Simone Inzaghi admits Inter reach the midway stage of the season with ‘many regrets’ including their 1-0 home defeat to Empoli, but defends Milan Skriniar after that red card.
This was the opportunity to build on the momentum of the Supercoppa Italiana triumph over Milan, beating them 3-0 in Riyadh on Wednesday, and keep the gap with leaders Napoli static.
Instead, they lost 1-0 at home to a Tommaso Baldanzi strike that squirmed under Andre Onana, but above all when down to 10 men from the 40th minute for Skriniar’s second bookable offence.
“We knew there would be difficulties, it’s an important defeat that slows down our progress. Obviously, it was not our best evening, but going down to 10 men made it even tougher,” Inzaghi told Sky Sport Italia.
“In the second half, we seemed to be keeping a good shape and dangerous on the counter-attack, we wasted the chances to equalise because we were too hasty and over-eager to make up for it.”
Considering Skriniar was still wearing the captain’s armband after confirming he would not sign a new contract, the dismissal was seen as perhaps the final blow for his time with the club.
“I have not yet seen the fouls. I had never seen two yellow cards in the opening 35 minutes for a home team. Skriniar trains to his best, is calm, I know the contract negotiations have stalled at the moment, but the club is working on him and the other players whose contracts are running down.”
Even before the Skriniar red card, Empoli saw more of the ball and had the better chances, so Inzaghi was asked if perhaps they had over-celebrated the Supercoppa last week.
“The celebrations were very restrained, we returned home quickly and knew that Empoli would cause us problems. We didn’t have the best start, but if we had remained with 11 against 11, it would’ve been different.
“We also saw when hitting the crossbar that evidently it was not a fortunate night for Inter.”
Inzaghi was asked if he considered moving to four at the back after Skriniar’s red card.
“No, because I preferred to maintain the balance, which we were doing until that run on the counter-attack when Alessandro Bastoni was pushing forward. It is a shame we conceded an avoidable goal.”
It leaves Inter 13 points adrift of Napoli and level on points with Roma in third, so is this the end of Scudetto dreams?
“We end the first half of the season with 37 points and many regrets. It’s true 13 points is a lot, clearly Napoli are having a separate campaign to themselves at the moment and we have to fight it out with all the others.”