Conte: "Tomorrow’s match is the most important, we still have room for growth"

APPIANO GENTILE - Antonio Conte met with journalists at the Suning Training Centre a day before Inter vs. Spal, which will be played at 15:00 CET on Sunday 1 December on matchday 14 of Serie A TIM: “Spal are an organised team, there’s a plan, a good coach and we will need be very careful because after you win important games, like we did against Slavia Prague, you can feel relaxed and satisfied, and that can’t happen to us. I would be very disappointed if it did happen tomorrow; we need to answer some important questions. Spal are a serious obstacle for us and we will have to face them with maximum concentration and in the knowledge that it’s vital that we win. Tomorrow’s match is worth three points, these numbers alone tell us what we need to know. Tomorrow’s match is the most important for us and the players know it. We have plenty of respect for Spal but in my opinion there is nothing to be taken for granted in football. Their players will come to San Siro with the desire to stop a team which is doing very well.”

On the enthusiasm after the success against Slavia Prague: “What we are doing in the league and in the Champions League, facing our opponents head-on, is very positive. The fact that we’ve managed to keep our fate in our own hands should give us positive enthusiasm, not mindless enthusiasm, which would make us forget about reality, work, details and determination. We need to keep showing this awareness, nastiness and a willingness to continue to increase this enthusiasm by winning this match with the right mentality.”

The solidity of the group is important: “It’s a real positive breath of air that there is so much enthusiasm and empathy in this group, it gives us real confidence. We’ve really cemented ourselves as a group despite the difficulties and the absences, this is a group which understood that the only way we can make something great and positive is by growing together and trusting your teammates.”

On the headline-makers in Inter’s Champions League win, Lautaro Martinez and Lukaku: “They’re two forwards who have grown a lot since the start of the season; before the match against Slavia Prague I said that it would be a different team who would go out there from the team that played in the first leg. Our forwards work hard to make the most of their individual characteristics. It’s inevitable that the ones who score the goals take the headlines, but the whole team has grown in every aspect. We have to keep growing, and there’s plenty of room to do that.”

Esposito is among the players improving under the Nerazzurri Coach: “Considering the result we needed, I wouldn’t have thrown him into the mix with the score at 1-1 if I didn’t trust him. He’s a player with so much to his game and I have a lot of respect for him and a lot of confidence in him. I will go with my strongest line-up tomorrow, I’m not going to be thinking about Roma or Barcelona. We’re thinking about winning tomorrow and after that we will take on Roma with even more enthusiasm. We need to ride this wave, stay on the crest of it and make the most of it. Tomorrow’s objective is to get three points in the knowledge that Spal will make us work hard. Tomorrow will be no walk in the park, the fans will have to give us even more support, just like they did against Verona.”

Finally, some thoughts on the defensive phase and possible solutions for the upcoming match: “We had a bit more time to work on some certain situations, we also resumed work on some concepts  where we could improve and also where we could add some more solidity to the defensive phase. The 3-4-3 could be a solution for the upcoming match, when we want to force the game on our opponents, but we must never lose our balance in the defensive phase.”