Simone Inzaghi was full of praise for his players after they picked up a third straight league win – four including the Champions League victory over Shakhtar – with goals by Roberto Gagliardini and Lautaro Martinez helping the Nerazzurri overcome Spezia 2-0.
“It was an important game and one we needed to get right from the start,” the boss began. “The lads were fantastic today. They got their approach spot on. I'm very happy with them.
“We can be proud of the fact we've kept another clean sheet. We stayed alert and stuck together despite being up against a team that sat back snd looked to hit us on the break. We were missing a few players tonight but I'm really pleased with the way we played. We haven't done anything yet though and we have another very tough game to play on Saturday.”
Inzaghi also expressed his satisfaction with Inter's build-up play after seeing them string together 15 passes in the lead-up to the opening goal.
“We moved the ball around very well, like against Venezia when we had 23 passes before [Hakan] Calhanoglu scored the opener. You need top-quality passing when you're up against teams who sit tight - and we had that today.
“Calha picked out [Danilo] D'Ambrosio between the lines, Lautaro [Martinez] did well and Gaglia finished off a fine goal. He deserves it."
The boss also offered his take on the performances of Calhanoglu and Denzel Dumfries.
“Calha played his part. He's a skilful player who always puts in a shift and he's getting better by the game. I'm happy with him.
"Denzel did really well. I've alternated him with [Matteo] Darmian. He's come from another league and we just need to give him a bit of time because I'm sure he has a lot to offer me and Inter. He's a positive lad who always trains hard and he's settled into the dressing room well.
“We're improving. We have some tricky games coming up but if we play with this unity and desire we can do even better.”
The coach was also asked about the possibility of players returning from injury in time for Saturday's visit to Roma.
“We'll have to see how they do over the coming days. We've had a few problems and hopefully we can get a few of them back so we have more options. We only had two centre-backs available today but I wasn't worried. I'm happy we've got a bit of a run going but we have to keep it up because the teams around us keep on picking up results.”
(Foto LaPresse)
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Source: legaseriea.it