Inter coach Simone Inzaghi feels that a lot of the Nerazzurri’s Serie A loss at the hands of Monza this evening came down to the team having started to experience some nerves in the second half.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster DAZN after the team lost 0-1 to the Brianzoli at the San Siro, via FCInterNews, the coach reflected on what the reason was for yet another league loss which leaves the team’s hopes of top four hanging by a thread.
It has become a familiar pattern for Inter in the league in recent weeks – a first half in which the team have most of the possession of the ball and probe for openings, but to no avail.
Then, in the second half the opposition begin to really believe that a result is there for them, as Monza did this evening at the San Siro.
Inzaghi admitted that “We got nervous, the team wants a win but it just doesn’t want to come.”
“We had a good first half, then we got nervous and allowed some counterattacks,” he continued, “but a mature team always has to stay in the match.”
“I tried substitutions, but sometimes you need more ruthlessness to get the individual moments on your side,” he went on.
“The last few matches have been carbon copies of one another,” Inzaghi rued, “the goalkeepers have saved everything, this loss slows us down and it’s a big disappointment.”
Asked how the team can start to get the key moments back on their side, Inzaghi’s message was simple – “We need to work.”
“We prepared well for this match in two days, I was calm on the eve of it but then we all saw how it went.”
“We played well in the sense that they had caused us more problems in the first leg, but we’re talking about a heavy defeat here,” he lamented.
Regarding the discrepancy between Inter’s performances in Serie A and in the Champions League, Inzaghi defended his team, stating that “We prepare for all matches the right way, the team works well in training, it’s not true that they don’t have motivation in the league.”
“The numbers are better in the league, we’ve lost matches where we haven’t deserved to,” he went on.
“Of course, the result also has an influence on things, but you have to be able to look past the result and see what the team actually did on the pitch,” Inzaghi emphasized.
“We’re falling behind in the league, we have eight matches in which to recover but we’re dropping really heavy points.”
“Over the past two and a half days I’ve seen great concentration from my players,” Inzaghi said, “I was calm even though we all know the effect that playing every two days has.. look at how Benfica and Chelsea also struggled today.”
Of the squad rotation compared to Tuesday’s Champions League match against Benfica, the coach said that “I tried to change things up, D’Ambrosio wasn’t at his best, otherwise he would have played but he was a bit fatigued.”
“I tried to make changes without upsetting the balance, I had made changes in Salerno but we didn’t get the win there either.”
“Tonight was a carbon copy of that match, we have to find a way to get the individual episodes to go our way,” he rued.
“We’ve seen that that’s what determines the results,” Inzaghi added, “Now we can’t get a win even with the numbers that we have in the league, and it makes us nervous.”
“For sixteen months we had the best attack in Italy, but now in 2023 there’s been a struggle that’s affected everyone,” he said.
“As far as what we have to do, we must work.”
“The forwards are training well, but it hasn’t been enough, particularly because we’re coming up against goalkeepers who are playing the way that they are,” Inzaghi said.
“There’s also a mea culpa for me to do, considering I’m the coach,” he concluded.
