Cristi Chivu (46 years old), Inter’s coach, spoke in Italy after the defeat in the derby against AC Milan (1-3, in Serie A).
The Romanian coach told the Italians about the squad problems he had before the match, about a virus that affected several players, and identified the issue that needs to be urgently resolved.
Chivu said that, compared to last season, Inter needs to regain its hunger for success.
In Chivu's debut season on the "nerazzurri" bench, Inter won the Serie A title and the Italian Cup.
"Changes? Our forwards had problems. Bonny made himself available after two days during which he had a fever of 39°C, severe nausea, and vomiting.
We had to find a solution. We wanted speed on the flanks with Spence and Carlos (editor's note - Augusto) and to have Diouf and Sucic between the lines. Sometimes, things don’t work.
But I repeat, we were forced to make changes.
After 10 rounds, last season we had a few points less than we have now. Today, we are talking about a different situation. We have 25 points.
I’m not looking for excuses or justifications and I’m not looking back, but we have to acknowledge this.
Also, we have to admit that it is hard for us to find that aggressiveness if we are not leading, and sometimes, when we get to that point, it’s already too late, especially in the Champions League," said Cristi Chivu on DAZN, quoted on X.
Chivu: "Compared to last season, we are missing something"
The coach said that, unlike last season, his team is missing something, namely the determination, desire, and hunger for success that it showed in the previous campaign.
"It’s been two years since we last won a derby. We have to find solutions and do things better.
Unfortunately, at this moment we are not able to do that, but not everything is negative. One single match should not bring us down. We have to analyze ourselves well.
Compared to last season, we are missing something.
We had players who faced a stomach virus in the last few days. We tried to play between the lines, but after the 3-1 score, there was not much we could do.
Provedel was at home, with a fever, while Bonny had vomited and had a fever of 39°C for two nights.
We had to find solutions with the players we had available. We couldn’t make many changes because we simply had no other options.
Our approach was wrong and we have to acknowledge that. But we reacted and created chances to make it 2-2.
We could have avoided giving them another goal. We had to show more intensity and concentration.
We are disappointed by the defeat and by the fact that we did not meet our own expectations. We have to turn the page.
It hurts to lose a derby, especially when we had high expectations of ourselves, given the season we have and what we have to defend.
We had to improvise. Emergency situations appeared in the last two days and we tried to recover a few players who made themselves available.
Our approach was wrong. We could have equalized if it weren’t for Maignan’s intervention.
We are disappointed. We expected to do more and get more. We have to improve our approach, attitude, and determination, which sometimes we lack.
Are we no longer dominant? It is never easy to play every three days and maintain the right hunger for victory and determination throughout a season, after winning trophies.
We have to come back down to earth and show more determination.
We have to rediscover our hunger for victory and aggressiveness at certain moments. We have to raise our level of concentration, determination, and attitude and understand what a football match demands from us," Cristi Chivu added.