MILAN – "I think a draw is a fair result in the end. AC Milan were superb in the first half but we were determined to get ourselves back into it and we ended the game stronger. Thanks to Handanovic's brilliant saves as well." Those were Andrea Stramaccioni's first words after the game as he reflected on his team's point in the derby this evening.
The coach was asked which buttons he pressed in the dressing room during the interval. "I'm not here to talk about what a coach has to do during the break. Of course I try to put things right but the credit goes to my players for the way they took to the pitch after the restart.
"I don't even think we started that badly. The first decent chance fell our way with Palacio, then they started causing us problems in wide areas and they got their goal after we lost possession. We lost our way a bit after that but got back on track in the second half. Boateng's position was making things difficult for us, forcing Zanetti to move inside and we struggled with that. On De Sciglio's side, Nagatomo was tracking him too deep but we put that right afterwards. A draw was the right result. We needed a bit more courage to leave El Shaarawy to our centre-backs."
Talk then turned to the role played by Antonio Cassano this evening: "He's clearly not the sort of centre forward you feed the final pass to but someone who looks to play in his team-mates. Antonio can do that and he does it very well. It's a position he's likely to play in a lot between now and the end of the season."As for the recent criticism, Stramaccioni was keen to point out that "the most unfair criticism is what's been aimed at the players. It's right that I should come in for some flak because I'm a young coach and something of a novice but the players aren't. Lazio lost badly the day after our defeat in Florence but theirs was seen as a slip-up, whereas in our case it was described as a tragedy, people saying our players have run out of steam... and so on. But as it turned out tonight, Inter held their own against an AC Milan side in world-class form."
Stramaccioni then reserved high praise for the Nerazzurri fans: "They were fantastic today once again and, as I said before the game, they don't need anyone to lecture them. They know how to behave as fans. And they do it magnificently. All I can do is thank them."
