Inter coach Antonio Conte spoke to Italian broadcaster Inter TV last night, after the Nerazzurri’s nail biting 4-3 comeback over Fiorentina earlier this evening.
“We faced a very good opponent who prepared a defensive match. From an offensive point of view, we have been good, we have developed different ideas leading different players to attack.
“Often, however, sometimes we lost balance because of this, allowing Fiorentina to stage a counter attack and score the second and third goals.
“We can improve on this but we must applaud the boys for their heart. They looked for the win all the way until the end.”
The 51-year-old Italian coach commented on how important it is this season to have five substitutions at his disposal.
“This will be fundamental compared to last year, especially in midfield. Both for the fact that today we have them all available, while last year many were injured like Sensi, Barella, Gagliardini.
“Today, numerically we are in a better position and also in regards to quality we did well.”
He also highlighted how the club’s midfield needs to be better prepared for counter attacks with their off the ball movement.
“But we also need quantity, we need midfielders who give quantity and quality.
“You have to be careful when attacking, you have to be more pessimistic in case of a possible counter attack.
“Today we went forward with too many players creating an imbalance that we then paid for.”
The former Chelsea and Juventus coach touched on the difficulties a coach faces in this strange season. The pre-season period for the Nerazzurri was less than two months, with their final game of last season coming at the end of August.
“Surely in the last period we had to experiment with a lot of things. Let’s not forget that we have signed players who have been away for two and a half months, we had to do a different preparation period.
“We also had the nice ending of the Europa League, we had to experience new things, let’s not forget that those who played in their national teams had only one week of vacation.
“It will be a tiring season, we need great availability from the players and a squad numerically equipped to play every three days. This is the change.”
Conte spoke about how no specific substitution made the difference, but instead the decision to change the formation.
“Honestly, there was a mental change because we changed the formation, I don’t think that whoever played before did not do well.
“We need to improve the balance between defensive and offensive phase, that’s what was missing today.”
Finally, Conte discussed how players must be aware and prepared to play, even if they are starting on the bench, due to the busy schedule and regular squad rotations.
“Then the guys know that it takes availability, you can enter from start or from the bench, play or not play, whoever is starting today might not play tomorrow.
“There will be a total involvement and I asked them to be available to the good of Inter and today they showed that.”