Antonio Conte insisted he had little reason to criticise his Inter players for after the Nerazzurri were held to a 1-1 draw at Spezia.
Inter had the chance to go 12 points clear of AC Milan at the top of the Serie A table, but they fell behind early on after a goal from Diego Farias.
Ivan Perisic restored parity shortly before half-time but Inter were unable to find a winning goal, despite creating several great chances.
“I don’t have much to complain about with the performance,” Conte told Inter TV after the match at the Stadio Alberto Picco.
“We showed desire and determination, perhaps we were a little short of quality on certain occasions.
“There was frustration among the players at times but we need to keep working and continue with this hunger.
“The games are becoming ever fewer although we’re disappointed today, we’d have deserved the three points.
“It was a very intense game so we need to recover now.”
Inter have conceded precious few shots on goal in their last two games at Napoli and Spezia and yet they have conceded twice, with Samir Handanovic far from blameless on both occasions.
Asked if he was happy about how the team had kept their calm after falling behind and continued to play well, Conte said: “This is a group with a clear identity, with a precise hymn sheet to sing off.
“We’re going home disappointed because we tried everything to win.
“We tried to change up our style during the game and become more offensive, but we never lost our balance even though the risk of a counterattack was always lurking around the corner.”
Inter will return to Serie A action on Sunday when Conte’s side welcome Hellas Verona to San Siro.
