Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi doesn’t believe that the substitutions he made in the second half of this evening’s derby loss to AC Milan were the main reason for the 2-1 defeat.

Speaking in a press conference after the match as reported by FCInterNews, the coach defended the choices he made to remove Ivan Perisic, Hakan Calhanoglu, Lautaro Martinez, and Marcelo Brozovic from the pitch.

After a first half that was about as comfortable as could be expected against an opponent like AC Milan, it was rougher going for Inter in the second half as the Rossoneri pushed for an equalizer and unsettled them.

Milan coach Stefano Pioli gave his team even more momentum with some of his attacking substations, while some of Inzaghi’s changes seemed to reduce his team’s ability to control the ball and cope with the Rossoneri pressure.

However, the coach defended his decisions and pointed out that there were fitness concerns underlying his changes, while also stating that there were other, bigger reasons behind the 2-1 loss.

Asked whether he thought he’d made the wrong substitutions he replued that “I don’t think so. Perisic felt some tightness in his calf and it looks as though it was just a bad cramp.”

“Lautaro had given everything, he was very good,” he added. “And I decided to take off Calhanoglu in the 72nd minute, he’d given his all and was on a booking.”

On the real fault for the loss he stated that “We had to take our chances, and then there would have been no refereeing episodes to talk about.”

On the psychological ramifications of the loss, Inzaghi reflected that “A defeat in the derby is not the same as other losses, but we will have to come out stronger than before because we have Roma, Napoli, and Liverpool all in a row.”

“To win certain matches we need to do more,” he emphasized of the upcoming run of games which doesn’t promise to get any easier.

Going back to the derby loss, the coach gave the view that”The result is deceiving, but we have to congratulate Milan for staying in the game until the end.”

“I regret not having finished them off in the first half, when we had created so many chances,” he added. “In these matches, a little more of a clinical edge is required.”