MILAN - Andrea Stramaccioni spoke to Rai Sport following his first match in the Coppa Italia as a coach, with his Inter side beating Hellas Verona: "I think Verona were very organised at first, they kept it tight and we only had a couple of chances through Cassano and Alvarez. Then we upped the tempo. If we don't finish with games with a bit of a thrill, we're not happy..."
"Verona made a great start to the match, I think they're one of the best sides in Serie B and have a great coach," Stramaccioni told Inter Channel. "We changed the tempo at the beginning of the second half and opened up a two-goal lead. Only Rafael stopped us from scoring the third. It's not easy to start games well, plus today we had three players out there - Chivu, Mariga and Duncan - who hadn't featured in a while. All three of them were part of the spine of the team, so obviously they needed a bit of time to feel their way back in.
"Palacio in goal? With his stature he made the backline feel safe. I'm pleased with Duncan's performance: he took a while to get into the match but grew in confidence as the game wore on. I've not been able to pick him in the Europa League because he's not been with our academy for at least 2 years. In January we'll decide whether to keep him here or to send him out on loan to gain some experience, but he's an important player for us. Chivu played very well, he exceeded my expectations. His great strength is starting moves from the back and to have him back fit is a big plus."
Stramaccioni then gave an update on Luca Castellazzi's injury: "He'd picked a knock when he made his first save, but the medical staff told me not to worry. Then he was unlucky with the one from Cacia."
Finally a word on the decision to ban Fredy Guarin following the Lazio game: "I'm confident because our lawyer had me read the reasons behind it and I think we can all see the player did nothing wrong."
