Mazzarri: “The team has made progress”

Inter Milan

MILAN – "Since the transfer window has closed all the players have
been focused on the pitch. Gradually the team has been making progress. They’re
all in good shape, Hernanes joined us, and these are all factors that have gone
in our favour for improving. What I’m interested in is our play, which is what brings the results," stated Walter Mazzarri to Stadio Sprint’s Thomas Villa after Inter’s win against Hellas Verona.

"I’ve seen an increase in our personality, self-esteem, our belief in ourselves and the organisation that the team has gradually started to understand. My way of thinking and seeing the game was immediately accepted by the team because the players were enthusiastic right away. But they also needed a bit of time to understand what I wanted from them," continued Mazzarri.

In these recent months, how much has the Nerazzurri coach fought alongside his team to overcome the more difficult periods? "In such a prestigious club it’s during the hard times you see a coach’s experience, how he holds steady, closes ranks with his lads and gets past a difficult period. I don’t want to talk too much because, as you know, in football the bad times can come along just as quickly as the good ones. Now we’re already thinking about the next game, which we expect to be a tough one."

On his future, the coach repeated: "I’ve already explained this. It’s clearly a given that I’ll stay with Inter. Furthermore, various persons within the club have already spoken on the subject. So how could I say any differently? It was a misunderstanding taken from a response I gave to one of your colleagues. More precisely, it dealt with a contractual matter. That’s all. To extend the contract. Everything else was a misunderstanding."

Finally, on a possible battle with Napoli for the third place spot: "No, I really don’t see it. They have many more points than we do and there are only 10 games left. We’re thinking of ourselves. I never make comparisons with the others. We’re focused on improving this team, as we’ve been doing, and then we’ll see where we end up."