MILAN - A day on from Inter v Parma, Massimo Moratti spoke to the waiting press outside his offices in the centre of Milan.
Read what he had to say in full here on inter.it:
Is Inter's performance yesterday what you want to see from now until the end of the season?
"I want to see eleven players perform with nous, like they did yesterday. The overriding quality yesterday was their careful approach, making sure the side was balanced. That's all we can do at this moment in time. I keep reading savage criticism of Inter, but this is a team with twelve possible starters all out, and I think our other players are doing very well to manage the situation and perform in this tricky spell."
Speaking of savage criticism, Jonathan and Rocchi were two players on the receiving end of stick, yet they combined for the winning goal. Does that provide some vindication for your much maligned transfer policy?
"Rocchi was slated before he'd even kicked a ball, assumptions were made, yet he's using his experience and professionalism to good effect. Jonathan has struggled at times, but he performed well on loan in the past, and now he's back producing his best."
Yesterday we saw you on your own in the stands for a change. Was that your decision? Did superstition come into it?
"They abandoned me! No, I just happened to be on my own, but in actual fact they were close by. There's no way I'd ever tell people to stay away, I wouldn't dream of it. I just happened to be on my own but they were there."
Ronaldo, working as a pundit for Sky Italia, gave his thoughts on those pictures and said he's often thought back to the day you chose Hector Cuper over him. Have you gone back over that in your mind?
"I must say people rewrite history to suit themselves. No, Ronaldo had an offer from Real Madrid and he wanted to go there. He'd been in the headlines so much in his last year here that we thought it might be a chance for us to go our separate ways, but it wasn't a case of Cuper over Ronaldo. Ronaldo wanted to leave and I thought it was the right move because he was no longer the same player and he had a new opportunity. Ronaldo knows that. Anyway, he's a lovely man and I thank him for what he said yesterday."
And how about the fans' dissenting voices about the project and Marco Branca. Have you got a message for the supporters?
"My response is always the same, we respect people's opinions. Very often they don't know the ins and outs of the situation, and that's obvious because this is more of an internal issue, but their opinions are often very black or white. Regarding the project, to be perfectly honest, it's not easy to plan with a pencil in hand as opposed to a computer, and that's what we're faced with at the moment. We have ten players, but we're working on the project itself and the approach we might take next year, and I think we're doing a good job. Where Branca's concerned, people always look for a scapegoat, and at the moment it's him."
You had said that the sole aim for the rest of the season was to simply play well. But, looking at the table and your run-in, could you not set your sights a bit higher, perhaps even on third place?
"As I've said, it'd be great to perform well given the situation we find ourselves in. Having said that, the players' pride and professionalism could help achieve results that we thought unlikely."
So your much maligned project continues with Stramaccioni?
"You ask me this every Sunday and every Sunday I tell you the same thing."
What's changed compared to the famous cases of Alberto Zaccheroni and Roberto Mancini? Many people are comparing the Stramaccioni situation to that.
"Zaccheroni was another story entirely, as was Mancini. At a certain point, Mancini decided to leave and then what happened, happened. As time went by we needed to look for a new coach, which was Mourinho, even though Mancini had done a great job. He was the one who decided to leave, then he had a change of heart, but by then it was too late."
So you're sticking with Stramaccioni?
"Yes."
