Marco Giampaolo feels Inter “were genuinely afraid of not winning” after a 3-2 result over Sampdoria. “If there had been another 10 minutes…”
The Nerazzurri had been 3-0 up at San Siro and rattled the woodwork three times, but Dawid Kownacki and Fabio Quagliarella set up a tense finale.
Marco Giampaolo feels Inter “were genuinely afraid of not winning” after a 3-2 result over Sampdoria. “If there had been another 10 minutes…”
The Nerazzurri had been 3-0 up at San Siro and rattled the woodwork three times, but Dawid Kownacki and Fabio Quagliarella set up a tense finale.
“Inter had the best first half of their last five years, so that says a lot about the situation. We didn’t start badly, but we conceded that goal and then made big errors in the transitions. That’s where it was lost,” Samp boss Giampaolo told Mediaset Premium.
“We allowed Inter to go on the counter many times and didn’t press them enough. In the second half we were more lively, Inter fell away, we had a different intensity.
“Inter deserve credit for the first half, but at the same time we frankly allowed them to play too much. If there had been another 5-10 minutes left, with Sampdoria in crescendo… we made it very tough for Inter and they were genuinely afraid of not winning.”
Nonetheless, Giampaolo defends his decision to initially bench Gianluca Caprari and Kownacki.
“Kownacki and Caprari are very quick and they could’ve wasted energy in the first half when Inter were keeping the ball so well, but they made a big impact in the second half to push us back into the game. We’ve got regrets, as we could’ve done more in the first half.”
Luciano Spalletti’s men are temporarily top of the Serie A table, so can they win the Scudetto?
“Inter do some really good things as a team, are strong on transitions, Mauro Icardi works for the collective and they defend with a high line. I think they also have a more positive mentality compared to recent years.”