Mazzarri Salme

As promised earlier, Walter Mazzarri held a press conference at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milano’s San Siro district where he was interviewed about this past year, next season and several other things.

“It’s the numbers and the league table that matter and that’s why I had to wait until the end of the season before speaking my mind. Getting back into Europe was a target that wasn’t seen as a given last summer. I think overall it’s been a very positive year, one in which we did lots of good things. I’d like to thank my backroom staff and everyone else who’s supported me in trying to get the most out of the squad I was given to work with.”

Asked is he’s sure he will remain in the Inter dugout next season, he replied: “Absolutely certain. If for nothing else because I have a contract. I received a very nice phone call from president Thohir after we were mathematically certain of a European spot. He was very happy that we’d achieved our target and Massimo Moratti was very pleased too. That gave me an even greater sense of satisfaction.”

“How can you not see it as a positive year when you reach a target? If you look at where we started out, it wasn’t a given that we’d get back into Europe. I don’t understand how you can assess a year like this negatively.”

“My biggest mistake? We could have done better and that includes myself. Looking back I could have done better in certain games. Overall we drew too many matches, there were some when we threw the points away after being in a leading position. There were times when we weren’t clinical enough to win the game. But I take responsibility for it all – I’m the main person in charge. For sure there were more positives than negatives.”

“What annoyed me most? I might not be all that popular with some people but I am very self-critical. When I hear objective criticism of my work I take it on board. That’s what I do with the people I work with: the final decision is mine but I always listen to everyone. I’ve always been open to exchanging views, I want people to tell me things, that’s what I do with you and those who criticise. When I realise that the criticism is unfair, I don’t even listen to it and I just get on with my job. I know how certain things work and I take them for what they are. Sometimes unfair criticism just motivates me even more.”

“Piero Ausilio has already said everything there is to say about my contract renewal. The main thing is that people value your work. I see that’s the case and it’s been demonstrated to me day after day. Ausilio has already spoken so there’s no point going into it any more. I already have a contract. At Napoli I worked with an expiring contract and the players know I’m capable of doing a good job even if I only have a year to run on my contract, but in the coming days we’ll talk about an extension based on certain factors. You have to be convinced about moving forward together in the long term, sharing the same vision.”

“I think my career speaks for itself. I’ve always done a lot of work on the training ground trying to increase the players’ technical ability. And if we can’t compete on a level playing field with certain other clubs in the transfer market considering the financial parameters, then that’s where we need to improve. I’d ask you to inform our fans so that we can do our jobs in the best conditions possible. In this case it’s up to the club to speak about Financial Fair Play and the guidelines we intend to follow in the transfer market. I’ll hold a press conference on the first day of our summer training camp and I’ll tell you what I think about what we’ve done up to then and what we’ll try to do next year.”

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say that I’m proud to have been able to work during this particular year with four great champions who wrote history at this club. They wanted to get Inter back into Europe as much as I did and I thank them: we said goodbye in the best possible way. Those lads and the reference points they represented will be missing next year, but from my point of view I was able to see it for myself by working at Inter for a year and I know a lot more for it. We’ve laid the groundwork to make a good start next season by giving the team a positive mentality – I hope to see that on the pitch next season. Lots of young players have developed and improved and they will be more experienced next year. Things like that give me reason to be positive.”

“The boos at the Lazio game? I understand what that was about. The fans didn’t understand my decision not to pick Zanetti. They were thinking about the old Inter that was coming to an end and deserved a tribute, but the current Inter coach was focused on getting the team back into Europe. With hindsight I think people appreciated the way I handled the farewell of a champion like Zanetti. It was done the best way possible: he came on at the right time and helped us obtain a result that was partially in the bag. Inter won an important match. Javier was able to go on with his farewell to the fans after the game. He might not have been able to last the whole 90 minutes at a certain tempo. He knew all that and he agreed with me about it. The result proved us right and the fans appreciated it.”

