MILAN - "That sort of thing can happen on 9 August..." was Andrea Stramaccioni's first observation regarding this evening's defeat against Hajduk Split, which does nothing to prevent the Nerazzurri qualifying for the Europa League play-offs following last week's 3-0 win in Split.
"I think in this case the first-leg result turned out to be a negative factor, but let's not make a big deal out of it. Getting through to the next round was the main thing. We do have a few things to work on, mind."
Stramaccioni was then asked what moves should be made in the transfer market to improve the team: "We know what we're after. This is a strange transfer window with the financial fair-play rules set to kick in. We know we're still a bit short but we've already said that. We need a midfielder - that much is clear just looking at the numbers. This year we're starting afresh. The president wants to build a great Inter team."Getting back to the game, the coach noted that "we can't go from being 'very good' last week to 'bad' this week, but on 9 August these things can happen. Now we must keep our heads down and get on with it. As things stand on 9 August, we're doing a lot of work on ball possession: that's the route we're taking. Today nearly all the chances Hajduk had came about by mistakes we made in keeping possession, but we're working on that. After the first-leg result we put the lads through some heavy workloads this week and that told."
The coach was asked to explain Rodrigo Palacio's absence: "He had a calf problem during the warm-up, but I don't think it's anything serious. We'll have him looked at tomorrow."
Stramaccioni also had a word for the fans after 44,000 turned up at the Meazza this evening: "What annoys me most is that we didn't win for these marvellous fans. Well done to them, we'll soon thank them on the pitch."
