APPIANO GENTILE - "The place where you were born always holds a special place in your heart," Andrea Stramaccioni said with a smile during his press conference on the eve of Lazio v Inter, a match which takes him back to his native Rome.
"The Stadio Olimpico was the first stadium I ever saw, because I was born in Rome. The San Siro is my stadium now though, my team is Inter, my fans are the Nerazzurri. All my thoughts are on Inter now: tomorrow we have an important game."
Stramaccioni was then reminded how much more president Massimo Moratti expects from this team: "The president has publicly stated things we'd already discussed, we're on the same page. No coach can say, 'things are fine' in the middle of December: we're happy with how we're performing but we want to do even better, that's what we're looking for in the future. It's driving us on."
Just like in previous press conferences, the three-man strikeforce again came up: "Inter can play with three genuine forwards but it comes down to the balance of the team. How well you attack is not necessarily simply a question of how many strikers you have on the pitch, Juve don't worry about how many they play up front. Inter don't have a best XI, but a flexible system going forward. We could play a front-three in every game but we need to consider our opponents and for how much of the match we can use that system."
From attack to midfield, with Stramaccioni explaining that, "It's the area of the pitch where we've had the most changes. The defence has found stability in terms of personnel. The midfield changes based on how matches develop. I'm lucky enough to coach a group of players with different qualities, which complement one another very well. This is the area of the pitch where I have the highest expectations, it's where we can make the biggest improvements. It's how we gauge our performances. Our wins over Juve and Napoli came from our great midfield display."
