APPIANO GENTILE – Frank de Boer is adamant Inter won't change their playing philosophy on the basis of one result, and will always seek to control games no matter who they're playing.
The Nerazzurri host Cagliari at the Stadio Meazza on Sunday afternoon after narrowly losing to Roma before the international break two weeks ago, but the coach was keen to dismiss any idea that this team might adopt a more cautious approach in future.
"You shouldn't change the way you play just because you lose a game,” he told journalists at a news conference on Saturday.
“It's important to stick with your playing system: we want to be bossing games regardless of who the opposition is. We need to stay compact in all phases of play and we're working on the small details to improve in that sense.
“We want to win tomorrow to keep on the heels of the sides at the top. We can't afford to drop many more points, especially at home.
"We'll always go out to win, no matter who our opponents are. Obviously when you play a team like Juventus it's more open because both sides want to win. Against the smaller teams, there's less space to play in and sometimes that makes it harder. You have to be patient and bide your time.
"We need to maintain the same approach throughout the whole 90 minutes – if we can do that it would be a big step forward. It's crucial not to make mistakes when you're starting to build moves and that's something we're working on.”
The Cagliari fixture kicks off a hectic period involving seven games in the next three weeks, with the Nerazzurri needing to pick up points both domestically and in the Europa League. However, De Boer is confident his squad can handle it, despite being shorn of a number of players in the last fortnight due to international call-ups.
“Obviously I'd like to have a full squad to work with all the time but you have to live with these things.
"We know it's important for us to try to win both games against Southampton but the lads are prepared for the fixtures we have coming up. When players are fit there's no reason why they can't play twice a week.”
Finally, the coach discussed the possible involvement of Gabriel Barbosa and Gary Medel.
“Gabigol is fine. He needs time to settle in but he's working very hard, both on fitness and tactics. He needs to learn some new things because he was used to a different playing system in Brazil, but that's perfectly normal.
"As for whether Gary be employed in defence, he's done it lots of times for Chile so yes, that's one option we have available to us.”
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