Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi knows that the team’s approach wasn’t good enough and that the result they took was not what they needed against Fiorentina this evening.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after his team’s 1-1 Serie A draw with La Viola, the coach accepted responsibility for the team’s display as they dropped points and gave AC Milan the chance to further extend their lead at the top of the table.
Inter went into this evening’s match hoping to get back to winning ways after having won just two of their previous eight matches in Serie A.
However, they will have always known that Fiorentina were formidable opposition, and so it proved as the visitors looked to be the more in control for long stretches at the San Siro and scored the opener.
The Nerazzurri equalized and then did well to push for a winner during the second half, but in the end their efforts lacked the clinical edge needed and they slumped to more dropped points.
“I didn’t expect it to be like this,” the coach said of the first half display, “It came from another performance in which we didn’t take the right approach.”
“I’m not without fault and I’m the first to be responsible for what happens,” he went on. “The guys did everything they could in the second half, we weren’t very good technically and we had to do better.”
Inzaghi said that “The first half was insufficient because a team like ours has to do more. In the second we did better, and after the goal we created chances.”
“It’s normal that it is a bad moment of form for us, and after a while the fact that we’ve taken just seven points from our last seven matches began to weigh on us,” he added.
“We need to do more because the season is demanding,” he said. “Fiorentina played an excellent game – in the first half they were better, in the second we were better.”
“This draw doesn’t satisfy me because we’re all used to doing more,” the coach stressed.
Asked whether he’s worried about the pressure, Inzaghi said that he is “Absolutely not afraid, but the team feels more responsibility.”
“In November, December and early January we were perfect,” he continued, “now we’re experiencing a decline but we must try to remain calm and keep working. We’re lacking results, we’re finishing a lot less than we create.”
“Now we’ll have to try to work, even if in the next couple weeks players will be with their national teams,” the coach said of what comes next.
“We’ll have to be good,” he went on, “though if Sanchez scores to make it 2-1 then we’re having a different conversation.”
“These moments aren’t easy,” he reflected, “but we have plenty of time to pick ourselves back up.”
“Technically we were off,” he said of the performance, “we didn’t do enough to get in behind. As for the players we were missing, it’s too easy to blame absences.”
“I’m not happy with the first half,” he reiterated, “in the second we conceded a goal out of nothing and then apart from Ikone’s counterattack at the end we didn’t suffer and we could have won.”
On whether the issue is more psychological than physical, Inzaghi said “Probably, yeah, but I would be more worried if the team wasn’t creating chances.”
“In the second half we did a lot,” he stressed, “in the past few games we’ve created chances. Before, there was always a win at the end, now the team is a little off.”
On his decision to change the strikers during the second half, he said that “I’m fortunate to have many strikers available, I have to decide from time to time who to play.”
Looking ahead to the Serie A clash with Juventus after the international break, the coach said that “We know what kind of match it will be, we’ve already played them twice.”
“They are a top opponent,” he concluded, “now we have fifteen days to prepare for them in the best way possible.”
