Conte: "Our approach wasn't the best, we need to always play with the same ferocity"

MILAN – Inter came away with a victory on their return to league action: on matchday eight in Serie A, the Nerazzurri came from 2-0 down to beat Torino 4-2 following a goal from Sanchez, a Lukaku brace and Lautaro’s finish.

This is what Antonio Conte had to say after the game:

After a difficult hour, Inter sprang into life. What are your thoughts on the two Inter sides we saw today?“We need to analyse how we played throughout in an attentive and detailed way. Our approach wasn’t the best, I didn’t like what I saw. We should have been more ferocious and determined, Torino played in this fashion and we lost many duels. I understand there are difficulties relating to players returning from international duty, it isn’t easy to get back into the swing of things and understand the importance of a match. We were lacking in this regard: during the first part of the game, we were lacking a competitive edge and ruthlessness. In the second half, however, we showed that we have something big in our locker, including in terms of our character: being 2-0 down could have destroyed us. It wasn’t easy, and I’d like to compliment the guys on the reaction they displayed. We managed to score four goals and fight back, but we need to show a ruthless side at the right time. We also need to work hard to raise our concentration levels. Compared to how we finished last season, we’ve lost a lot of this, so we need to find that ferocity again. I hope that this game serves as a lesson for the future, because if we want to win something we need to be ready to roll up our sleeves and work hard to make life difficult for our opponents. Irrespective of our technical and athletic qualities, this is what is required.”

What do you think of Lukaku’s words after the match? He said that Inter still aren’t a top team."I know that I’ve got intelligent lads at my disposal: when we’re going through difficulties or slightly negative spells, they make the appropriate assessments. I’m happy that Romelu has said those things, because we shouldn’t pay attention to outside voices but follow our own path. We need to have a desire to win that can be felt by our opponents even in the changing rooms. We’ve got a solid and intelligent group, I fully agree with what Romelu said. We’ve still got a long way to go to become a top team because in twelve games you shouldn’t be forced to come from behind so often.”

In the first half, were there also tactical difficulties, especially for the three midfielders?"It’s not a question of tactics because we played with Sanchez in the trequartista role in the second half, with Vidal and Barella further behind in midfield. It was our attitude which changed, our determination and the ferocity with which we pressed. We found the net four times and could have scored more.”