Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to gathered reporters at a press conference tonight following the Nerazzurri’s 2-2 draw against Parma at the San Siro.
“It certainly wasn’t nice to drop points,” he began.
“In my opinion it was the worst first half of my management in every respect; even after the first goal I said that I wasn’t enjoying anything. You could tell we weren’t a team.
“If you ask me why, this becomes difficult also because in the second half we saw a team that put Parma under pressure, creating a lot. We played, risking one against one with 50 metres of space behind our defensive line.
“I liked the performance in the second half and I think we deserved something more. It’s not easy though, because it’s the third game in six days and I’m a bit worried because facing a game every three days in these conditions is not easy.
“It’s difficult to say anything to the players, there’s also physical and mental fatigue to be taken into account. We also need to do extra footballing evaluations to see where we can improve.”
He discussed his thoughts on the referee’s performance tonight.
“If I can I avoid making any comments, unless they make me angry as it happened against Barcelona.
“It’s part of the game, you have to accept it and so it’s fine. More than anything else it becomes difficult to stand still for five minutes to establish whether someone was one millimetre offside. You should always favour those who are attacking.
“I was bothered by the fact that it interrupted a positive moment for us, with Parma on the ropes. But technology is fine, so no one can appeal to anything.”
Conte then touched on the reduced squad at the moment.
“When I talked about evaluations I did so without malice, every word must be constructive.
“Today Asamoah was on the bench with knee problems, De Vrij was also at risk despite having problems with his groin while Vecino came back from Uruguay with a quadriceps problem.
“Let’s say that all situations must still lead us to a reflection because we are on a new path and at the beginning of the path there must be growth not only on the field but in terms of everything, making careful assessments on how to do better in the future for the good of Inter.
“Also, because I think that a team like Inter, to participate in the Champions League, must do so to excel or fight, without being satisfied. Today I’m worried, I was worried even before Dortmund and against Sassuolo. The worry is growing because the number of games is increasing, and the players are always the same, and other small problems are being added.
“We must continue because these guys are exceptional, they gave everything tonight except the blackout of the first half. But I understand that physical and mental fatigue can occur and that is difficult to manage, playing every three days matches like these there is a significant energy expenditure. We need to improve some situations.”
Finally, Conte spoke about his current plans for the squad and where he sees growth.
“We can’t put our hands in front of our eyes because they’re borderline situations.
“It is right that we should make assessments and try to improve in the future. Next year we will have to take advantage of situations that are occurring to prevent certain mistakes from being made.
“If we still make mistakes, we are in the same situation as we are today because we are in a difficult situation. We must hope that things will always go well and pray to god hoping that everything will be OK.
“It is not a criticism of the squad, there is a path where we must be good at trying to improve.
“This year we are focusing on young players like Sebastiano Esposito, but if he becomes the cure-all there is something wrong.
“We’re Inter, not a first-tier team. Let’s be careful, the kid has to grow up and take steps but if we put the responsibility on him there is something wrong.”
