APPIANO GENTILE - Frank de Boer is confident that Inter have made progress over the last two weeks despite their plans being complicated by international call-ups.
Speaking at a press conference the day before the Nerazzurri visit Pescara, the boss said: "We're ready to get stuck into the serious business now as we have three matches in seven days. The only difficult thing was having just seven players to work with over the last two weeks because today is the first day we can really concentrate on tactical issues, but lots of players got 90 minutes under their belts with their national sides and that's a good thing.
"Mentally and physically we're better than we were two weeks ago. Now we want to pick up points.
"Tomorrow I want to see a team that's united and plays with the same idea, attacking and defending together. If we do that then I'm sure the points will come.
"We showed some good things against Palermo and with the quality we have in this team we can do well against Pescara too."
De Boer went on to address injury problems but kept his cards close to his chest with regards to his team selection.
"Ansaldi and Andreolli are the only ones definitely unavailable but you'll see what our line-up is tomorrow.
"Joao Mario can play in lots of different positions and having him around is a bonus.
"Brozovic is another quality player and I think he and Joao Mario can play together – in the future and possibly even now. But first of all the players need to get to grips with my playing philosophy.
"Jovetic is a very good player, he's training well and showing the right mentality. He must be ready when I need him but the same goes for all the players.
"Nagtomo trained with the squad yesterday. He's ok and ready to play."
The Dutchman also responded to questions about his formation of choice and the goals conceded by Inter so far.
"I've played 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 before but the most important thing is your playing philosophy. Sometimes you change your formation based on the players you have available.
"We have lots of games coming up over the coming weeks and when I pick the team I look at their fitness too.
"We're two games into the season now, we needed some time to get to know each other and now we've had two weeks with lots of the lads away. Those who stayed here have worked hard on the physical side and improved. We still need to work on the technical aspects and we can do that now that we have a full squad again.
"You play as a team so it's not right to say that we conceded because of this or that area. There were situations where we didn't respond well. Our players need to try to win the ball back immediately."
Finally, De Boer commented on the pressure that comes with managing a club like Inter.
"I'm a new to Serie A and I'm a foreign coach so you expect to have everyone looking at. I think you also need to be realistic though and recognise that you can't perform miracles in just three days. We need to take things step by step.
"Pressure is normal at a big club like Inter if you're not getting results but I'm convinced we can build something here with time.
"I have confidence in the players we have here. I'm not going to talk about what went on before I joined but we have a top-quality squad and we can be successful."
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