Inter coach Luciano Spalletti gave an interview with Premium Sport to analyse the game against Cagliari after his Nerazzurri defeated the Sardinians at the Sardegna Arena by 3-1 thanks to a brace by Mauro Icardi and a goal by Marcelo Brozovic.

“We played as a really strong team, which brought us to the top of the standings. We started off in a difficult way, after the hit on Icardi he had no opening in at least eight minutes. They had the advantage by going in the middle and then we suffered a lot from their determination. Whenever there was a ball they threw themselves in. We needed some time in order to get into the game, where we changed a bit from the original formation. Cagliari did very well in the beginning, then we reacted in the right way.”

Are there any areas where you want to improve? 

“We went straight forward because we are Inter, of course we have to correct some of the things we decided on before the start. After the first half we corrected everything that was wrong from the first half.”

What did you say to Icardi at the beginning of the match?

“At that moment I told him how to move, because I wanted us to change how we organised the team.”

Today there were a lot of positive things, with Antonio Candreva being one of them? 

“Candreva has to listen to us. Nobody has given him any criticism, everybody believes in him because he runs well, and at a certain point when he was in trouble he gave us a 70-meter cross that opened up everything. He is so strong and means a lot ot us.”

What is the difference in efficiency between Inter and the national team? 

“I can’t see any difference in the way we are playing, but it is more easy to make a team more of a team when you always have the team to train with you which you don’t have in the national team. After the interval we played well, finding space and working with two-touch football.”

Tonight you gave a lot of responability to Candreva on the right, where the rest of the midifelders going deep? 

“We are trying to move the ball around as everybody else does, but when we defend we always have four defenders at the back. When we saw that everything did not go that well, as in the first half, we realised we had to change something.”

Handanovic, Candreva or Icardi, who would you like to buy a coffee? 

“I will pay for dinner for the entire team, the coffee I will gladly offer them too.”