APPIANO GENTILE - Young players were one of the issues Andrea Stramaccioni tackled during his press conference earlier. The media were keen to know whether young Marco Benassi would play tomorrow: "Benassi has been one of the positives to come out of this season. We've had 13 players make their first team debut this season, Benassi has come through here and he's 18, like Kovacic. The pair of them could line up alongside one another tomorrow."
The coach was then asked whether, given the fact he used Walter Samuel as a makeshift forward, the young players are not up to filling in up front. "You need to know the context. Forte was coming from Pisa, he returned after three months on the sidelines in the derby and picked up another knock. He's only trained three times with us. Colombi pulled up in training on Friday, so I preferred not to risk anyone. Then there was tactical reasoning behind it: I put on Samuel in Trieste not only to come back but also - if and when we scored - to be able to move him back to centre half pushing Juan wide. If I'd had a fit forward, he'd have played."
Stramaccioni then explained why he hasn't yet released details of his squad for tomorrow night: "We'll wait until tomorrow morning, given that - just for a change - we've got a few issues. We'll decide who's in the squad tomorrow. Chivu? He trained normally today, I'll see whether I can include him, but he didn't manage the whole session yesterday."
Speaking of injuries, talk then turned to Nagatomo. The Japanese press wanted to know whether he'll need an operation and, if so, where he'll have it: "Nagatomo is an Inter player, Inter pay his wages, so it'll be Inter who decide what the best course of action is, whether to operate or not and, if so, where. That decision will be taken in the next few hours."
Finally the coach was asked why Inter have succumbed to so many injuries, particularly muscle complaints: "Obviously we assess things on a daily basis to see where we can improve, starting with myself, but it's no coincidence that the guys who have sustained muscle injuries are the ones who've had an added workload."
