Simone Inzaghi held a pre-match press conference on Thursday morning ahead of the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final between Inter and Lazio on Friday evening.
The press conference opened with the Inter manager discussing how the team is doing going into this mid-season ‘mini-tournament’. Inzaghi explained that the Supercoppa is Inter’s “first objective of the season” and continued by saying, “Inter has won the trophy for the past two years and wants to do the same this year, just as the other competitors will want.”
Following this, Inzaghi was asked about the ongoing January transfer window. One issue that has been on the mind of Inter fans is the production of Inter’s two forwards, Marko Arnautović and Alexis Sánchez. The two backup attackers have failed to contribute many goals, causing Inter to rely on Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram- something that cannot be sustainable for an entire season. Simone Inzaghi responded interestingly by assuring that the club is “thinking about it” and “working well”. He continued by driving home the idea that he is “very satisfied with the forwards available in the squad right now” and that “they have done well in the first part of the season.”
The press conference continued by underlining the fact that Inter are the favourites to win the Supercoppa and the Scudetto. To deal with this type of pressure, Simone Inzaghi explained that “when you’re at Inter, you need to get used to it. I experience things in a very calm manner. It’s the first trophy up for grabs this season, and we want to win it. We know we’ll be coming up against a side who are unbeaten in five matches. They won the derby and have always caused us problems.”
Inzaghi touched on the recent FIFA The Best awards, where he was nominated and finished third in The Best Men’s Coach 2023 award. It was noted that former Inter forward, Romelu Lukaku, did not vote for Inzaghi, despite playing under him last season. Inzaghi mentioned that “Lukaku voted for three fantastic coaches; disputing his votes is pointless. I wasn’t alone in London; I was there together with my staff, my directors, my president, as well as my lads, who gave me the opportunity to be there. I’m very happy to have been named in the top three.”
Finally, Simone Inzaghi gave a message to Inter’s fans in Saudi Arabia. The 47-year-old stated, “Give us your support, just like you did last year! We know that there are a lot of you, and we hope we can make you happy like we did when we won it last season.”
It is interesting to focus on when Inzaghi mentioned that the club was “thinking” about the forward situation. Several top-tier sources have ensured that it is more than likely that Inter will no longer intervene in the market and that the club is content with the four forwards playing. But is Inter working behind the scenes?
Read the full press conference on the Inter website here.
