Conte: "We're ready to battle"

MILAN - It’s already time to take to the pitch once again. Following Wednesday’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund, Inter are back in action at 18:00 CEST on Saturday for the matchday nine fixture in Serie A TIM against Parma. At the Suning Training Centre, Antonio Conte fielded questions from journalists at the pre-match press conference. 

“Parma are in great form, they’re a side in full health. We’ll have to be careful not to leave too much space open to them on the break because they have quick and lethal players like Gervinho for example. They can create dangerous situations out of nothing. Parma are a compact side, they’re strong and well-coached. For me, it will be special to face the team created by their sporting director Faggiano and D’Aversa. I’ve had a very good relationship with Roberto since my time at Siena, we’re friends and I’m very happy that he’s doing well.” 

“It’s tough to play again following the match on Wednesday. But, it’s a time when we have to do what we have to do. We have another training session to get through and I want to speak to the doctors and make careful evaluations. We’re also preparing with the use of video while we recover our mental and physical energy in the meantime. We’re ready to battle in a difficult match and we call on the support of San Siro. The crowd played a big role against Borussia Dortmund and we hope they can fire us on again against Parma.

“We’re continuing with our journey even if there isn’t much time to work on the fine details. The guys are taking things in well. We know what the difficulties waiting for us will be but we also now that we’ve been very close to those ahead of us at the start of this season. This makes us very happy but we have to keep our feet on the ground. Every match is an important test and you can only get three points by doing your best. You need to work tom improve. We’re on the right road, we have to keep it up and then we’ll see where we end up. The important thing is that you give everything so you don’t have any regrets.

Regarding the Nerazzurri’s attacking outfit, we started off  with a very precise idea. We have three forwards with very specific characteristics, plus Politano who played in the second half against Sassuolo. Esposito is a fifth option. We knew to remain calm. Unfortunately Alexis got injured, a considerable loss for us and at that point we turned to Esposito. Sebastiano was with us for all of pre-season and he played well as a centre-forward during the summer friendlies. That’s the squad, we hope Alexis’ recovery goes well and swiftly, we will assess him as a Club when he returns

“The squad was constructed with the intention of focusing on strong and reliable players. It doesn’t matter whether they are Italian or foreign. It’s inevitable that Italian players will give you immediate guarantees because they know the way we work in Italy: compared to how football is treated abroad we’re more meticulous, more tactical, we do a lot of video analysis, we analyse the details of every situation. Italian players are more used to this type of situation, they don’t need to learn this. It’s also important to have an Italian spirit. For example, I consider Handanovic to be Italian. He has an Italian mentality after having played in our country for so long. It’s important to have players who can help their teammates settle in when they arrive here after coming from foreign leagues.”

In regard to the Nerazzurri midfield, Conte had the following to say: “In terms of characteristics, Sensi can play Brozovic’s role in front of the defence. But I prefer to play him further up the pitch because of how sees the game, he knows how to play between the lines and he knows how to make the final pass and how to score. Borja Valero can also play that role. Brozovic is doing very well, but I’m very demanding and he knows where he needs to improve in order to become one of the world’s best players.”

The defenders have often been involved in the build-up with excellent results: “The team is still taking in ideas and concepts. The defenders know they have to take on this type of duty, De Vrij is excellent but Godin already had the ability to provide an assist.”