APPIANO GENTILE – There was plenty of curiosity from journalists about the Nerazzurri players' fitness the day before Inter v Napoli, with Andrea Stramaccioni fielding questions about Fredy Guarin, Marko Livaja, Ricardo Alvarez, Matias Silvestre, Yuto Nagatomo and Wesley Sneijder.
"Of the players we have in this squad, Guarin is the midfielder with the greatest margin for improvement. He's strong physically, he's got a change of pace, an eye for goal and he's working on the tactical side of his game. I think he's taken big strides forward," the Nerazzurri coach observed.
The next topic was Livaja, in the form of questions about a possible January transfer: "Marko is a very promising youngster who's showing that he's good enough to stay in our squad. He's not a true target man, he's at his best when he plays off a centre forward. He's also played wide on the left, cutting inside. If he keeps his feet on the ground, since he's a hard-working and modest lad, I think he has a bright future at the top level of the game. Have I thought about sending him out on loan to gain experience? That's something to be considered depending on whether anyone else comes in. If I didn't think I could give him much playing time I'd say so to the club for the good of the boy."
Ricardo Alvarez is not in the squad for tomorrow: "He's got a knee problem which worsened after yesterday's training session. He didn't train today. It's a shame because he was doing well. We'll wait for him with a view to the next game."
Stramaccioni was then asked whether Silvestre might play tomorrow: "Matias is a defender who comes into his element when he has to man-mark. He's certainly ideal for the sort of game we have tomorrow but I won't go into detail about the line-up I'm going to put out against Napoli."
There was also a question from the Japanese media about Nagatomo, to which Stramaccioni replied by praising the wing-back: "Every time he goes out on the pitch, if you ask Yuto for 100% he gives you 101 - it's the same whether he starts or comes off the bench. He's a fantastic professional, he's determined to learn, to do things, he's always extremely motivated. Against Neftci he proved he can give us a lot going forward, he can play anywhere, except in goal..."
Naturally, there were also questions about Sneijder: "He was ok today. Yesterday he had a minor muscle problem and with the doctor's agreement he had a day of physiotherapy. Today he trained with the rest of the group." The coach was then asked what he thought of the comments made by the player's wife on Twitter, namely that he wasn't injured: "What matters to me is what the player tells me face to face, I'm not interested in anything else. Am I finding this situation difficult? Everyone has a different character. With the character I have, I'm not finding it difficult."
