Ahead of taking on Juventus in the Coppa Italia first-leg semi-final, Inter coach Roberto Mancini believes his side can take heart from the Bianconeri’s season.
The Old Lady began the campaign terribly but have fought back to claim 11 straight domestic wins and now lie just two points off first-placed Napoli in Serie A, and with the Nerazzurri on their own poor run the Italian is keen to replicate Juventus’ turnaround.
“Some teams have paid for mistakes before and we are paying now, Juventus had started badly and recovered so are in great shape and we know we can overcome this tough patch to win and bring us back up,” Mancini told Inter Channel.
“There are times, unfortunately, when things do not go to plan and this is not always because the boys are playing badly.
“We can do it, we just have to be calm.”
Wednesday’s game at the Juventus Stadium is the first of three Derby d’Italia clashes in the next month and the Biscione coach doesn’t want his team to be out of the tie before the return leg in Milan.
“This game is played over 180 minutes and we’ll have to be good to get a result in the first leg and be strong in the second match,” said Mancini.
“There will have to be sweat and fight; we’ll play a strong team.”
Mancini should try as much as possible to work on his defense. In their game against Carpi, the defense totally collapsed towards the tail end of second half, they were just clearing the ball aimlessly, the defenders could neither hold unto the ball nor make accurate passes. I don’t know if that has to do with fatigue/tiredness, lack of communication or misunderstanding between them, no proper coordination .He should also work on the attack, Icardi is now a shadow of himself, another striker should be urgently sought for to compliment or replace him, forth with.