MILAN – Frank de Boer was left ruing two points dropped against Bologna at San Siro on Sunday, but praised his side for continuing to go after the win right until the last kick of the match.
"It’s not our best performance, but we fought until the end and kept looking for the win, which tired us out," said De Boer, speaking to reporters after the game. "I’m quite satisfied with how we played, but I would like to see us control the whole match.
"We dropped the two points in the first 20 minutes. We played better after that and created several goalscoring chances."
De Boer was forced into two late changes to his starting line-up on Sunday, with both Jeison Murillo and Joao Mario ruled out through injury, and the Inter coach said his side struggled to adjust to the change in personnel.
"It had an effect on a psychological level, because we had to change the starting line-up late on. We looked very nervous at the start and it was only after Bologna scored that the match swung in our favour. We played with our hearts more than our heads in the last few minutes – we created several chances but Bologna were dangerous too."
One of those who came into the starting eleven was Andrea Ranocchia, who sent a gilt-edged chance to bag the winner just wide of the post with the last action of the game.
"Andrea had a great game," said De Boer. "He would have deserved that goal."
There was an Inter debut for Gabriel Barbosa against Bologna, and though he was unable to help the Nerazzurri get the win De Boer was satisfied with his performance.
"It’s not easy to come on into a match like that with lots of pressure. I think he did quite well. We know he can definitely play better but he needs time."
De Boer also cleared up his reasons for replacing Geoffrey Kondogbia with Assane Gnoukouri midway through the first half.
"This morning we spoke about a few in-game situations and I asked him to keep it simple, but he didn’t do that," explained the Inter boss. "He needs to understand that when he plays he can’t commit certain errors."
There was no place in the squad for Marcelo Brozovic once again, but De Boer made it clear that the situation was a simple one.
"All the players need to be clear about their role within the club. When someone doesn’t understand that, you have to make a decision. I’ve done that with Brozovic and now with Kondogbia today. I think they are both very good players but they need to understand certain things."
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