APPIANO GENTILE – After another week spent working at training ground, now it's time for another game: Andrea Stramaccioni and his Inter team will take on Cagliari at the Stadio Nereo Rocco in Trieste tomorrow. They'll be looking to continue on the path they began positively last weekend by beating Genoa, looking no further ahead than the next game and without studying the league table or making any calculations or plans for next season. Because as the coach said today, "the future is today".
"In terms of preparing for this game the difficulties we've had during the second week were similar to the ones we encountered in the first week," Stramaccioni told journalists during his press conference. "The positive thing is that we've started a working philosophy, a working project, with ideas that I introduced on the pitch from day one. The fact we started with a win is also positive. The players have shown the right enthusiasm but we haven't done anything yet. Tomorrow we have the chance to repeat the good things we did in the first game. I hope to see progression in our work: I start with an idea in mind and I try to perfect it day by day. In football the future is today, but not only for someone in my situation. The lads and I aren't interested in the future in the normal sense of the word, only in tomorrow's game. No one, and I include myself in that, can expect to influence the team in just a few days, but on Sunday Inter played very well in the first half, showing a positive attitude, and we've been working this week with the aim of being consistent. We'll find out how well we've worked when we step onto the pitch tomorrow."
In the meantime the first impact has been more than positive, also in terms of enthusiasm, but the coach said he couldn't compare now with before: "I don't know whether there was enthusiasm before but if the lads say they're enthusiastic now that can only make me happy. All I've done is take onto the pitch the things I know how to do. The secret is simple: work, work, work. More action with less talk."
Is it still possible to aim for third place? Stramaccioni replied: "I don't need to tell you about the quality we have here, but we must look at the present. Today I'm not interested in the league table, I'm focusing on one match at a time. We mustn't be distracted by making plans or calculations, we're working from one game to the next and all that matters today is Cagliari v Inter. It might be a cliché but this match is like a final: we must prepare for it as if it were one."
