APPIANO GENTILE – Roberto Mancini is adamant that his side are fully motivated ahead of the Serie A run-in, starting with Saturday’s visit to Frosinone.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference at the Centro Sportivo Angelo Moratti on Friday morning, Mancini rubbished claims his squad might struggle to focus after last week’s defeat to Torino.
"There are still 21 points up for grabs so there’s no reason we should be lacking in motivation. We can’t start thinking our objectives have gone – we need to keep fighting even when things aren’t going well. We’ve struggled a bit away from home and I think now is the time to get back to winning ways," said Mancini.
"As long as there are points to play for we can’t alter our objectives. It’s unlikely that Roma will drop eight points in seven games, but as long as it’s possible we need to believe we can do it. We’re professionals and even if we don’t achieve certain objectives we need to be 100% professional until the very end," the Inter boss continued.
Commenting on suggestions that many of Inter’s dropped points have come through late lapses, Mancini declared: "There are times during a season when things don’t go well. We’ve dropped too many points at home when we really haven’t deserved to. We’ve made some mistakes and sadly we’ve paid a very high price for them.
“When you get to the latter stages of a match, the more you drop off the more you give your opponents chances to score, even though you might think it’s a better way of defending. Perhaps we’ve got a few situations like that wrong."
Mancini was also asked about the club’s summer transfer plans: "I think it’s premature to speak about the transfer market. There’s still a month and a half to go and we need to be focused on that. There’s plenty of time to find players that can help us. I’m not worried about outgoings either."
With the announcement of Yuto Nagatomo’s contact extension coming just before the conference, it was perhaps inevitable that conversation turned to Mancini’s own future: "There’s no need [for me to extend], I’m not a player. If I were a player I would have extended for many years. For now I just think it’s important to finish the season well with some victories. I still have a year left on my contract."
Last but not least, there was some team news ahead of Saturday’s 15:00 CET kick-off at Frosinone: "We have two options at centre-back, [Gary] Medel and Juan Jesus – we’re a bit short in defence. Stevan [Jovetic] is fine, he trained with us last week and he’s available for tomorrow. I hope he can come back after being out for a couple of weeks through injury."
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