PINZOLO – Andrea Stramaccioni held his first press conference of the season at the Paladolomiti in Pinzolo. He started by telling journalists what it's like being in Trentino, where the Nerazzurri have chosen to base their pre-season training camp for the second season running. "The initial impact has been fantastic, as I said last night on stage during the presentation of the coaching staff - which I wanted to be involved in even though I'll be there again tomorrow evening when the whole team is presented. After I'd seen how many people came along to watch us in training yesterday afternoon I decided I wanted to be there. My collaborators tell me that the whole organisation has been improved further this year, after things were already done superbly last year, and we're all delighted with the way things are going. Our fans, after a not-so-good season last year, are showing us how much they love Inter. What everyone wants is to see Inter being Inter again."
Stramaccioni was asked to describe the Inter of the future. "I see that this Inter team is massively motivated; they are all determined to work hard and certainly they're desperate to bounce back after the way things went last season."
So the team is ready to get going, although Stramaccioni explained, "I think it's difficult, on 6 July, for a Serie A coach to have his definitive set of players for the new season. But we do have a good group to work with, partly because we had few players involved in international fixtures this year. That means the coach can get to work immediately and it's important too because compared to the other teams we'll be starting [competitive matches] earlier."
Stramaccioni has become an increasingly important figure at the centre of Inter's plans. "There are big plans yes, but at the same time the focus must be entirely on the players and the Inter coach here at the moment. The lads don't really want to make any big announcements or promises, they just want to get on with it. All we need to be doing now is concentrate on working hard and then we'll let our football do the talking on the pitch."
