MIAMI - Walter Mazzarri reflected on his team's performance after their final Guinness International Champions Cup match against Juventus, which saw Inter emerge as winners in a penalty shootout.
Speaking to Inter Channel, the coach said: "Was that an improvement? If I'm honest, yes. It was a big leap forward. No one enjoyed losing to Valencia but there were reasons behind such a display, and I've already explained them at length. Funnily enough that beating did us good. It's all positive apart from the result, but even when we lost I wasn't particularly bothered by it. My players have absorbed a lot. At this stage of the season you have to keep your feet on the ground. The lads must look at their mistakes and learn from them. Today I saw the team I want, I was starting to see it out there. It was only a matter of time because I knew these lads had put in a lot of work. Now we must keep growing.
"I'm really happy with the bunch of lads I've got here. They're a close-knit group and they immediately bought into the concept of hard work. The aim of pre-season friendlies is to get a team to assimilate the coach's ideas. I'm delighted with the way everything's going in that sense, even more so than I expected at this early stage."
What did you like most about this game? "After two defeats, regardless of the fact that they happened for different reasons, we needed to produce a solid display. I liked everything about the team: the defensive side of our game but also the way we kept possession and broke forward. The lads are starting to soak up my tactics and it's pleasing to see they've already understood what I want from them in such a short time."
Guarin? I expect someone of his ability to fulfil his potential and become a top player. He just needs to reproduce his game on a more consistent basis. That's what we're working on. I think he's still got a huge margin for improvement."
The recent comments made by Conte? "I don't think he mentioned me personally and if he didn't say my name I'm not going to respond. I won't answer to speculation. I conduct myself in a calm, honest way. I don't have a guilty conscience so I don't see why I should feel people are talking about me if my name's not even mentioned."
What did you think of Juventus? "I don't want to talk about teams other than my own. I'm not in the know about what's happening at Juventus. I work for Inter and I'll only speak about Inter."
The club's future? "I'm not going to think about that until the president tells me something. It doesn't weigh on our minds; we're concentrating on getting on with our jobs."
Versión Española 日本語版 Versi Bahasa Indonesia Versione Italiana
