With the last game of 2017 played, Inter coach Luciano Spalletti made his last appearance of the year for the journalist at Meazza, these are his words from the press conference:
The team showed that they believe in this, but was lacking a bit of killer instinct?
“That is true, we did not score and it is true for the history of the composition of the players we have. But, we did not concede any goal although two of our starting players were missing today. I think that Andrea Ranocchia was one of the best players tonight. At some point we have to go beyond the numbers that we are showing at the moment but it was fundamental to see the team show character and a strength to play without any fear until the 95th minute. We could have lost but we could also have won, tonight the team played without any hesitation. In my opinion we played a great game tonight.”
Were you convinced by the performance of Cancelo? Can you see him playing Candreva’s position?
“He has already convinced me before, but his chance was a bit delayed. He has a lot of quality but the team had a good balance tonight which makes it easier. He has the quality to know when to push and in what situtations to engage in confrontations even if he sometimes dows things that a fullback should not.”
Is there the possibility to change formations?
“Like a said during this week, I thought of taking a small step back in order to reinforce the things that brought us here. What we have achieved during this first half of the season makes things interesting. In the cup game against AC Milan I changed a lot of things and that did not end well. To be honest I am not sure that there is a reason to change, the three opportunities we had was the result of nice play. But it is true that you always search for alternatives.”
If Ranocchia would have to come off injured, who would you have put next to Skriniar? On a professional level, who will you salute tomorrow night?
“I would have put Dalbert on the left and moved Santon to the middle next to Skriniar. Besides my family, I will salute my team, but most of all my players and Inter.”