Simone Inzaghi explains his half-time team talk to inspire Inter towards a comeback win away to Fiorentina and why they are still Scudetto contenders. ‘We never let our heads drop.’
The Viola had dominated the first half at the Stadio Franchi, going in front through Riccardo Sottil and forcing several saves from Samir Handanovic.
However, two goals in three minutes from Matteo Darmian and Edin Dzeko turned it around, before a late Ivan Perisic tap-in and the Nico Gonzalez red card.
“I arrived to work with a squad that had just won the Scudetto, I had also won some silverware, so we do have experience,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“We suffered in the first half-hour and Fiorentina deserve credit for that, then we fought back and scored three goals, there could even have been more. It was not easy, so this was the performance of a great team.
“I am above all pleased with the reaction, because going behind like that to a team on their turf, with such enthusiasm in the stands and on the pitch, that is no mean feat.”
Inzaghi was about to substitute the two scorers just before the goals, as Denzel Dumfries and Alexis Sanchez were already standing on the touchline.
“Dzeko without doubt was being replaced, I was still evaluating Darmian. I am fortunate to have a competitive squad with Alexis Sanchez who had been training for 10 days now.
“Perisic hadn’t scored for months, I moved him to a forward role and he scored. Sometimes the coach also has to just follow his instinct,” smiled the former Lazio coach.
Inzaghi was asked what had caused that poor performance in the first half and how he managed to change them during his team talk.
“We had been making too many technical errors in giving the ball away, because we knew Fiorentina would be ferocious from the start. I told the lads we had to find our shape and hold on in there, because we knew that they could not maintain that tempo throughout the 90 minutes.”
Inter have now won four out of five Serie A games, drawing the other with Sampdoria, and are still very much Scudetto contenders even after selling Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi, not to mention losing Antonio Conte.
“After what happened over the summer, we have to continue. I am fortunate to be at this club, because we lost three big players – and I include Christian Eriksen in that – but we never let our heads drop. Even when there wasn’t much talk about Inter over the summer, we remained convinced our work was on the right path. We’ve got to keep taking it one game at a time, it’s early days.”
😏 Il mister sempre perfetto e puntuale nelle sue dichiarazioni 👇⚫🔵 #Inzaghi #FiorentinaInter pic.twitter.com/BuyIKuHLry
— FcInterNews.it (@FcInterNewsit) September 21, 2021
He is more than living up to expectations.. mostbmanagers would’ve crumbled after taking the jobban loosing your 3MVPs so Simone deserves the good that is coming for him, as a Laziale I only wish him well.
He is more than living up to expectations.. most managers would’ve crumbled after taking the job and loosing 3 of your MVPs so Simone deserves the good that is coming for him, as a Laziale I only wish him well. *