APPIANO GENTILE – Inter coach Roberto Mancini held a press conference this afternoon ahead of the visit of Roma to the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza tomorrow night. In between questions about the match itself, the fitness of individual players and the form of youngsters like Gnoukouri, Mancini had a special message for the fans: "There were wonderful tifos at the derby. Football should always be like that."
The bulk of the questions, of course, focused on tomorrow night’s match: "Roma have had a much better season than us, although they’ve also had some tough spells. We’ve improved a lot, but we’ve not got the results we wanted. Matches between Inter and Roma in the last ten years have always been important."
Mancini then expanded on his own aims for the matches to come: "We want to build consistency after our performances against Verona and in the derby. It’ll be a tough match against the Giallorossi as they have to fight for second and third spot."
The Nerazzurri boss also spoke about his own side’s European hopes: "It’s not down to us, there are a lot of teams ahead of us. Whilst there are still points on the table, you have to keep the faith that you can get there. Let’s start by winning tomorrow’s match, then we’ll see."
Mancini was also asked about the future: "President Thohir is determined to build a great Inter side. That’s very important. He’s always very clear, sometimes deals go through and sometimes they don’t."
On Xherdan Shaqiri, Mancini said: "We bought Xherdan in January because we believe he has a big future ahead of him. Over the course of the season, some players have a dip in their fitness and others improve. Shaqiri is a great player and we have total confidence in him. He’s dropped off a bit in the last couple of weeks, but there’s absolutely no problem there. It’s just been a technical decision from me."
The Inter coach was also asked about some of the up-and-coming young players around the club: "I want to congratulate Stefano Vecchi and all his staff. Gnoukouri is here because of them. He’s a good player, doesn’t feel the pressure and has enormous scope for improvement. He’s stepped up for us, did well coming on against Verona and had a good derby. He’s a player for the future.
"I think a few other young players will make their debuts so we can weigh up who’s going to be part of our next squad. Camara, Dimarco and Correia will certainly get their chance," revealed Mancini.
There was also a word on Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic: "He’s really improved physically over the last few weeks. Like any player of his age, he needs to work hard to reach optimum fitness. Everyone needs to give their all."
Last but not least, Mancini fielded a few questions about the transfer market: "Yaya Toure is a Manchester City player and they’re a massive club. I don’t know whether there’s a chance, but I think that given that Yaya has played in almost every European league, maybe it’s important to him to come to Italy. Inter are an important club, not just any old club. He can play anywhere in midfield."
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LIVE! CONFERENZA STAMPA ROBERTO MANCINI PRIMA DI INTER-ROMA 24.4.2015 15:30 CEST
