mancini

Roberto Mancini, Inter coach, spoke in the press room of Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italy on the match between Inter and Atalanta.

After the winter break the team seems to have undergone some kind of regression, because before the break, apart from Lazio, the team showed brilliance. How do you explain that?
“I think we have made too many mistakes in the last games, we have to find the concentration that allowed us to have the best defense in the league a long time.”

Jovetic never got space in the penalty area, don’t you feel the need of another player the last few meters other than Icardi?
“Jovetic is good, so is Ljajic and the others. We expect them to score goals because that’s how you win. Hopefully the moment he needs to get going will eventually arrive for Jovetic.”

Is Medel the most appropriate to set up the plays?
“He was one of the best… Today, the field was bumpy and it was not easy to control the ball, but Gary is important.”

Do you regret having had faith in Guarin?
“He played a subpar game, then was warned and risked another yellow. But he had trained well enough.”

What did you tell your players considering that you came in late?
“In the second half we did well, we had five offensive players. Then Atalanta had their chances, Handanovic did well. Today, however, we had chances but made mistakes and we have to improve.”

There has been an overall decline of the team, what is the problem?
“Against Sassuolo we ran a lot, recovering after stopping there may be a little difficult. Hopefully it will pass quickly. Now we will stay calm, we have 40 points and a winning streak of two or three games is enough to get back in the lead.”

In the middle, though, there’s quality missing. Is that where you will have to make reinforcements, especially if Guarin leaves?
“If he leaves we will search for a substitute, I don’t know if he has asked to go.”

Against Atalanta you had always won, did you see a different team compared to what you expected?
“It is always difficult to win here, we conceded and then we made it right. There was wind, it was hard to control the ball.”

But in the club there’s little focus on the transfer market and a lot on the FFP?
“I don’t know about that.”

Apart from Icardi you’re missing strikers with double digits, do you miss that?
“I hope that Jovetic will score 15 goals. Icardi will score between 15 and 20 and to win you have to have players like that. Sometimes we miss the goal because we’re too coy, in football you need to be basic.”

Source: fcinternews.it