Montella: “Inter were better in the first half, we were better in the second. Icardi’s goal? It was clearly offside”

A disappointed Vincenzo Montella saw his Fiorentina lose at home for the second time this season, with many players absent and others who surely felt a bit tired by the tight fixture schedule. This is what the Viola head coach said to Sky after the game: “Inter deserved to take the lead in the first half, to be fair they were a lot quicker than us during the first 45 minutes. Everything changed when we equalised just after the break, but they took the lead once again thanks to a goal that didn’t reflect the balance of the game. When you play against a team of Inter’s calibre and get some decisions against you, it is easy to lose. With some luck we might have been able to equalise, but we all know how much playing a mid-week fixture affects he players’ energy levels. Mentally, this was a completely different game compared to the corresponding fixture last year”.

In the first half, Fiorentina had some serious problems with their wingers. “We wanted to push the team forward, but we didn’t have the mental energy to do so. It was also because of Inter, they were better than us during that period of the game. Then I saw a great Fiorentina, as good as Inter were in the fist half. Icardis offside goal? For me it didn’t seem hard to see that the goal was offside, but there will always be mistakes. The decision will not be changed, but we will accept it just like we have accepted bad referee decisions in the past. It feels bad to lose at home for the second time. I defend the team and the city, since it affects our league position. After the equaliser we tried to win the match since we felt in control of the game and I have to say that the injury to Rodriguez affected us, since we had to waste a substitution. We tried to score until the very end with Ilicic on the wing and two strikers, the only way for us to create good goal scoring chances. We deserved a draw for our hard work and attitude on the pitch”.

“What I said to the players at half time? I changed the way that we played so Vargas would get to attack Jonathan one on one, our lan from the beginning was to play with attacking wingers but it didn’t work in the first half”.

During the second half of the last season, Fiorentina achieved great results with a 4-3-3 formation. Could the return of Mario Gomez allow the team to play a similar formation again? “We can play both ways. If we play 4-3-3 then Ilicic will mostly be forced to play as a winger. But it is true, we have two basic formations to choose from”.

Source: FcInterNews.it