Inter Milan beat Catania 5-2 Monday, 26 February 2007 17:51:30
[FOTO Monday, 26 February 2007 17:51:30] MILAN - Roberto Mancini gave his tactical analysis of Inter's performance against Catania in this interview with Roberto Scarpini on Inter Channel programme Bordo Campo:
Mancini: you started the Catania match with a midfield line you almost had to reinvent. Everyone thought you would field a classic 4-4-2, but you played the usual formation...
"Yes, but we had that possibility too. It could have been an option as we had a lot of central midfielders out. Maxwell played in a wide midfield role, but he had already played there at Ajax, and we had tried it out a lot. And he did well."
These kinds of emergency demonstrate your flexibility in changing players, and their versatility...
"We have a number of players who can play in several roles, and this is particularly useful at difficult times when you have suspensions or injuries. I think this is important in a team."
Did Catania's pressing and the slippery pitch in Cesena make it a bit difficult for Inter to build moves?
"The pitch was in good condition. It was probably a bit slippery because it had rained, and there was a bit of humidity. They are a good team because they play well. The result makes you think it was an easy game, but it wasn't. Having said this, we still scored at the end of the first half after playing well."
Let's talk about Dejan Stankovic. He has a unique way of interpreting his role, and this year more than ever before, he's showing he's an important man in any situation and any role. Do you agree?
"Yes. Like I have said many times, Dejan is a very useful player who can play in every midfield role. We could have put Zanetti in front of the defence yesterday, but Stankovic started because he had already played in that position. But Zanetti would also have done very well."
You put Nicolas Burdisso in midfield for the last twenty minutes when Stankovic came off yesterday. Is this an experiment that could be repeated?
"It all started from the problems we have in midfield right now. Of the players we have fit, Burdisso has the characteristics to play in that role if we're in difficulty. There are also other solutions, but this was the easiest one because I was only changing one role on the pitch, and Zanetti was very useful as an inside midfielder."
Without taking anything away from the others, can we say the strike partnership of Ibrahimovic and Cruz is the most intelligent one tactically?
"I think Cruz and Crespo are fairly similar players. Cruz is a bit taller and he can head more balls. But they have very similar characteristics."
Is Fabio Grosso's goal confirmation that football is an imperfect science...
"Football is an imperfect science, beyond what Grosso did yesterday. This is football: when a ball wants to go in, even in the strangest way, it always goes in in the end."
Did Catania's goals come from two slight lapses in defence?
"There can always be a lapse when you go 3-0 up away from home. This is what happened to us yesterday and it's quite logical, but we should still have avoided letting in both goals because the defence had done very well, and didn't deserve to concede two goals like that."
After Catania's first goal, you immediately put the foot down and scored another goal...
"This is proof that at 3-0 up you can unwind a bit and concede a goal. So the team pushed again because it didn't want to take any risks."
Why is the return game against Valencia considered the mother of all matches of this season? There have been teams praised highly in the past for what they did in the championship, and not all this merit was removed just because of a few half slip-ups in Europe...
"I think this is the only remaining thing they can cling on to. There's nothing else they can say. Right from the start of the season they have said many things to destabilise us, from what happened in the summer when they said we didn't deserve the Scudetto on our chests, to what they said about it being easy for Inter to win the title, when they know it's not like this. The only thing remaining now is the Valencia match... The Champions League has always been a different competition, more difficult and easier. Easier than a championship because there are fewer matches to play, but more difficult because you play two matches to get through the round, and you can get a game wrong and get knocked out without deserving to."
But over two legs it's always better to mess up the first match and not the second. Do you agree?
"There's no doubt about this. The problem is that they have made the first leg with Valencia look like a match played badly by Inter. But it is not like this at all."
On Wednesday you face the new Udinese team under Malesani. They will be without Iaquinta who got injured yesterday. What team are you expecting?
"Firstly I should say that Udinese are a team who played well before Malesani arrived. They then changed coach and changed formation slightly. You always need a while when a coach is changed, but they are doing well. They've lost Iaquinta, but retrieved Di Natale who is very dangerous. It won't be an easy game."
Will there be any player rotation in your next matches? With Stankovic out disqualified, you have a midfield to redesign...
"I hope we can get Dacourt back, but we will see. Something will definitely change, because we're playing on Saturday too. We're not supermen, everyone needs a bit of rest."
Are we arriving at the key moment of the season?
"It is certainly an important moment because we have the Champions League round of sixteen return in the middle. And in the championship every match is important. We cannot lower our guard in the championship. If we keep this lead, we can win it five rounds from the end. We must continue on our path and always try to win."
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