After leading his Inter Milan side to a 1-0 away victory over Cagliari on Matchday 2 of Serie A, Inter Milan coach Chivu was interviewed by DAZN.

Another victory secured. You completely dominated the first half, but the only shortcoming was that in matches like this, you need to kill off the tension as soon as possible, because otherwise the opponent might strike when you least expect it...

Yes, we all know that. We created many chances today, but unfortunately we couldn't finish the match earlier. That's partly because we didn't play well enough ourselves, and partly because of the opponent's stubborn resistance and their goalkeeper's brilliant performance, making some excellent and even spectacular saves. However, we also need to be more clinical, pragmatic, and efficient in front of goal.

Sometimes we can easily penetrate the opponent's dangerous areas, while other times we need to go through complex tactical coordination, careful organization, and execute crucial offensive actions. However, in the second half, we appeared somewhat disorganized, losing the tactical positioning and spacing that should exist between our players on the pitch, particularly in the final 10 to 15 minutes.

It's clear that the opponent, with high spirits and fierce determination, combined with some gaps and carelessness in our own defensive approach, managed to create pressure and unsettle us. Fortunately, our players were smart enough to quickly assess the situation, understand what was happening on the pitch, and make focused defensive responses.

Cristian, when a team can perform like this and create so many scoring chances, as a head coach you can always sleep soundly at night, but setting that aside, because there will also be matches where you create many chances but win 5-0. But beyond that, Cristian, I think this has to do with possession management in the second half. You just mentioned your own mistakes; possession management in the second half was indeed not as good as in the first half. In the first half, you were brilliant in possession control, while in the second half it was slightly worse, failing to effectively "kill the game" and stabilize control through possession...

To a certain extent, that's because we started to become a bit complacent, satisfied with our neat possession and our advantage. In fact, we also created many chances in the second half, so the problem isn't entirely just that. Then we somewhat lost our way, the team became fragmented, and we lost the tactical spacing between our three lines. At that point, half the team—especially the midfield and attackers—wanted to play one way, while the other half was perhaps thinking more about defending.

We need to show more calmness and confidence in possession, because whenever we truly relax to control the ball, we can successfully penetrate the opponent's penalty area and create threats. In the final minutes, you have to make tactical adjustments based on your team's actual attitude and physical condition on the pitch. So we added a defender, letting Pavard play as a right-back. As a coach, you must react to what's happening on the pitch, and not blindly try to do something that might harm your team's interests.

In any case, we're still helping our players find and build their best physical condition. Because the players who went to the World Cup are still slightly behind in terms of physical reserves, and we don't have time now to do more thorough preparation by arranging friendly matches or additional training. Therefore, for many of them—like Marcus (Thuram), Lautaro, Calhanoglu, Akanji, Sucic, etc.—the best training method is to adapt directly through actual matches, even if they might occasionally temporarily lose some sharpness and brilliance due to fatigue.

Coach, is this the best version of Calhanoglu you've seen on the pitch?

Calhanoglu is Calhanoglu. I've been saying it for a long time, and he's already proven it on the pitch, so I don't need to praise him individually anymore. Like Zielinski, Barella, Jones, Mkhitaryan, Stankovic, and Sucic—they're all exceptional. We have a very strong and high-quality midfield, and each of them has completely different technical characteristics. Some of them have been fully integrated into our tactical philosophy and this team's style, and new players also need to integrate as quickly as possible.

Cristian, usually Inter Milan's strong flank is the left, but today—especially in the first half—thanks to Barella, because he played brilliantly, and we also saw Luis Enrique seemingly play with more fighting spirit than last season. The right flank was heavily utilized today; was this a tactical choice against the opponent's defensive approach?

Yes, because the opponent employed double man-marking on the left flank, which heavily compressed our space there. Therefore, through the cooperation of Benjamin (Pavard), Barella, and Luis on that side, we found an easier way to build play and release the ball through the right flank. We often attacked behind the opponent's defense through Barella, and there was also a cross from Bastoni to him, though it was cleared off the line by the opponent. That's how we needed to play in this match. We understood it quickly, and the players were also very good at adjusting rapidly and adapting to the opponent's tactical positioning.

Coach, for Inter Milan, facing Napoli in the third round of the league, who just suffered a defeat, and with you already having 6 points on the table, what kind of fantastic opportunity is this?

Compared to last season, we've gained three more points, because last season we lost to Udinese in the second round. We hope not to repeat the same mistake in the third round, because last season we lost in Turin in the third round against Juventus. We're ready to face a great team like Napoli, a strong opponent that won the league title two years ago and finished as runner-up last season. We know what kind of contest this is, and we understand how eager both teams are to win the match. However, there's still time until the match; if I remember correctly, we still have about five days to prepare. So let's enjoy tonight's victory first, because this win wasn't easily earned. As for the match against Napoli, we'll wait and see.

Diterjemahkan oleh AI.

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