Inter Milan head coach Cristian Chivu admitted that his team lost emotional control at key moments as Napoli ran out 3–1 winners at the Stadio Maradona.
The Nerazzurri had started well, hitting the woodwork twice and growing into the game, and Chivu insisted there were positives before the collapse.
“I want to talk about the good things we did in the first half,” he told DAZN, via FCInterNews.
“We stayed in the match, kept our balance, hit two posts and reacted after going behind.”
But the match turned early in the second half, and Chivu criticised the way Inter handled the pressure.
“We lost our balance because we were desperate to get back into it,” he admitted.
Even after Calhanoglu made it 2-1, Inter failed to manage the moment.
“We wasted energy arguing with their bench and from that point we weren’t lucid anymore,” Chivu added, calling it the key psychological collapse of the night.
Napoli 3-1 Inter Milan – Chivu: ‘We Cannot Concede So Easily…’
The coach was equally disappointed with the defensive phase, pointing to avoidable mistakes.
“On the second goal we didn’t sense danger, and the third is the consequence of lost clarity: you can’t concede so easily from a throw-in,” he said, stressing the need to read situations better.
Despite the defeat, Chivu refused to abandon the bigger picture, insisting his belief in the squad remains intact.
“I am proud of the boys and even more confident after tonight. We came here to play our game, but you must keep your attention high. Something was missing after the break,” he reflected.
As for the touchline incident, Chivu shut it down immediately.
“I don’t care. I’ll tell the players not to waste energy on that. We must think about our football and where we want to go.”
I agree with you if we look at McTominay’s goal if it were Martinez he would had saved the ball Sommer is having problems with long shots.
there is lots of talk on this forum, but simply, Napoli is better in every department, they have strengthened their squad while we haven’t and have a better coach. You can’t win anything with the likes of Sucic, Pio, Enrique, Bonny, Diouf..+ aging playes. The ownership/management did not want to invest and the result will be that we will fight for the UCL spot next season, at best.
@Chivu : please never ever played Acerbi again, especially when agains a speedy attacker. He already lost his pace, and too old to fight with youngster, better let him guide the the young and has more pace like Biseck to play
Inter need a solution in defence both of goals were defensive errors and yet I feel like Chivu won’t know what to do because he believes Acerbi is a top defender against fast strikers. There were moments it was just unwatchable the way Neres just drags him around and yet lose the ball.Napoli didn’t do anything special to overcome Inter they just relied on Inter’s Acerbi mistakes both in and out of possession in everything like counter attacks and buildup play. Yet Acerbi lasted 106 minutes while Inter are losing 3-1
Bisek is also very very slow
We need some speed on the backline. Acerbi keeps getting beat, He is to slow. I appreciate everything hes done for Inter but its time to go. Reminds me of when Kolarov was brought in and got beat game after game that he got sent to the bench and ended up retiring. You have to have some pace on the backline. Strikers now a days are just to fast.
I think that might be the reason for taking Dumfries and use Henrique who is clear now the guy is useless in key matches. The final 10-20 minutes needed someone like Dumfries and Barella but if Chivu saw them directly attacking Conte then he needed to do something. Otherwise why take your weapons in crucial moment if it wasn’t for discipline then it was beyond stupid to do so it’s like shooting yourself in the foot but again if it’s for discipline then the coach is 100% correct. In fact if it was for reason he should’ve taken Lautaro off as well .
I certainly agree with you regarding the shot stopper- Give Martinez II a chance he`s been looking good when he`s been there. Acerbi looked real slow when Anguissa (not the fastest) outran him .
Disapointing loss but I agree with Chivu, a lot of god parts of the game. I think the return of Zielinski is good news. He can play important role onwards. Unfotunately some of our best players failed tonoght for ex Barella, Acerbi and Bony- Defense was not at all tight. But keep in mind to woodworks and a very questionable partonepei penalty. This evening could have resulted in another way.
Bony did ok considering he was mostly surrounded by 3 plus players almost everytime he got the ball and he’s not a player to press aggressively in fact he did much better than Pio in my opinion.However if Thuram is fit he needs to play in the next match because he’s experience is greatly needed when Inter are under pressure
Time for my post match therapy….
Trying to stay positive, we are still only 3 points off the top, and I have no doubt that there is enough quality in the squad to keep us in touching distance all season…. Chivu is doing his best, and the signs have been (overall) very encouraging…. the worry is that to truly challenge for the Scudetto, the team is missing the two pieces that Chivu specifically asked for in the summer, yet was given neither…. a Centre Centre back, and a defensive midfielder! DeVrij is serviceable, but not what he once was and Acerbi – as great as he’s been- is simply too old and too slow! When you sign a player at 34, he shouldn’t really be hitting 150 appearances for the club!! Whether or not Oaktree will see sense, and sanction some moves in January remains to be seen…
The Acerbi law also applies to Sommer, who is suffering from exactly the same problem that Handanovic went through at a certain age… LONG SHOTS!! The spring simply isn’t there anymore to get across to long shots, and the fact that 6 of them have flown past him against Juve and Napoli says it all!! Pep Martinez isn’t being given a fair chance to prove himself- he has always looked good when he’s played, and deserves a sustained run in the team, so that we can decide for sure whether he will be our number 1 going forward….
I can’t state enough how angry I am with the penalty awarded against us- I have honestly never seen anything like it in my life!! That said, the players need to take a look at themselves today! Stop feeling sorry for yourselves, and put it right!! There was an hour of football left to play, but Inter were defeated from that moment…. Thankfully, we only have to wait until Wednesday to start again… FORZA INTER, ALWAYS!!!
Regarding defensive midfielder. Chalanoglu still good but wait until summer and retrieve the young Stancovic which dominated in suisse liga and now seems to achieve something similar in Belgium at his age! Certainly a great future in a great team!
Yeah, Stankovic could definitely be the answer… January should be used to bring in a centre back!!
I agree with you if we look at McTominay’s goal if it were Martinez he would had saved the ball Sommer is having problems with long shots.