Mancini: Inter should have scored in first half against Cagliari

Inter head coach Roberto Mancini has admitted that his side should have scored in the first half of their game against Cagliari on Monday night.

The Nerazzurri put in a strong first half performance but wasted a number of chances before two second half goals earned them a hard fought win against the Isolani and Mancini also revealed that he was happy with their performance.

“We had a very good first half, in which we had to score goals,” Mancini told Sky Sport Italia after the game.

“Then, after we made it 2-0, our performance dropped because [Samuele] Longo was good and caused us many difficulties.

“[Mateo] Kovacic was good, he deserves to be happy. He is a starter like Hernanes or [Zdravko] Kuzmanovic.

“Today, he was fantastic, even [Mauro] Icardi was stupendous, he must always play like this.”

Mancini was also quizzed about how his side lost control of the ball at stages throughout the game.

“Yes [we lost control of possession], especially after we made it 2-0, we were stretched but we did very well in the first half.

He then weighed in on Lukas Podolski’s recent lack of goals.

“There will come a time when Podolski starts scoring.  Usually a player like him scores in those circumstances, but at the moment he is just unlucky.”