Antonio Conte was happy to see Inter ‘send a signal of consistency’, pointed out that Christian Eriksen is still ‘settling’ at the club and said he’s seeing ‘the work starting to bear fruit’.

Inter blew away SPAL in Emilia-Romagna and made sure Luigi Di Biagio’s men are only one negative result from being relegated to Serie B, but he praised the opposition after having seen the Beneamata ‘send a signal’.

Antonio Conte was happy to see Inter ‘send a signal of consistency’, pointed out that Christian Eriksen is still ‘settling’ at the club and said he’s seeing ‘the work starting to bear fruit’.

Inter blew away SPAL in Emilia-Romagna and made sure Luigi Di Biagio’s men are only one negative result from being relegated to Serie B, but he praised the opposition after having seen the Beneamata ‘send a signal’.

“The important thing for us was to send a signal of our consistency, our belief, hunger and determination, because these games on paper might seem ‘easy’, but we know there’s nothing easy.

“SPAL were tough opponents and kept going. We wanted to secure a Champions League spot, position ourselves in second place again and get closer to those ahead of us, even if they are still a long way away.

“I think the signals sent by the team are ones of mental strength, even if we had a few hiccups along the way and paid a heavy price for them.”

Conte claimed the opening goal, when four attackers outwitted the SPAL defence by a quick turn of pace and found Candreva unmarked at right, was something he used in his early days as a coach.

“It’s a typical move of the 4-2-4 tactics I used at Bari and Siena. It’s satisfying when you score this type of goal, as you see the work starting to bear fruit.”

Eriksen was back in the starting line-up after having struggled to convince also after the break, but Conte reveals that the Denmark international is just ‘settling into a new reality’.

“Christian is working, he’s trying to get into the mechanisms of the team and of a league that is much more tactical than in England. He’s a player with quality, he’s trying to improve them, to be more aggressive when in pressing, which is what we are asking of him.

“I’m pleased for him, he has to keep working, just like the others. He is quite a shy lad who is settling into a new reality, a new type of football. He’s a really good guy, he didn’t arrive with any arrogance, but at the same time he must understand shyness is fine off the field, but he has to adapt and understand certain situations.

“Eriksen creates no problems, he wants to achieve important things with Inter.

“Since the lockdown, we certainly changed the 3-5-2 to play between the lines with Eriksen, so the forwards also changed their movements. It might be a coincidence, but I think we’re the only team with 18 different goal-scorers, so we run a few more risks than in the past, but we are more unpredictable and push players forward from the midfield to support the attack.”

On Sunday, Inter continue with a trip to the capital, where they face Roma at the Olimpico.

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