Spalletti: "A better second half, but there's still room for improvement"

EMPOLI – Inter recorded their second consecutive victory in Serie A and finished 2018 with a success on the road: “These are games where you can easily slip up if you don’t have the right mentality.” This is what Luciano Spalletti had to say following Inter’s 1-0 win against Empoli. The Nerazzurri boss then continued: “We didn’t play too well in the first period, but we did better in the second half due to their energy levels dropping off. We managed to cause their backline a lot of problems.”

He then spoke about the match-winner: “Keita is an absolutely fantastic guy, he’s always lively and likes to have fun with his teammates. We have some great individuals in our squad, meaning we’re a very strong team. Unfortunately, our strikers can’t all play at the same time. We have to alternate between them and get the best out of them, like we’ve done in the last two games with Keita and Lautaro. El Toro is a strong guy, but he’s a centre forward. If you play him anywhere else he loses his quality. When he takes to the pitch, he always manages to shake things up: he makes a great impact both in terms of his physicality and his character.”

Nainngolan also came on as Inter looked to find the opening goal: “I put him on because we were lacking bursts of energy – he has the the right qualities to get on top of his opponents and win lost balls. I thought he’d be able to help me out, and he did just that.”

Spalletti then talked about the club’s objectives in 2019: “We have to do well in the league, and the Coppa Italia and Europa League are also set to begin. We have to work hard in order win trophies. We’re in contention to win two competitions, and if we want to win we have to improve: we were caught out on the break at times today after losing the ball too easily, while we also weren’t able to finish off the match despite having a number of chances.”