Andrea Stramaccioni asks Inter to focus on Cluj before thinking about Sunday’s Derby and insists the pressure of a potential sacking “is here from the first day.”
Andrea Stramaccioni asks Inter to focus on Cluj before thinking about Sunday’s Derby and insists the pressure of a potential sacking “is here from the first day.”
The Nerazzurri are in Romania for tomorrow’s Europa League Round of 32 clash at 18.00 GMT, having won 2-0 in the first leg at San Siro.
Naturally, many questions in the Press conference revolved around recent dire Serie A results and this weekend’s showdown with rivals Milan.
“I think Inter have to take it one game at a time,” insisted Stramaccioni. “We played the first leg against Cluj with our best team and paid the price for that in our lack of energy against Fiorentina” data-scaytid=”11″>Fiorentina.
“Our objective is to progress to the next round. It won’t be easy and it certainly is not a foregone conclusion.
“We won the first leg 2-0, but cannot go out there just to defend ourselves. We need a highly concentrated Inter performance. After that, then we will think about the Derby.”
Inter are sliding down the standings after their disastrous run of results and Stramaccioni was asked whether he felt the pressure of a potential dismissal, but laughed it off.
“The good and bad thing about being Coach of Inter is that this pressure is on me from the first day I took charge of this great team.
“If a Coach at this level thinks about these things, then he is finished before he even begins. There is a lot of pressure, as we lost 4-1 on Sunday and it’s only normal to be criticised, but I think we will do well both tomorrow and in the Derby. We will go forward.
“After all, the club is working on the renewal of the team and this is only the first year of that process.”