Conte: 'Not Inter's kind of football'

By Football Italia staff

Antonio Conte took responsibility for Inter’s deeply disappointing 1-1 Champions League draw with Slavia Prague. “This is not the kind of football we are training to play.”

The Nerazzurri scraped a stoppage-time point thanks to Nicolò Barella’s volley after Peter Olayinka had given Slavia the deserved lead at San Siro.

Considering Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund are in the group, this was theoretically the easiest fixture of the tournament for Conte’s men.

“Slavia Prague certainly played in a very European way, aggressive and with intensity,” Conte told Sky Sport Italia.

“We didn’t do well to find solutions and get around that. In other games, we were up against sides who sat back and waited for us, whereas Slavia attacked us. We struggled and to be honest, I am not satisfied with the performance.

“I must be the first to take responsibility, because evidently I didn’t have the effect I wanted in my initial choices or in explaining the kind of match we were going into.

“We could’ve done far better, this is not the kind of football we are training to play. We’ve got to improve in terms of character too, but when I talk about a growth process, it goes through games like this too, as I know what kind of situation this is.

“Slavia beat us in terms of intensity, determination, pace… We showed nothing of our ideas of football. You seem to think I arrive here, touch and the ducklings turn into swans. There’s a lot of work to do and we need to improve, but that was not our football.

“When I say we shouldn’t let ourselves get swept up in enthusiasm, I mean it. I am here to help these lads improve, so put the blame on me.

“I refuse to talk about individuals, because we were all below par today, starting from me. I am the first onto the naughty step, the main dunce.

“I generally hate the long ball and run routine, as that is not our football, but that’s what we largely did today. It wasn’t the plan.”

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