Inter Coach Luciano Spalletti says he’s “embarrassed” by comparisons to Jose Mourinho – “I’ve been here two days, he made history”.
The Nerazzurri are top of Serie A, and have yet to lose since the Tuscan took over, leading some to compare him to the treble winner.
“This juxtaposition with Mourinho embarrasses me,” Spalletti said in his Press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Coppa Italia game with Pordenone.
Inter Coach Luciano Spalletti says he’s “embarrassed” by comparisons to Jose Mourinho – “I’ve been here two days, he made history”.
The Nerazzurri are top of Serie A, and have yet to lose since the Tuscan took over, leading some to compare him to the treble winner.
“This juxtaposition with Mourinho embarrasses me,” Spalletti said in his Press conference ahead of tomorrow’s Coppa Italia game with Pordenone.
“You have to stop it, it forces me to emphasise the distance between me, who has been here for two days, and someone who made history with Inter.
“I can’t come close, so do me a favour: don’t put me close to him. Mourinho knows too that it doesn’t stack up.
“I’ll defend the wok of the squad though. When you see it from outside that’s one thing, but when you’re on the inside and see it every day you realise the work the players are doing.
“I had some certainties against Juventus, because we were compact and solid. We have a unique soul but we didn’t play a perfect game, so there are some things we can improve.”
Spalletti also gave some insight into tomorrow’s match, which sees his side take on a team from the Lega Pro.
“I’ve talked with the players about this game and I had a lot of things to say. I’m not curious to see what my players will do, I just have to check the certainties because playing a bad game here would be a bad omen for our future.
“That also means some of the new players who will be on the pitch tomorrow, because I’ll definitely make some changes.
“It’s a game between serpents, lizards against vipers [Pordenone are known the Ramarri and Inter the Biscione].
“You need intelligence to face these kind of games. They’ll be up against a top player who is very difficult to deal with, and by that I mean super-motivation.
“National cups are full of upsets where one team is presumptuous and comes up against a super-motivated one.
“The signs don’t say ‘caution: snow’ they say ‘caution: Pordenone’. Just look at the first 30 minutes against Cagliari and the number of times the Sardinians lost the ball.
“We cannot be without the attention, desire and motivation which we’re duty bound to display whenever we put this shirt on.
“Tomorrow some players who have played less will play, but sum has to be the same Inter. If we don’t do that we’ll create a difficult night for our future.
“[Yann] Karamoh, [Joao] Cancelo, Dalbert, [Daniele] Padelli, [Andrea] Ranocchia and Eder will play.
“There are a couple of situations which I’ll have to think about tomorrow, because I have to understand how to play the game.
“Karamoh, for example, gives incredible bursts of speed. For his last goal with the national team, for example, he played as the main striker, but he can also play as the secondary striker. It takes balance.
“The match against Juventus didn’t give me anything new, it's like I was looking at a picture on my phone.
“It highlighted the same certainties and the same difficulties that we have to work hard to improve on, because that's the margin to become stronger, we must absolutely find the solution to take the next step.”