Vecchi: "Inter must do better than this"

MILAN – Stefano Vecchi accepted that Inter must do better after they were beaten 2-1 by Sassuolo at San Siro, with the acting Nerazzurri boss admitting the side could have no complaints with the boos that greeted the final whistle.

"We were expecting it – the fans have their reasons," he said. "They don’t like this situation and you can accept that. Inter is Inter and the team has to be better than seventh or eighth place. It’s to be expected that they show their displeasure. In any case, football has taught us that you should always keep believing for as long as possible. It’ll be tough against Lazio, but we’ll try to show the right spirit in Rome. There were some good signs today but we need to try to do more.

"There’s a climate of real negativity and that’s coming through on the pitch. We created a lot of chances but were made to pay the first time we made a mistake. The team played football and gave it a go, but we dropped off after that first-half error. We could do with a bit of good luck but you can’t dwell on the little things too much, because we have to be the ones to haul ourselves out of this situation. We need to try to give 100% at all times – we need to improve the intensity and spirit in training.

Vecchi also spoke about some of the players in particular.

"Gabriel Barbosa showed desire and had a positive impact when he came on, as did Eder. It seems strange to say it now, but Inter’s squad is very competitive and it’s not easy to get into the team. Icardi? As the captain, he suffers in these situations. It’s an important time for him too – he’s a young lad and this will help him to get even better."