After the humiliating 5-1 defeat in the derby against Inter, Stefano Pioli has spoken to DAZN microphones and said the following statements:
"The original mistake in this derby? Conceding goals when it seemed like we could turn things around. Even the second goal. It's ugly the way we conceded it. We had possession... I don't think we made too many mistakes in our passes, we had a decent quality. We were careless on the counterattacks and that was the story of the game. Even when we were rightfully coming back into the game because we were the ones dictating the match... The 3-1 deflated us. It shouldn't happen, it's a situation we'll work on because losing the derby in such an important way is disappointing. We were in the game until 3-1. We can do better, in certain situations Inter was smarter, more cunning, and more effective than us."
Pioli added:
"It's the gap that existed today. It's clear that we can do better and we will work hard to do so. We absolutely have to continue because at the beginning of the season, it's normal, having made so many changes, to face difficulties. I'll hold on to the first 70 minutes, the last 15 need review and erasure: we must remain a team until the end."
On the contacts in Mkhitaryan's goal:
"No comment. The referee decided that way and Inter won because they were better than us in some situations. It's normal that the approach is always discussed, but I think in the first 4 minutes we were the only ones holding the ball and in a situation where we were positioned well... Those are the classic moments when they were smarter than us. This is what we need to work on."
Pioli added:
"They are definitely a very organized team, they waited for us and I expected that a bit. We needed to spread out wider with the wingers and sometimes look for short-long passes a bit more. However, after the match, it went in the direction our opponents wanted, everyone below the ball and everyone deep. It's not that we didn't create anything, it's just that in those situations we weren't as precise as they were. They had a high conversion rate for the shots on target they took."
About the substitutions:
"I made the substitutions, they didn't even have time to come on before we conceded a penalty from a throw-in. It's not easy for those who come into a derby in such a match... Inter is a strong team but so are we. Unfortunately, we come out clearly defeated in the result but I'm convinced that we're a strong team and we can compete for the championship and top positions. We wanted a different result and a different performance, but not achieving it doesn't take away from the quality of my players and the depth of the squad. It's all the new players who maybe aren't yet familiar with these situations, they need a bit more time and we'll try to do better: we know how important it is to do better already on Tuesday night."
After such a defeat, is it good to play again right away? Pioli said:
"No lingering effects. I coach a mature team. We'll be able to analyze the things we got wrong to try to do well on Tuesday. No psychological issue. It went badly, we're sorry for us and our fans, it's very disappointing. We won't have any psychological setback. We're at the beginning of the season and we want to be competitive until the end. We grew with victories and now we have to learn to grow with this heavy defeat."
