FLORENCE - After the match, Andrea Stramaccioni spoke to Sky Sport Italia on Inter’s away
defeat to Fiorentina.
"I think it's clear what happened today. Regardless of
the merits of our opponents, I think we paid for the Europa League match in
midweek. Probably I myself hadn’t imagined what would happen after having
played two games with the same players. And, while being able to foresee it, I
never imagined we would have paid so dearly. When you’re always a step late to
the ball… my lads looked very tired to me. Again, this all comes from my
assessment, and I never thought we would have paid for it so much."
Shutting down Fiorentina’s regista could have yielded better results, but as
Stramaccioni explained: "We started out by putting Guarin on Pizarro,
but our two inside midfielders were struggling and we then had to adjust for
Fiorentina’s dangerous counterattacking."
On how preparations will go for the derby: "I don’t think there are any special plans. Tonight’s defeat was clear. This Inter was too ugly to be true, but I think it’s possible to have a heavy defeat like this in the league. It’s certainly not something we needed, but you can’t have a Thursday like the last one we had, then something like this. Sure, it’s a different opponent, but it’s still no good. I repeat: in this sense it was me who made a mistake. The derby takes place after another match in Europe? That’s true, and it’s something we’ll have to take into account. The players who played today were up for it, and the only one who had a problem was Gargano. But it’s all too easy to talk now. We played two matches with the same players and paid dearly for it, since we encountered a team firing on all cylinders that was coming off a bad defeat. We have to bear these things in mind.
"I honestly don’t think it’s a problem regarding individuals because eight
of these starters were coming off of positive performances. To discuss
individuals now wouldn’t be productive. I think everyone had a sub par
performance. We paid for the two matches, since I had also fielded the same
team against Chievo," continued the coach.
"I can tell you the thought was in my head until just before the game,
then he had a problem with his calf," stated Stramaccioni when asked if he had considered fielding Walter Gargano this evening.
Now thoughts turn to the derby and on regaining the trust of the Nerazzurri fans: "It's understandable that could be the case. Now we're going to Romania and then we have the derby, which is important most of all for the standings. We absolutely have to recover, but I’ll say again that other teams this season have suffered heavy losses, and it’s all about how you react to them. Again, it’s not a coincidence that another defeat, the fifth one, came after a Europa League match."
