a player”
No. A transition season is exactly where you focus on developing the team and the players and results are not as important as the player development.
It seems like the objective of Thohir has changed…..he now wants results to take inter to Europe again…it’s clear get to EL and next season CL spot and if possible get as far as possible in EL ……so transition? No not anymore…..Kovacic and taider will get their chance next season when we fight on many fronts….they to have have patience and they will get their chance……iam like you, I also want them to play but as Mazzari says results is what matters now on…..
Results ALWAYS matters for a club like ours!! Especially if you have a HUGE debts (created by the moran Moratti) to deal with and a brand to sell – then you HAVE to play in Europe every year! The youngster have to keep they’re heads down, work hard, learn and then be greatefull for the playing time they get – just like at any other big club in the world!