TURIN – "Inter carried out very precise preparations for this game because we knew we were up against a team with a specific style of football. We tried to keep hold of the ball for as long as possible." Those were Andrea Stramaccioni's opening remarks after Inter's 2-0 win over Torino.
He added: "There was a spell during the second period when we were losing the ball in dangerous positions - at that stage the game had taken a slightly different turn. Then when Gargano came on we managed to get a grip of things again. Perhaps there were a few tired legs out there but that's understandable because it was a huge energy drain. It was important for us to get another win under our belts after the blip last time out, so that we could stay up there just three points off the leaders. This was a big win for us."
Stramaccioni was then asked if Sneijder was upset about being substituted. "It's a normal reaction, he'd like to finish every match. Sneijder is a key player for us but he'd played two games in a row and had racked up lots of minutes on international duty. And that was Torino's best period so I wanted to send out a message by bringing on an out-and-out striker. We're a well-knit side and we're working well together. We're determined to achieve things but we want to let our football do the talking on the pitch."The coach was asked to assess Juan's performance: "We'd done a lot of work during the week. I make decisions based on what I see on the pitch. Some people may have been surprised when they saw Juan in the starting line-up but I knew what he'd been doing throughout the week. Juan and Ranocchia had an excellent game, as did the full-backs."
Stramaccioni ended with a few words for the fans: "Despite all the things that have been written about us recently, our supporters were right behind us yet again today. I'm sorry that we haven't won at home yet and we apologise to the fans for that. Now we hope to win at the Meazza on Thursday."
