Inzaghi shrugs off Inter criticism and prepares for Milan

Simone Inzaghi is pleased Inter achieved the victory over Verona ‘without suffering’ and looks forward to the Supercoppa against Milan, but won’t say if critics have been too harsh on his record.

The game started in the perfect way with a Lautaro Martinez finish threaded through a sea of legs into the near bottom corner at the third minute.

“We were coming off 120 minutes played on Tuesday, but the team remained sharp. We scored early and then despite a little tension in the closing stages, we remained solid and focused without suffering much against a Verona side that could cause us problems,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.

“I was concerned by our fitness levels with Calhanoglu and Barella who pushed themselves so hard to be available today. They were in doubt until yesterday, while Mkhitaryan, Gagliardini and Asllani really helped out in these games with their midfield performances.”

There were precious few other chances throughout, although they were again angry with the referee over two incidents in particular.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan saw his shot deflected wide off Isak Hien’s forearm, but VAR evaluated it to be in a natural position, then Lautaro Martinez had a goal disallowed for a push on Pawel Dawidowicz.

Inter also protested that they wanted Hien and Dawidowicz to receive their second yellow cards for midfield tussles.

“Inter have won eight of their last 10, drew one last Saturday against Monza and lost to Juventus, so the team has been very consistent. It’s just that Napoli are affecting the judgment of every other team.

“We must keep taking it one game at a time and hope to get more players back to full fitness so we have options.”

Does Inzaghi feel that perhaps critics have been a little too harsh on his record at Inter?

“That is not for me to say. As players first and then coaches, we’re in this world for a long time and we know how things go. With all the difficulties we’ve had over the last year and a half, we have done well thanks also to the club, players and our fans.”

This result allows Inter to catch Juventus in third place and move within a point of Milan in second.

It boosts their confidence going into Wednesday’s Supercoppa Italiana showdown with rivals Milan in Riyadh, the traditional battle between the reigning Scudetto holders and Coppa Italia winners.

“We’ll see tomorrow morning, we are evaluating Lukaku on a daily basis, but I don’t think Brozovic and Handanovic will recover in time.”

Inter will stay in Milan and train tomorrow morning before flying out to Saudi Arabia in the afternoon, whereas Milan made the trip directly after their game with Lecce this evening.

“Rest is important for the athletes, so we preferred to do it this way.”