The day before the Serie A match against Palermo tomorrow night, Inter coach Roberto Mancini met with journalists to answer questions during the traditional pre-match press conference. Sunday’s match will be extremely important for Inter to find out if the negative period can be put behind the team after the 120 minutes against Juventus in the Coppa Italia. Inter will be facing an opponent in trouble, with no wins since January 24, who is beginning to feel Frosinone breathing down its neck in the relegation zone. Here are Roberto Mancini’s words:
What are the positive signs after the match against Juventus?
“We didn’t reach the final and we are sorry, with that result you hope to go all the way, but I hope that the 3-0 can be useful to everyone to restore belief and calm.”
Are you scared of Roma?
“We would go back to being five points behind them by winning tomorrow, then there will be a head-to-head. The Giallorossi have several direct confrontations, it’s up to us.”
Is there any bitterness for the last period?
“During the first months we thought we had achieved something, then came the fall. In a situation like ours that can happen, we had the misfortune of losing points in a particular way. But there is no bitterness, we are still in the mix.”
Could Perisic be decisive?
“He has always played on the position he did Wednesday evening, apart from in the beginning when I deployed him as a mezzapunta in the diamond. He, like Kondogbia and Brozovic last year, needed time to adapt.”
In what condition is Kondogbia?
“Kondogbia is available, he’s doing fine and can definitely play tomorrow.”
Have you already met with the president on the topic of your renewal?
“I still have a year left of my contract so there is no problem at the moment.”
Was there a mental breakthrough in the match against Juventus?
“Sometimes there are matches that make you understand that you can do something difficult.”
You seem a little depressed: is that true?
“Absolutely not.”
What is the assessment of Icardi with the captain’s armband?
“It’s never easy to be a captain, even more so at Inter. It’s never easy growing up in a few months, and the armband is used for this reason. Being the captain at Inter means a lot.”
How has the comments by Ausilio been useful?
“Piero has great experience and is a close friend of the players, sometimes that kind of comments are needed. The players have great respect for the directors, therefore it can be useful at times.”
Which of the games against Juventus represents the true Inter?
“In the championship it was an even game, in football the episodes change the same, as happened to us. We had a great chance to score a goal, then clearly in Milan it was different.”
How is Murillo doing?
“Yesterday he was better, he had a small problem. We will see in the coming hours.”
What do you think of Icardi’s tweet? Is the difficult period behind us?
“None of us works to lose, that’s football. You always have to train to try to improve, but the commitment has never changed. One match doesn’t erase the less positive results, but it can help to reverse course. We’re not the last in the standings, by winning tomorrow we will still be 5 points from third place.”
What do you think of the social media in football?
“As long as they train seriously, it’s enough if they live regular lives and it’s fine by me. They do a great job and they know it, when they behave well for me there is no problem. They can definitely use social media.”
How important is the impact on the game?
“We would always start strong, but I think that last year we did even better. Sometimes we ran into hard times, but my players are young. There is also the opponent.” After the conference, Mancini received a question about the line-up but preferred not to say too much: “There are 5-6 players to evaluate, Eder needs to be evaluated because he is a little tired.”
Source: fcinternews.it
