TRIESTE - Andrea Stramaccioni spoke to Radio Rai after his team's 2-0 defeat to Cagliari. The coach was asked if he agreed that Inter had a lot of the play but very little cutting edge: "Yes, but I still must congratulate my team despite a negative result. What's going on is unbelievable. We had a chance with Rocchi, then we picked up yet another injury, this time to Gargano. Then they were awarded a penalty, which to us looked dubious, before we lost Nagatomo to injury after only a few minutes. With the score at 1-0 the only way to have more of a presence in the penalty area was to send on our biggest aerial threat, Samuel. This season is jinxed, but we were doing well until the penalty. Is our Champions League dream over? Now we have a very important match, we've lost another two players and we'll try to go into the Roma game in the best way possible. We were down to 14, Pereira and Guarin are suspended against Roma and so we'll see what we can do. Any side that loses two forwards to injury and other big players would struggle to do well."
Stramaccioni continued his analysis with Sky Italia. "Unfortunately, after an excellent first half in which we came out and took the game to them, with Rocchi, Alvarez and Cambiasso, if we want to talk about football then the key was yet another injury: Gargano's. It really is a cursed season for us. And then there was Nagatomo's injury. It's been an incredible year. Cagliari went on to deserve the win but it's a shame because yet again there was no penalty there and it affects a team already struggling with its own problems.
"I think we got our approach to the game right. There was a close call on Rocchi in the first half too, which might have been a free kick and a red card. The penalty was a gross error. Last Sunday I was angry because the ref had blown for something that hadn't happened. I don't believe there's anything ulterior behind it, it's just a mistake, but then a week later we get another episode like today's... Silvestre pulled his foot out the way. How can you give a penalty like that?"
At that point Stramaccioni was shown a replay of the contact between Ibarbo and Kuzmanovic. "Then they should have given that one and not the one on Pinilla..."
Asked to comment on the view expressed by Massimo Moratti regarding referees and good faith: "My president is sovereign and he's got a lot more experience than me. I have a team to coach; if I thought about things like that it would be over."
Back on the subject of injuries: "Nagatomo had a knee problem. He hurt his knee after the derby. Why are we getting all these injuries? Being involved in two competitions like the Europa League and Serie A has meant an enormous increase on the number of minutes some players have had to play. Now we find ourselves with an incredible injury list – the referees should that into account! That was a joke of course... In any case, we must move on and get ourselves up for Wednesday."
This is what Stramaccioni had to say when interviewed by Mediaset: "I brought on Kuzmanovic, who is a different sort of player to Gargano. That injury affected us quite a lot. And Nagatomo played for about five minutes I think. There was another episode with nothing in it that helped put Cagliari on their way to victory. Silvestre moved his leg out of the way, he preferred for Pinilla to shoot than have to touch him. But in football terms, Gargano's injury and then Nagatomo's had a bigger influence on a game we were in control of."
Asked to elaborate on the reasons for so many injuries, the coach explained that "Some players, such as Gargano, Palacio and Cassano, had to play every game because of injuries to others. If Inter were to play the Europa League again, we'd make different assessments to the ones we made. You need to prioritise when your squad is a bit thin. We had 14 players who could play today and now we've lost another two. It's a cursed season and if you add in the bad luck we've had with the refereeing, it all becomes so much more difficult. We were right up there, then our problems began when we lost key players. I've always admitted my mistakes though because I think you should have the courage to take responsibility.
"Of course the president and I have analysed things together. Honouring both the Europa League and the championship despite our injury problems has certainly caused difficulties for us. You get the impression that when this team has had the chance to give it a go, it's always done that – I'm talking about the games against Juve, Milan and Napoli. But it always seems easy with hindsight. I'd challenge any of the teams above us to try playing without their three main strikers: it reduces your attacking threat. But at the root of it all is the fact that we haven't been able to produce results consistently. We clearly haven't been up to the task when we've had to deal with an emergency situation."
Finally, there was a word of praise for Kovacic ("He's the playmaker we needed") before the coach turned his attentions to Roma: "We really want to reach the final even though we find ourselves in a desperate situation at the moment."
To Rai Sport: "My biggest regret today was losing two players. There was a penalty on Ibarbo? Then the referee got it wrong twice. And if we're talking about individual episodes, there was contact with Rocchi on the edge of the box at the start of the game. I think the president has clear ideas about the project he has in mind. I'll keep giving everything I can, we need to lift ourselves, I'll do my bit until the end. Chivu? At the moment it's looking more no than yes. I heard Andreazzoli say earlier that he was able to rest Totti..."
During his post-match press conference, the coach was asked about a 'Guarin problem'. "We'd become used to him putting on top-drawer displays but you can't have that every game. Could Nagatomo make it for Wednesday? I think it's very unlikely, both for him and for Gargano. We'll see after the tests. Gargano is the sort of player who doesn't say it hurts unless it really, really hurts... he's a warrior. I want to congratulate my players because unfortunately we've had an incredible season with injuries. The penalty today is another huge mistake and a bitter pill because it comes at a time when we're already struggling. But Roma should know that Inter are going to pull out all the stops."
