MILAN – "That sort of thing can
happen on 9 August…" was Andrea Stramaccioni‘s first observation
regarding this evening’s defeat against Hajduk Split, which does nothing to prevent the
Nerazzurri qualifying for the Europa League play-offs following last week’s 3-0 win in
Split.
"I think in this case the first-leg
result turned out to be a negative factor, but let’s not make a big deal out of it. Getting through to the next round was the main thing. We do
have a few things to work on, mind."
Stramaccioni was then asked what moves should be made in the
transfer market to improve the team: "We know what we’re after. This is a
strange transfer window with the financial fair-play rules set to
kick in. We know we’re still a bit short but we’ve already said that.
We need a midfielder – that much is clear just looking at the
numbers. This year we’re starting afresh. The president wants to
build a great Inter team."
Getting back to the game, the coach noted that "we can’t go from
being ‘very good’ last week to ‘bad’ this week, but on 9 August
these things can happen. Now we must keep our heads down and get on with it. As
things stand on 9 August, we’re doing a lot of work on ball
possession: that’s the route we’re taking. Today nearly all the
chances Hajduk had came about by mistakes we made in keeping
possession, but we’re working on that. After the first-leg result we
put the lads through some heavy workloads this week and that
told."
The coach was asked to explain Rodrigo Palacio’s absence: "He had a
calf problem during the warm-up, but I don’t think it’s anything serious.
We’ll have him looked at tomorrow."
Stramaccioni also had a word for the fans after 44,000 turned up
at the Meazza this evening: "What annoys me most is that we didn’t
win for these marvellous fans. Well done to them, we’ll soon thank
them on the pitch."