Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi is glad with what he saw from his team in this evening’s 4-0 win over Cagliari at the San Siro.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after the match, the coach emphasized the strength of the entire squad and also made clear that Lautaro Martinez is still one of the team’s main penalty takers despite his first half miss.
As they had in earlier matches against midtable or relegation opposition over the past number of weeks, Inter made sure that the match against Cagliari didn’t look any more difficult than it had to.
The emphatic 4-0 scoreline is a fair reflection of the run of play across the ninety minutes, and of the chances that the Nerazzurri fashioned.
Inzaghi’s team missed a penalty and had several good opportunities saved by the Rossoblu’s goalkeeper Alessi Cragno and yet still cruised to a morale-boosting victoty, and he is satisfied.
“The guys did very well,” he said. “I asked them to be attentive, it was a significant match especially considering some of the other results from big teams over the weekend.”
“We had to be interpret it in the right well and the guys did well right from the start,” he went on. “After finishing the first half 1-0 I praised them and told them to finish off the game.”
On the performance by Alexis Sanchez and other players not regularly in the starting eleven he said that “I have always been able to get a good response from everyone, I think this is our strength.”
“Regardless of who plays or the changes I make, we still play well,” he explained. “Sanchez is growing more and more, Correa did very well up until his injury, Lautaro and Dzeko always do well. I always get a response from whoever I call upon.”
Of Lautaro Martinez the coach stated that “I think he has to keep working as he has been. He has scored goals in each of his last four games, he didn’t feature against Roma because he wasn’t at 100%.”
“But he works hard and he has to continue like this,” he went on, ” the goal matters a lot to him. I’m very satisfied with him and with the team.”
On the team’s tactics he said that “We raised the defensive line and pressed a bit higher, we had to do it because the players available were asking for it.”
“We are doing well,” he continued, “we found a very good balance. It may happen that in certain moments in a match a defender or wing-back will join the attack, so then Calhanoglu or Barella will cover for them.”
“We are doing well but we have to keep going like this because the league is full of potential pitfalls,” he added.
“When I accepted the job Inter I just thought that I would be without Hakimi,” the coach said of his team. “Then the losses Eriksen and Lukaku happened and I had to change things.”
“But I’m lucky enough to have a great club behind me who went to work finding players who could help us,” he went on.
“We’ve had a great journey in Europe already and we had set it as a goal to go top by Christmas,” he added, “this team deserved to return to the knockout rounds of the Champions League.”
“And in the league, we fell behind but we have done well to get back in it,” he added.
The coach explained that “I have 25 players who immediately gave everything and have worked well with my staff, who help me a lot during the week.”
And on whether Martinez is still a penalty taker in spite of his miss, Inzaghi explained that “Yes, and there are also Calhanoglu and Perisic.”
“Tonight went badly,” he said of the Argentine’s miss from the spot, “but I know well from having been a forward that the only players who never miss are those who never shoot.”
