Simone Inzaghi has specific ‘regrets’ over the 2-0 defeat to Juventus, seeing a pattern with their other head-to-head clashes this season. ‘These matches are on a razor’s edge, it’s all down to the details.’
The Nerazzurri were the favourites going in, especially after securing their place in the Champions League Round of 16.
However, they didn’t make the most of their first half opportunities and were caught out twice by rapid Filip Kostic counter-attacks, finished off by Adrien Rabiot and Nicolò Fagioli.
The result means Juve leapfrog Inter in the standings and the Nerazzurri are now in seventh place, just one point above Udinese.
“We had a very good first half and you cannot go into the break on 0-0 in this stadium after that kind of a performance,” Inzaghi told DAZN.
“That is where the regrets are. We started the second half well too, hitting the crossbar with Calhanoglu and then conceding on the counter-attack. We lost our unity a little, still had the chances to equalise and then conceded again.
“It’s a painful defeat in a big match against our competitor. This is football, perhaps last season we beat them without deserving it and clearly tonight 2-0 is an unfair result. Unfortunately, these matches are decided by incidents and we didn’t manage to get them our way, so we have to do better.”
Inter had not lost to both Milan and Juventus in the first half of the Serie A season since 1999-2000, but also capitulated in other head-to-head clashes with Roma and Lazio.
“We have to do more in these matches. We cannot fail to take the lead with the chances we create, it is all down to the details, because these matches are all on a razor’s edge.
“We worked for four straight days after returning from Munich on how to deal with these counter-attacks, when to foul early to stop them developing, and both the Juve goals were gifted in those situations.”
Juventus scored with their first shot on goal, which was a Kostic counter-attack from the Inter corner, and the reaction was somewhat frenetic.
Inter have not picked up a single point this season in Serie A from a trailing situation, whereas last term they had made comebacks a regular occurrence.
“It can happen to go behind even when doing really well, and we were too hasty to get back on level terms, we lost our shape and lost our calm.
“This game reminds me of the ones with Udinese and Roma, in the past they might’ve been draws rather than defeats. While we managed to raise our game and be consistent in the Champions League, we haven’t had the same focus in Serie A.”
Inter are 11 points adrift of Serie A leaders Napoli, so what is their objective now going forward?
“At this moment, Inter must focus on becoming more consistent. We were coming off four consecutive victories, we are back on the field in a couple of days and a defeat like this can leave some psychological scars, as it was an important match.
“We had been able to score in 24 consecutive Serie A matches, this time unfortunately we were unable to.”