Ahead of his side’s trip to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza to face Inter tomorrow, Hellas Verona coach Ivan Juric believes they are coming up against the best team in Serie A.
Inter are unbeaten in 16 league matches and are just nine-points shy of securing a first Scudetto since 2010, whilst Verona have lost their last three games in Serie A.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, as reported by FCInter1908.it, Juric praised Conte’s work in turning the Nerazzurri into title contenders and felt that strong recruitment had allowed the coach’s methods to come to fruition.
“For me, Inter are the strongest squad, together with Conte. He is the best coach, alongside [Atalanta’s Gian Piero] Gasperini, the most complete and toughest. He is a rock and never gives up,” Juric claimed.
“This year he found the way to win. It’s not a surprise to me, in recent years he has been the best and bought the players he thought he lacked. As a coach, he has clear ideas, but in the end it’s down to the players. You must appreciate what you have in your hands, and work to get it. This is how you win. There are no other ways.”
Juric assessed Conte’s style of play with Inter after the Nerazzurri coach drew criticism for a perceived negative approach, and insisted that it was necessary to create a balanced team.
“For me, they played great games with beautiful football. Knowing Conte, I said to myself ‘now he can beat everyone’.
“But he rightly said ‘we played great games, but we lost and nobody cared’. He evaluated his team and focused more on defence without pressing too high. He has great champions. In attack they are always dangerous and create.
“To enjoy the game as a spectator, I would prefer how Inter were previously. As I see it though, this is the one that leads you to go and beat everyone. As an intelligent man, he made the right choice, that’s the point.”
Verona have struggled for form since the international break and fell to a 2-1 defeat to Fiorentina on Tuesday, and Juric admitted he was partly to blame.
“In several matches the team has made a big leap in quality in terms of play and our manner on the pitch, but it has also become a losing team. When this is the case it is also partly the fault of the coach.
“I hope that we will start winning again. I too have to consider and understand how to become tougher and win games. The Inter squad is of a high level but there is much for us to do.
Verona have found success in the loan market this season and Juric insisted that the moves to bring players in with a view to future permanent deal had helped the club.
“These players are ours. [Antonin] Barak is bought, [Giangiocomo] Magnani is bought, [Federico] Ceccherini is bought. They are all obligations. The others, such as [Ebrima] Colley, [Eddie] Salcedo, Dimarco and others, we need to think: from some I expected more, but they have taken steps forward and backward .
“We need to understand what their ambitions are. The ones I mentioned are already ours and it’s important to have these players, who create a base. We have recovered Ceccherini, while [Keray] Günter is not fully fit. For the rest, we are the same as the last match,” Juric added.