GENOA - At the end of Sampdoria v Inter, Walter Mazzarri answered questions from reporters at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris.
Here are his words:
"I look at the performance. Today we won, playing worse than normal in the first half. Sampdoria deserved more, even though they left us a lot of space behind them and countered quickly. I didn’t like the first half for the way I view the game. Then after half-time we sorted things out. If you score a goal at the right time, instead of missing one, the result can turn out differently than the performance put in.
"Do we always need a wake-up call at half-time? I don’t know. Perhaps. We need to be more consistent. I blamed myself for not shouting at the players more in Livorno, but our approach to games has to be different.
"Kovacic? If I started him it’s because I’ve seen an improvement in him. He helped the side out a lot, worked hard for the team. And he showed the touches of skill all good players have. He’s young - he can only get better and have a big impact.
"My team selection depends on a lot of things: I had come to other decisions about Ranocchia, but I never cast him aside. He’s done very well recently. I tried to make him feel under slightly more pressure. Their penalty was a soft one and perhaps he should have avoided making the tackle when he did, and he too realised that immediately. He’s having a good season and he’s in good form at the moment.
"We start a lot of our moves from defence, but with Campagnaro missing on the right we still needed to get a man forward. Ranocchia has always played as a central defender but I thought this would be the perfect game to have Samuel playing on the left side of central defence, to stop them attacking on that side of the pitch.
"D'Ambrosio? He did a lot of good things, but I’m still not completely satisfied. However, it is true that today he did play well.
"Icardi? He should have avoided making that gesture, but, other than that, he did exactly what he had to do. In fact, considering the sort of things he was up against he showed tremendous strength of character. If he carries on this way and we manage to get rid of some of the unnecessary things in his game, then he really will develop into a fantastic player. He has all the characteristics of an out-and-out forward – he just needs to concentrate on playing football. I’ve told him to just concentrate on playing football. You have to leave personal matters behind you when you walk onto the pitch. They are professional sports people and everything they do is scrutinized. They have a certain responsibility to everyone.
"Sakic has said that it shows exactly what sort of a man he is? I say let’s not be too moralistic about it. I asked Icardi to show me consistency from the moment he was fully fit again. If he can stop these exuberances, and if we can help him, then he will become an exceptional forward. But a lot of players celebrate their goals in the same way he did today. It was the only black mark on a good performance. He can play even better in terms of building play.
"I speak with club officials and we discuss things. We spoke following the game on Sunday. I know what the president said. We often speak. The higher I climb up the footballing ladder the less I look at the newspapers. I’m only interested in working with my players. Nothing else is of interest to me. I’m only focused on my players. The only opinions I’m interested in are those of my bosses here. If we’re starting to win games then that must mean we’re on the right path.
"Handanovic? He made two fantastic saves. What does this win mean in terms of European qualification? It doesn’t mean a thing. We just have to focus on our next game."
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INTERVISTA WALTER MAZZARRI POST SAMPDORIA-INTER
