Inter, Conte: 'I joined the club because of Marotta and Zhang's ambitions, I'm happy here'
- Apollo Heyes
First, Conte touched on whether this game was one of the most important ones of the season so far for the Nerazzurri.
“Of this season certainly, also because it's the last one left to play in 2019. I've always said that it would be important for us to get to Christmas in the best possible conditions because it's been five months in which for many reasons, we've had to face important problems. We're dealing with them in the right way and this has made a lot of players responsible and they understood how necessary it was to raise their workload.”
He spoke about whether he would look to deploy two of Inter’s exciting young talents, Sebastiano Esposito and Lucien Agoume.
"Surely there has been an important growth from these two guys who have had the opportunity to train with us. Especially Esposito. They are young and deserved their debut, they have the qualities to be part of the foundation of the future of this club. I know they'll put in the best possible effort, both from the start and in the current game.”
The 50-year-old Italian discussed if any of the Nerazzurri’s injured players have recovered in time for tomorrow’s game.
"Let's see, one more training session to go. We'll make assessments knowing that the suspensions to Brozovic and Lautaro have put us even more in an emergency situation.”
Conte touched on how much it would mean to him to go into 2020 on equal points with the Bianconeri.
"It would be an important signal for us and for the whole team. I was very worried a while ago precisely because the situation forced us to make certain choices, to always bet on the same players and take important risks. I asked the squad to get to Christmas in the best possible way, now we're there and it would be great if, in a problematic situation, we could win the game tomorrow against Genoa.”
He spoke about the reasons why the Nerazzurri failed to beat Roma, Barcelona and then Fiorentina.
"I am very critical, and I ask a lot, but I must also be honest and say that we earnt less points than we deserved. It's not nice to talk about luck and bad luck because it's not part of the way we think, but in these three games we've had several moments like that. Now I hope to see the same intensity that I saw against Roma, perhaps with a little more attention paid to everything. We'll have to be perfect to bring home the victory.”
The former Juventus and Chelsea coach spoke about how far the Nerazzurri can go with a full-strength squad and some reinforcements.
"Our goal since the beginning of the year has always been to become a team. We have started a journey and we are working on it; in these cases, you know very well that you can find issues that try to stop the journey. We have to be good at going forward beyond the difficulties that can be found. This journey has begun, it will take patience and I will have to be the first to continue building. Sometimes you win and build while other times you build without winning. Victory can be deceptive. There are situations whereby not winning you know you're laying lasting foundations that can become important over time. That's our intention, then the sooner you get there the better. But it's not just us and there are teams that have started the same journey a long time ago.”
Conte touched on how he feels being a part of the Nerazzurri, after five months of being a part of the club.
"The more time passes, the more you get involved in the project. It's been five months in which I've worked hard, and it's been months in which we've worked through a lot of difficulties. But I knew very well that starting with a new project there would be difficulties and in this sense my history speaks for me, I never found situations set up where you enter, sit down and start winning easily. We are working together to build something important and it will be important to leave a trace, which does not mean winning but laying important foundations.”
The 50-year-old Italian revealed how Inter forward Alexis Sanchez’s recovery is going.
"Sanchez's injury was a major problem for us. In all this time having Romelu and Lautaro always available has made us overcome the problem a bit. In the meantime, Esposito has grown up in many ways. Sanchez is thrilled with a desire to come back, he loves challenges and competitions, but you have to respect the times that the doctors have dictated. I hope that his desire to play will give us something more.”
He refused to entertain the idea that defender Milan Skriniar has been playing poorly recently.
"Honestly, if you want to talk about Skriniar, you know very well how much I use him, how important he is to us. He's a modern, young footballer and he's working hard to improve. He's doing as well as his team-mates are doing well. We're close to the top of the standings and that shows that everyone is doing well.”
Finally, Conte fully discussed his 2019, beginning from January all the way to taking the Inter job.
"From January onwards, I started a few conversations with clubs interested in me. With Inter I found the agreement also because I had already worked with Marotta in the past and I really liked what the president said. The team are ambitious and want to build, even though we all know that the starting point was far from being able to win easily. Five months have passed and I'm happy to have found this squad, I'm happy to come here to Appiano Gentile and find wonderful people. This gives me joy and the desire to keep working despite the fact that some situations have annoyed me.”
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