Inter coach Antonio Conte revealed his major frustration with the planning behind building his squad for this season as he insists the club got it wrong.
It came after his side threw away a two-goal lead away at Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night, as they eventually went on to lose 3-2 and now run the risk of missing out on advancing to the knockout stage.
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They’ve had better times in Serie A as they sit in second place after 11 games, just a point adrift of rivals and league leaders Juventus, but that isn’t enough to keep Conte happy.
As seen in his comments below, the former Juve and Chelsea boss fumed over the lack of experience and winners in his squad, and insisted that Inter are facing an emergency with just a few injuries while squads built to compete for major trophies have enough quality depth to cope.
Following the key signings of the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Stefano Sensi, Nicolo Barella and Diego Godin this past summer, it’s fair to say that Conte was backed in the transfer market by the hierarchy.
Whether there was a disagreement at the time over what else was needed is unclear, but clearly the Inter boss isn’t convinced he has the tools required to compete on multiple fronts this season.
“We have too limited a squad to face both Serie A and Champions League football this season. I mean limited both in terms of numbers and quality,” Conte told Sport Mediaset, as translated by Football Italia.
“Some players have to be on the field constantly and in the long run, you do pay for that. I am furious, because this cancels out all the good work.
“I am not asking the club for anything, these are the players and we go into battle with these players. The club will make its evaluations, I am just saying all of us got it badly wrong when planning for this season.
“We are in an emergency situation with only three players injured, whereas other teams have injuries and don’t even notice. We notice.
“We are talking about a group of players who, apart from Godin, haven’t won anything. It’s difficult then to deal with a tough situation.
“Who do I call on? Nicolò Barella, who we signed from Cagliari? Or Stefano Sensi, who arrived from Sassuolo? I will always thank the players for giving their heart and soul, and I know that I am asking for the kind of strain that some find it difficult to deal with.
“We can’t let our current position in the table disguise the problems that are there.”
Time will tell if Inter can keep up the pace with Juventus and if they can still qualify for the next stage of the Champions League, while the January transfer window isn’t far away and that could perhaps present an opportunity for Conte to strengthen his squad.
Nevertheless, given the quality that has been added to the group over the summer, he appears to have more than enough to be able to put up a proper fight and it remains to be seen how his criticisms are received by the hierarchy as it’s not the first time this season he has raised the issue.
