?Inter boss Luciano Spalletti was critical of his side following their second leg home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League on Thursday night.
The Nerazzurri were strong favourites heading into the second leg at San Siro, but a dismal showing allowed the visitors to snatch a 1-0 victory on the night, thanks to Luka Jovic’s early goal.
Spalletti was understandably furious after the game, telling Sky Italy (via Football Italia) that his team’s inabilities to control their frustrations played a huge part in the defeat.
“We lacked a bit of everything,” Spalletti began. “We lost balance immediately and made some naïve mistakes for the opener, then got irritable and lost even more balance. It became a very difficult game.
“The early goal just cranked up the tension and made us feel as if there was no chance. We lost it straight away.”
?Inter were missing 12 senior outfield players and Spalletti felt that this affected the teams performance as he had to choose players who were not ready for the game – either because they were too young or hadn’t played much football recently. He did, however, feel that the game was there for the taking.
He added: “We just couldn’t keep the ball. I chose Keita and he hadn’t played for a while, so was lacking match fitness and that determination you need. I took that risk.”
“The 0-0 from the first leg allowed us to reach the final 15 minutes and see what happens. We had plenty of time to deal with the situation intelligently. Instead, we were immediately frenetic and chaotic, trying to force the ball through with individual moves rather than as a team.”
Looking ahead to the crucial Milan derby at the weekend, Spalletti is hoping his players can learn from this experience and put in a good performance against their rivals: “We certainly need to do better than we did tonight. We need more confidence. We’ll look back over this match and recognise we didn’t read it the right way. We have to work hard in days to come.”
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