BE'ER SHEVA - Stefano Pioli lamented Inter's second-half shortcomings after watching his side surrender a two-goal lead in Israel on Thursday night.
It was the proverbial game of two halves at Turner Stadium where the Nerazzurri bossed the opening 45 minutes and led 2-0 at the interval, only to see the hosts turn the tables in the second period and complete the comeback with the last kick of the match.
Speaking after the Europa League encounter, Pioli made it clear that he was none too pleased with his charges' second-half display.
"Games last 95 minutes. We came apart and ended up letting the opposition in at the back in ways we cannot and must not let happen again," he began.
“We're going to have to work very hard. We dominated proceedings in the first half and just needed to maintain the same approach but after the break we stopped playing as a team. We took things for granted and we can't be happy with the way we played.
“It's first and foremost a mental problem. Looking at the first half, I saw a very talented team out there but we saw today that if you're able to hang in there when the going gets tough you can come out the other side and go on to win the match.
“We didn't play like Inter in the second half. We dropped too deep. I brought on some fresh legs at the end to try and up the pace. I think it was the right thing to do to get a grip on the game again."
Asked if Inter's fitness levels might be a problem, Pioli replied: "We can't use that as an excuse because despite being a man down we still managed to fashion two decent chances to win the match late on."
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