APPIANO GENTILE – Roberto Mancini believes his Nerazzurri players need to be on top of their game to beat Atalanta at a ground where it's notoriously difficult to pick up points.
"I want to see the same spirit we saw against Sassuolo only with a different final result," began Mancini in his pre-match press conference in Appiano Gentile. "We knew that Empoli, Sassuolo and Atalanta are three teams with pace, quality and nothing to lose.
"We had a fantastic first half of the season and now we need to see if we can improve in the second half."
Despite the transfer window opening in January, Roberto and the players are not unduly concerned. "There are a few rumours flying around, but for now all the players are staying right where they are.
"January is a bit of an awkward month for this reason. If Andrea Ranocchia decides to accept an offer, we will look to bring in an equivalent player.
"I think this team can stay as it is right until the end. As I've always said, other teams may have more stars but the fact that we've consistently between among first and second place means we only need to keep calm and concentrated to stay where we are."
Inter come into this game after the home defeat to Sassuolo that caused the Nerazzurri to relinquish their hold on top spot. "We're disappointed because we've lost points in a game where we could have picked up four because of two penalties late on. We need to be more careful and take our chances when they come our way. This is part of football.
"It's not an accident that we were at the top of the table for the majority of the first half of the season. Juventus have an excellent team and I said that they'd come back into contention. We need to make sure we have the same levels of concentration in the second half of the season."
The Nerazzurri boss also stressed that he's got total faith in Stevan Jovetic and Geoffrey Kondogbia, two of his summer signings: "Jovetic came from Manchester City to Inter – a team with a massive history. Inter are one of the biggest teams in the world and he has put himself at the service of the club. I still believe he's got much more to give. He and Mauro Icardi could score a lot of goals from here until the end of the season."
"Geoffrey Kondogbia will also develop into a fantastic midfielder – he's a young guy and he just needs a bit more time. He's been switching between fantastic performances on some occasions and less good on others. It's a question of adapting to the league."
Sandwiched between games against Atalanta and Carpi, there's the small issue of the quarter-final Coppa Italia tie against Napoli on Tuesday 19 January. "We have to think first about Atalanta because it's a tough place to go and they can create problems for any team. Let's deal with that first and then we'll think about the cup."
Atalanta v Inter is the first in a series of three games placed closely together: "We will try to put out our best line-up in order to play well in Bergamo. My idea is always to play with two forwards, maybe even three.
"Nevertheless, we cannot lose our shape. We had the right men on the pitch against Sassuolo, it's only that we had three chances in the first seven minutes and we didn't take them.
"As for my starting XI tomorrow, I can tell you for sure that Samir Handanovic will play. As for the rest, we've still got a training session to go and everything can change."
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LIVE! CONFERENZA STAMPA MANCINI PRIMA DI ATALANTA-INTER 15.01.2016 14:00CET
