APPIANO GENTILE – The transfer market was one of the subjects brought up during today's press conference and, in response to a specific question, Andrea Stramaccioni replied: "Yes, we do need to make some top-quality signings, but in terms of numbers fewer than you might imagine. Inter have a good basis here: it can be improved but it's already good. Inter came out of the January window with an exceptional player and that's Mateo Kovacic. Finding a player that good at just 19 is extraordinary. Duncan and Longo? They'll be very useful to Inter."
Meanwhile, Antonio Cassano is back in the squad for tomorrow's game. The coach explained: "Cassano is recovering well. He had a nasty injury and he's not 100% yet but he can play a part tomorrow, perhaps not from the off but at some point during the game. His future? That's something we should be talking about after Inter v Udinese."
Yuto Nagatomo is also back in the squad. "He's looked good. The data we have suggests that athletically he's at the same level as he was before his injury, and that's good news. He's up to playing. As things stand, there's no reason to think he'll need to undergo surgery. Can he go the full game? I don't know if he's got 90 minutes in him but considering the state we're in I'll certainly think about putting him in the starting line-up. Yuto's massively motivated, he can't wait to play again."
The subject returned to Inter's many absentees. "This is my first season in Serie A and it's the first time I've experienced an injury crisis like this. There's certainly a huge dollop of bad luck involved but no one wants to hide everything behind that. We've looked at what we can do better and we're keeping our analysis in house, but a situation like the one we find ourselves in at the moment can't not affect things. We're playing with a totally different squad."
The coach was also asked how he would respond to criticism that he hasn't provided Inter with a clearly defined playing system. "That's the criticism which hurts the most on a personal level because I made my way up to Serie A always playing the same system, setting my teams up in a very precise way. If a coach is successful for 12 years using a particular formation and then changes it's because he believes he can get more out of what's available to him by doing so. Next year we'll have a very clear tactical system. I'm sorry about the criticism but Inter always comes first."
