Cristian Chivu was in no mood to indulge shifting narratives after Inter Milan’s 2-1 victory away to Genoa, a result that returned the Nerazzurri to the top of the Serie A table and ended a five-year wait for success at the Stadio Ferraris.
Speaking to DAZN immediately after the final whistle, the Inter head coach pushed back at labels and judgments that have followed his side throughout the season.
He instead chose to focus on performance, character and hard-earned point, with quotes via FCInterNews.
For Chivu, Marassi represented one of the more demanding assignments on the calendar.
Not only because of the club’s recent record there but also due to Genoa’s resurgence under Daniele De Rossi.
“I like to talk about the match and the performance. About what we put on the pitch knowing that it’s never easy to play here,” he said.
“For the moment this team is living since De Rossi arrived, for the intensity they bring in a stadium like this with great support. I take the character shown in difficulty, the performance and the three points, which were the most important thing.”
Genoa 1-2 Inter Milan – Chivu Justifies Tactical Adjustments
Inter’s control of the game for over an hour appeared to put the contest beyond doubt, but Genoa’s late goal forced Chivu into a series of tactical adjustments.
The Romanian coach explained his thinking behind several key decisions, including reshaping his defence and midfield to manage the final stages.
“Because of the booking, I’ll start from the final part of the question,” he said when asked about his substitutions and positional changes.
“On the right they developed less, they had one striker in the middle and the other more towards our left, so I chose Manuel to avoid him duelling with the attackers.”
Chivu also revealed that the attacking changes were not improvised.
Instead they were adapted to the state of the game. “Substitutions are made based on the match, on the energy levels,” he continued.
“I had chosen Bonny earlier. However, we were 2-0 up and then I changed my mind to have fight, speed, attacking depth and structure. Because if we had needed to defend set pieces he would have given us something extra.”
Late on, Inter became more compact as Genoa pushed forward.
“Then we decided to take Zielo off in the final minutes and bring on De Vrij. Moving Manuel into midfield,” Chivu explained. “We were in a 5-4-1, because they could have caused us problems in depth.”
Chivu Hits Back: ‘Five Months Ago You Said We Were Finished…’
Beyond tactics, however, it was the wider discourse surrounding Inter that drew the strongest reaction from Chivu.
Asked about comments from Lautaro Martinez regarding criticism, the Inter coach made it clear that the group remains unmoved by external noise.
“No, it’s our way of seeing things. Of accepting what is said about us knowing what we’re doing. And what we want to do,” he said. “These are words we often use among ourselves.”
Chivu stressed the importance of unity and perspective within the squad. “We know how much the group cares. And indeed how important it is to always be there despite difficulties, labels and what is said,” he added.
“We know how loved Inter is and do our job and our duty. We’re improving, trying to fight against all the negativity and labels. We move forward with awareness and work. That always comes out through the mentality and character this group has had for years.”
The most pointed response came when Chivu addressed the idea that Inter are now being described as the strongest team in Italy.
“Five months ago we were supposed to finish eighth or tenth because we were finished,” he said bluntly.
“We’re fighting, we’re working to do our duty. Is there inconsistency? I don’t know, but certainly coherence must be maintained.”
Anyone watched Udinese vs Napoli match it’s disgrace and injustice happening, those refs and var should be punished they tried everything to gift Napoli the 3 points
And yet they failed…In this match Inter also had VAR decision not even considered because the ref was in very good location to say it wasn’t a penalty in real time(When Susic was clearly held as he went down). But I’m sure if it was against Inter or in favour of Napoli it’s a penalty any day of the week
Calciopoli is still here all the time.
No surprise
He should use that spirit against big teams. Not holding back and going for the win
We need to play with more courage against the bigger teamsters
I don’t wonna hear none of this crap !!! PSV gave broken Liverpool 4 in their own field. But u have chosen to play guys like Acherbi and Mikhaterian while both are like a 100 years old and leave young talented defender like Bissick outside, leaving young midfielders like Diof and The Sosic outside !!! u let Liverpool control u in San Siro and u watched them do it till they got their penalty and scored and then u were like “oh crap let me make some changes” !!!! Nothing counts till u beat Arsenal. I don’t wonna hear shi about u beating Genoa
This is not about beating Genoa, this is about being 1st place in Serie A after 15 games. During summer, everyone said Inter didn’t have what it takes to challenge for Scudetto, Chivu is too inexperienced, Napoli, Milan, and Juve got better reinforcements, etc. But Inter is in first place even after losing to all of these three teams.
Also, stop scapegoating the older players. Acerbi got injured in the first 20 minutes of the game, Liverpool were just as poor as Inter, they didn’t dominate anything, and the only reason why Inter lost was due to Bastoni, not Acerbi, not Mhiki, Bastoni. Most people think that wasn’t even a penalty. And yes, Inter were to passive in that game, but Liverpool didn’t dominate Inter, not even close.
You left the best part for last. INTER WERE PASSIVE for no reason whatsoever when Liverpool were low on morale. All Inter had to do was to be brave and go for the win. Not necessarily win but to show the home advantage. The fact is Inter showed too much respect to Liverpool and Chivu should start showing that in certain matches against the supposed “big teams” he wants to win the match by doing exactly what he’s been doing against weak sides-Press them relentlessly
I 100% agree with this. I was just “correcting” DeMoor for saying Liverpool dominated Inter, when in reality, they were just as poor.
Well said! The only piece missing is, I do not know why Chivu is so scared to start Bonny and Esposito together. Typically, against Liverpool, he played the same team that lost 5-0 against PSG, except for Akanji. Akanji needs rest because he has been playing since the season started.
Personally i’m satisfied with Chivu’s work so far, only if we had instead of those losses some draws, then would be 10/10 grade so far. He managed to bring morale back up after that loss against PSG, first in Italy, still have solid chances of getting one of first 8 places in Europe, he made some mistakes, but he’s still growing as coach.
On summer we need reinforcements on every position because of lowering average age of squad and replacing those players who didn’t show much. Stankovic and Akinsanmiro on summer to refresh midfield and one extremely good def midfielder so we can ugrade mid on another level. Sub on right side or maybe even replacement if Dumfries leaves, multiple cbs, 1 or 2 gks if Martinez also decides to leave if he doesn’t get starting place, replacement of Thuram (sick of seeing him dragging his feet on the pitch) and on the left side i would love to see on free transfer Souffian El Karouani from Utrecht (i think he has so far 3 goals and 15 assists), maybe we get lucky with him as we did with Hakimi.
Let’s win supper coppa. We have been trophyless for the past 1.5 years with scudetto and UCL tragedies. Time to redeem that.
Aaaiight, i’m on it 🙂
Chivu you must stay humble. When you win against strong team like arsenal livergas, man city, ac bilan, rube, c.unte, etc then we can entertain your comments.
On another note – stankovic with a goal and assist…obviously buy back in the summer to add to the midfield. Times are looking bright for Inter. Now..where are we gonna find that CB we need. Leoni was a good call seeing what happened to the kid. De winter is finished with alegri as is ricci. Where…is it going to be a youngster or what. Really excited to see what will happen. Forza Inter
Inter must go all in for Muharemovic from Sasuolo, left footed CB, so we can move Basto in heart our defensive line….give more chance to Henrique and Diouf…also maybe reinforce some another player type so we can play diferent formation( Paz, or Lookman, why not try again)