APPIANO GENTILE – Roberto Mancini has called for his side to give everything they have when they face Napoli at the Stadio San Paolo on Monday night.
"In these games the players have to give everything," declared Mancini, speaking at his pre-match press conference. "We need to stay alert and make sure we attack in numbers in order to score. Right now we’re ahead – we’re in first place and that’s very important. It’ll be a big test because it’s our first match against a direct rival away from San Siro. That said, we’re only in Week 14 and there are four teams right up there, so the match won’t change anything. I think we’ll all be fighting right until the end."
The match has been described as a showdown between two great Argentine strikers, Mauro Icardi and Gonzalo Higuain. Mancini gave his opinion on the duo: "Gonzalo has international experience that Mauro doesn’t have yet. It’s impossible to compare them right now, Mauro still has his whole career ahead of him. There will be disappointments along the way, but I know he’ll become a fantastic striker because he knows exactly where the goal is. He will be a top goalscorer."
The coach also revealed he may experiment with different formations tomorrow: "You should try everything against a team like Napoli, including changes in formation and personnel. My job is to try and think up ways of creating problems for the opponent. Sometimes it's difficult to know what the right option is. Ultimately, the teams that score the most and concede the fewest win the league. All the top sides defend well. Picking up a victory against Napoli would give us an enormous boost, but we always have to remember that there are a lot of games to come before it's all decided."
Against Frosinone, Mancini revealed a few names of his starting XI in advance. "There will be six or seven players starting tomorrow who began the match against Frosinone. Usually, I rotate three or four guys to keep everyone on their toes. I can give you one name for now: Samir Handanovic!"
In Inter's last match featuring another top side against Roma, the Nerazzurri were solid at the back and prepared to wait for their chance to hit on the counter. "“We defeated Roma with Adem Ljajic, Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic - as well as the wingers - helping out in defence. All the best teams do well defensively, you can't leave three up top when you're defending."
Finally, the Nerazzurri coach touched on whether he prizes beautiful football or results more: "Beautiful football is subjective. The teams that win do so because they have better squads. Picking up results along the way has a decisive say on the overall standings. Also, football is strange sometimes. When I was at Sampdoria, we went to the San Paolo and won 4-1, but we could have been 3-0 down in the first half."
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