“Every year is different and you always get a surprise package or two, like Udinese last season – clubs where there’s less pressure, whereas here we have to live up to our tradition. What matters at the end of the day is reaching your objective. It’ll have been more or less the same last year but what matters is that Inter got back up to 5th. It comes down to your target and your results. Inter are undergoing a rebuilding process, there are times in football when you can’t apply maths to certain parameters.”

“As for our Europa League campaign, I’ll speak to the president then at the end of the transfer window we’ll look at the squad we have, but speaking generally when I was at Napoli we made certain choices with the aim of getting through the group stage without dropping too many points in the league. We came second and went through to the next round and it was a useful experience for everyone – you can see that in people like Insigne this year. If you want to try to win on several fronts you need to invest and put together a certain type of squad.”

“Thohir always talks to me about formations, he’s very enthusiastic. There were games that got him excited and others when we didn’t play well, and when that happens he says so. You expect that, I do the same – it’s normal. This year we started playing aggressively and setting ourselves up in the opposition’s half. We played very well at times too, and less well on other occasions. We were very inconsistent and that’s something we have to work on. We’ll try to learn from it so that we don’t go through the same again next season. I see lots of positives to take from this season. We’ve laid some good foundations to build on next year.”

“What do Inter need for next year? You’ll see that on the first day of pre-season training. There will be players who are still with us. In the first week I’ll work on a four-man defence. I like to be able to balance the team a certain way and I’d like to be able to play with four at the back and a holding midfielder – an important position that could be useful if I played a 3-5-2 too. It’s the most important signing for us to think about, with a view to playing four across the back as well. To give you an idea of the sort of player I mean, but someone we wouldn’t be able to get, take Luiz Gustavo. If you have someone like him you can play with a four-man defence and do it properly. Or the De Rossi we saw this year: you have an extra man in midfield and can apply more pressure further up the pitch. One thing is the idea you have as a coach, another is what you’re able to do. I’ll choose the most suitable formation depending on what new players we have. I want my team to be able to slot into these formations I have in mind immediately so that we can switch mid-game, with the players aware of the movements and the lines that I want.”

“I set out to start building something from the start here. We’ve already seen some results and you can’t ignore the numbers: this was the best Inter team of the last three years and that’s not a minor detail. Obviously I want the club to be clear with me, with the fans and with you. When everything is set out clearly then you have a chance to do well; then you can assess everyone’s work properly. Up to now I’ve seen mutual respect and openness, that makes me hopeful for the future.”

“It’s always up to the club to make their choices. I thank my closest assistants and they’ll definitely stay on. I do have a say in the people the club gives me to work with but I don’t make the final choice. After doing this job for ten years I’ve realised that a club has its own men that it wants. I give my opinion on what I’d like so that I can work well, but I’m not the president and I can’t hire or fire anyone. I have clear ideas about what I want, but a coach who has produced a certain type of football with certain players can change things a bit. It depends on who he has to work with.”

“Why don’t I play Kovacic in the deep-lying role? If I put him in front of the defence and he beats his man, then what does he do? He has to pass it. If you’ve got quality you’re better off using it further forward. For example, Hamsik was playing well in the hole and it was suggested he could play further back but then you would have had to balance things out because he wouldn’t have scored the 12 goals he did. The team is a jigsaw, lots of different elements you have to put together to get a result for the whole. This year Kovacic played a key role for the team at the end of the season, providing two assists against Lazio for example. If he plays deeper than someone else needs to play higher up, carry the ball forward and create chances.”

“What will I do on holiday? I haven’t even thought about that yet, it’s always the case at the end of the season, you have other things to think about. I will take 10 days or so off though. Study English? That’s one thing I don’t have time for. You know, my English has actually got worse. 15 years ago I was working as a scout going round the world and I spoke it fairly well. It’s got a bit rusty since then but I still have the basics.”

Source: Inter.it