Luciano Spalletti has regrets that Inter didn’t take the victory away to Juventus. “We’ve got to realise we earned this clash and did less than we could’ve.”
The goalless draw in Turin saw Mario Mandzukic create the best chances, including a header off the crossbar, and the leaders remain unbeaten this season.
Luciano Spalletti has regrets that Inter didn’t take the victory away to Juventus. “We’ve got to realise we earned this clash and did less than we could’ve.”
The goalless draw in Turin saw Mario Mandzukic create the best chances, including a header off the crossbar, and the leaders remain unbeaten this season.
“I’m not angry with the result. Obviously, you always try to advise something and we lost the ball too cheaply in the second half, so I urged the players to relax and trust in their capabilities,” the Coach told Mediaset Premium.
“When you leave Turin with a point and a clean sheet, that’s positive. We’ve got to hurry up and realise we earned this clash because we’ve got the quality to be top of the table. At one stage, it looked almost as if we’d been gifted this opportunity.
“The first 30 minutes were very good up until the final third, as we then didn’t finalise the possession. We’re coming off three seasons where the gap from the top was massive. Now we have played 15 rounds and created our identity, but at the same time some look as if they don’t entirely believe we’re up there.”
Juventus locked down the flanks, allowing very few Antonio Candreva or Ivan Perisic crosses.
“I thought we had the potential to do more, but we gave the ball away because we weren’t determined enough in the second half. At times, almost involuntarily, we seemed to rest on our laurels and be content with just keeping possession in Turin. I wanted to see the right grit to make the most of the opportunity we were presented with.”
Spalletti also had an exchange of words with Juve defender Giorgio Chiellini as they went into the tunnel at half-time.
“Chiellini said he only went to talk to the referee, it seemed like more to me when he ran from his own penalty area, but the referee assured me it was normal, so I had evidently misinterpreted the situation. We sorted it out at half-time, there’s no problem.”
Inter have done very well in the head-to-head clashes so far this season, drawing 0-0 at Napoli and Juventus, while beating Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, but Spalletti isn’t celebrating.
“I would not have been content with draws away to Napoli and Juventus, because we must always aim for the maximum result. We should instead ask ourselves why we didn’t win? We had the chances to do it and must realise we have so much more potential to express. If we don’t give our all, it becomes difficult to achieve success in a league like Serie A.
“We are missing nothing to succeed. Both teams tonight had the potential to show no weaknesses, so we’ve both got a 90 per cent chance of winning and it’s all down to that 10 per cent, that moment to turn a game or a season. Tonight we fought hard and brought home a good point, but we did less than we could’ve done.”