APPIANO GENTILE – Roberto Mancini insists Inter must look to beat Udinese and try to end the year on a high before taking stock once the season is over.
The Nerazzurri host Gigi De Canio's side at the Meazza on Saturday after a frustrating defeat at Genoa in midweek drastically reduced their chances of finishing third. However, with four matches left to play, the coach has called for his team to remain focused on the task at hand.
"Let's wait and see where we are on 15 May, then we can draw our conclusions on what we've done well and what we've done less well and take it from there," Mancini told reporters at a news conference on Friday.
Inter had plenty of opportunities to score in Marassi yet couldn't find the back of the net. "That's the way football goes sometimes," the boss observed. "You take certain things for granted that sometimes, for one reason or another, don't actually happen.
“Some of our players haven't scored as many as we expected them to this season but not because they've been poor. Last season we said we were conceding too many goals and we've improved in that aspect; now we need to improve up front too. There's no one guilty party, these things just happen. In certain cases, like Eder in the derby, it's just been a question of a few centimetres."
However the season ends, Inter are a work in progress and improving all the time. "We have to keep up the hard work. Besides quality you need character because those are the players who raise the level of the team and help the others improve as a result.
“We're a young team and we're in the process of rebuilding. Unfortunately that means going through some bad patches too. All the players have worked hard and worked well. We've made some mistakes but we're human. I'm sorry for the lads and for the club but if we do end up finishing fourth we'll just keep striving to do better."
Asked about the summer transfer wndow, Mancini replied: "First of all you need to balance the books, that comes before anything else. You might think that bringing in new players will solve your problems but sometimes you can improve lots of things by keeping the same guys. A squad that plays together for a few years is obviously going to improve.
"It's certainly better to sign one top player rather than four or five normal players because it's not easy to play at San Siro and it's not easy to play for Inter – with the shirt comes the weight of tradition. In any case, we already have a team with solid foundations."
Mancini then explained that he still has several factors to consider before deciding on his team for tomorrow's game and admitted that it's perhaps not the best time to be playing Udinese.
“We'll see how everyone is doing tomorrow. We'll make a few changes but a lot depends on how well those who played on Wednesday recover.
“Udinese have found a bit of form in the last few weeks and they'll be no pushovers. It's a tricky game but it's important for us to keep our slim chances [of finishing third] alive.”
