Walter Mazzarri says he’ll work the Inter squad hard in training in order to return them to the summit of Italian football.
Mazzarri was unveiled as the new Beneamata tactician on Thursday just weeks after ending his stint at Napoli.
“Inter has the necessity to become competitive again, to battle and compete,” the 51-year-old commented.
Walter Mazzarri says he’ll work the Inter squad hard in training in order to return them to the summit of Italian football.
Mazzarri was unveiled as the new Beneamata tactician on Thursday just weeks after ending his stint at Napoli.
“Inter has the necessity to become competitive again, to battle and compete,” the 51-year-old commented.
“I don’t know any secrets. In 12 years of management, I have based things on a respect for rules and mutual respect.
“Success is achieved through paying attention to details, hard work and sacrifices. I’m considered as a tactician and I’ll look to give my team a precise identity.
“In today’s football you have to be very prepared on a physical and mental level. For me, training is sacred and is not to be missed.
“I think we’ll have to work hard on our self confidence too, seeing how the last campaign ended.”
The San Siro giants turned to Mazzarri after Andrea Stramaccioni was dismissed as his outfit finished ninth in Serie A.
“Inter have to do better than last season because the squad will be better,” continued the tactician who had also been linked with Roma.
“You all know that I had decided to leave Napoli at the start of last year after I rejected a new contract. I could have stayed without a club had I not received an interesting offer.
“I had other offers, but I won’t say from whom. President Massimo Moratti wanted to meet me and I liked everything. I felt ready and charged up to start this journey with Inter.
“I spent four wonderful years at Napoli, but things end.”
Mazzarri was inevitably asked about transfers, but he wasn’t in the mood to mention names.
“I won’t discuss the transfer market with the media, I’ll do that with the club,” he added. “We spent until midnight yesterday talking about players.
“I want 22 players in pre-season training. I want two players for each role, plus a few youngsters.
“But a lot of those who will be at pre-season will stay at Inter. Last season’s Inter squad was better than the results suggest. I’ll now have to evaluate all.
“Youngsters? Playing with a lot of youngsters and coming in the top places in Serie A are not things that always go together.
“I like youngsters a lot, but you need the right mix of players – even if the youngsters are the future of every club.”
Mazzarri is a user of the three-man defence, but he opened the door to other solutions in 2013-14.
“I won’t say that we’ll always play with a three-man defence, we’ll play with four sometimes. The important thing is that we try out certain situations in training.”
Mazzarri was also quizzed on the future of Antonio Cassano, the enigma who he bossed at Sampdoria.
“I have an excellent relationship with all of the players I have worked with. Antonio, last season, said hello to me during the game when he took a throw-in near me. That says everything.”