Antonio Conte says he is expecting big things from Christian Eriksen tomorrow after confirming he will start in a new deep-lying role for Inter’s Coppa Italia tie at Fiorentina.
The Nerazzurri travel to the Stadio Artemio Franchi to face Cesare Prandelli’s side in the last 16 before Sunday’s crunch match in Serie A at home to Juventus.
Conte said Eriksen would be part of his starting XI in Marcelo Brozovic’s normal play-maker position, before hinting the midfielder has not shown enough mental strength to succeed in Italy.
“We’ve had time to work with Eriksen on a tactical front in the play-maker role, the one Brozovic usually has,” he told Rai Sport tonight.
“I’m expecting big things from him in this position tomorrow.
“There are positive and negative moments in a player’s career and you always need to show character to drag yourself out of those troubles.”
Inter’s cup match falls in between huge league games against Roma and Juventus but Conte assured supporters they would not be distracted tomorrow by the thought of this weekend’s Derby d’Italia.
“The Coppa Italia gives you the opportunity to win for trophy and it matters to everyone,” he added.
“We’re going to face a Fiorentina side that has the same idea as us [to win], they’re a great team which isn’t showing its full potential in the league.
“They’re a tough obstacle for us to overcome if we wish to continue in this competition, then afterwards we’ll think about the league when we’ll be playing one of the strongest teams of all.”
Despite pledging his focus to Wednesday’s match in Florence, Conte is nonetheless expected to make eight changes to the side that started Sunday’s draw at Roma.
Reports earlier on Tuesday suggested Eriksen and Brozovic could start together in midfield but Conte’s comments regarding the Dane’s position tomorrow suggest Brozovic will start on the bench.
Speaking to Inter TV in a separate interview, Conte added: “It’s certainly going to be a tough and demanding match tomorrow.
“Fiorentina are a team with great players in my opinion, they’re well organised and we’ll need to play a great game to ensure we’re better than them.
“We want to go ahead in this competition so we’ll try to be the better team tomorrow.”
