Inter coach Cristian Chivu admits the Nerazzurri were ‘lucky’ to beat Venezia and, despite praising the team’s attitude, says he’d have liked to ‘replace everyone’ at half-time.
Inter beat struggling Venezia 2-0 away on Wednesday, making the most of two own goals from the Lagunari.
“We lacked energy and were slow in certain aspects, and were a little surprised by their low block, even though we were expecting it. We moved the ball slowly, but that can happen when you play every three days,” Chivu told Sky Sport via FCInternews.
“We were lucky to come away with the win today. I don’t know whether that’s what matters; what matters is that we stayed in the game and kept believing, but we were lucky too,” the Nerazzurri boss added.
“These are the kinds of games you get through the season, two or three a year, when you go into them without enough conviction.
“Credit to our opponents, they stopped us from making the right runs or creating one-on-one situations. We had some scares too. Provedel kept us in the game, and our experience and quality helped us find a way to win.”
Carlos Augusto started as a left defender in a three-man defence and contributed to Venezia’s second own goal. The Brazilian has already scored four goals and provided two assists this season.
“He’s doing well. Today, we picked him at left back to cope with Venezia’s pace. He wasn’t feeling great either; he has a stomach bug, but that’s no excuse. He always gives everything,” Chivu said.
“We’re very happy with him. We can use him in the back three or as a wing-back. He gives us energy, strength, pace, a few goals and a few assists, and we’re pleased.”
Inter have earned 25 points in the opening nine league games and are top of the table, level with Lazio.
“We can and must improve. It’s never easy to begin a season like this and show that level of commitment,” Chivu said.
“You must never lose it after a season in which you’ve won. I have a group that never stops working or believing, and gives everything it has. We need to improve and find that extra spark to bring out the determination that so many games require. We can improve in many areas because the season is long, expectations are high, and what you did in the previous season often counts for little or nothing.”
Next Saturday, the Nerazzurri face one of the season’s most important games as they take on their city rivals, Milan.
“We go into it with eight wins and one draw, as the team we are right now, knowing that it’s a derby,” concluded Chivu.
“We’ll do our best to recover physically and mentally. I’m referring to a few players I had to sacrifice at half-time today to shake things up. I would have liked to replace everyone. We know derbies are stories of their own, and we’ll be ready.”
Milan, on the other hand, suffered a 4-2 loss against Bologna at San Siro today. The Rossoneri have earned 18 points so far.
