Pioli: "We must believe in ourselves"

APPIANO GENTILE – Stefano Pioli knows just how important Sunday's Serie A fixture against Atalanta is and he made no attempt to dismiss the matter in his pre-match media conference.

"This is a very important match and one we have to win,” the coach told journalists at Suning Training Centre on Saturday. “We're up against an excellent side but we're in good form ourselves and we've prepared very well for it. We'll put everything we have into it."

Asked whether he'll be using a 4-2-3-1 formation against Atalanta, the boss continuned: “It comes down to your desire and approach, not your position on the pitch, It's more about your ideas and mentality.”

A big crowd is expected on Sunday and Inter will be looking to produce the goods in front of the San Siro faithful.

“It's always up to us. We're capable of producing top-level performances and how we play depends on us. We'll be playing in front of our fans and we want to give everything we have. We want to beat Atalanta."

Many pundits have credited Pioli with improving Geoffrey Kondogbia in recent months but the coach says he expects even more from the Frenchman.

"I want to improve all my players, especially if they're young. Geoffrey is training very well and he's starting to play more direct football, which is important for a midfielder, but he can become even more consistent and play even better.”

On whether Brozovic will start: “I have a few doubts regarding my starting line-up but we have two more training sessions and we'll see. We have a competitive squad so whatever happens I'll be able to put out a strong team. We have excellent options from the bench too and our substitutes can be decisive.”

As for Sunday's visitors: “Atalanta are a solid outfit with great players – they're definitely the surprise package this season. Gasperini has done a brilliant job and they deserve respect but we also need to remember how good we are ourselves.”

Will the game be won in the wide areas? “The wide areas are always very important and of course a lot comes down to how you set up but I think the two areas that matter most are the penalty boxes: we have to be good at attacking theirs and good at defending our own.”

Pioli was also asked about recent praise from Massimo Moratti.

“I thank Moratti for his words. We have the support of Suning and the club every day. We have to believe in ourselves because we have the ability and we've shown it, although we've lost the head-to-head games. Tomorrow is another chance to show we're improving and can keep challenging till the end.”