TRIESTE - "It leaves a bitter taste," Andrea Stramaccioni admitted straight away, as he gave his post-match thoughts to Sky Italia. "Bitter because we kept trying to win the game right up to the last minute, with Ranocchia unable to turn in that chance that was almost a goal-line clearance. A shame. Inter are alive though, and they showed that against an excellent Cagliari side - a solid, healthy team that caused us problems particularly in the second half. We must give them credit for that but Inter showed they are alive and well."
The Nerazzurri coach continued: "There were spells when we did well but we weren't able to keep playing with the same intensity throughout both halves, given that we were up against opposition in good shape. But Inter showed character to get level. I thought we looked good although I know that it's only the result that counts."
Stramaccioni was asked to comment on Guarin's performance: "Positive, I thought it was positive. For you he was under a sort of magnifying glass, maybe you were expecting something special from him, but his contribution was good. Then of course he's not fully fit yet so I decided to take him off."
From midfield to attack, and an assessment of how Zarate and Forlan performed in the three-pronged attack with Milito: "It's clear that our attacking players need the support of the rest of the team. They did well when the team was playing well and coming up with ideas; perhaps they were a little more absent when we found it harder, but it's better to talk about the whole team than individuals. Still, Zarate on the left and Forlan on the right is something we've practised. They are both comfortable in those positions - in fact our goals came from those two."
Does today's result erase any last hope of clinching third place? "I think looking at the results it's all very even and there are lots of unpredictable matches. We'll take each game as it comes; there's no point drawing any conclusions with seven games to go."
Stramaccioni continued his analysis with Mediaset: "All things considered you have to say it's a shame because we ended the game on the attack and because Agazzi kept them in it with that save from Zarate. It's a real shame because with an extra man we did everything we could to win it. In terms of the football, and also psychologically, Inter are alive and they don't accept losing."
The Nerazzurri coach assessed the contribution of Esteban Cambiasso, who scored the second goal, and Fredy Guarin, who started his first match this afternoon: "Cambiasso has had two top performances, he's in good shape and he's helping Inter. Guarin found it a little hard to keep tabs on Cossu initially; he's not fully fit yet, but we'll wait for him."
Stramaccioni also gave his view of Inter's defensive play: "Strangely we struggled more from set pieces against Genoa than we did today - Astori's goal was really something special - but we do need to work on defending set pieces, as we already are."
"Agazzi and a bit of bad luck denied us victory," the coach then said to Rai. "We responded superbly both times we conceded, showing desire and quality to create the openings through our wide forwards, first Zarate and then Forlan. Defensive mistakes? I think it's always a team thing. For the first goal Astori pulled out a trump card while for the second we could have done better. But we have to give Cagliari credit for putting together and then finishing off a lovely move."
