Claudio Ranieri is disappointed with Sampdoria’s ‘timid and timorous’ start, which ‘helped Inter’ to an eventual 2-1 result, and has regrets over his tactics.
The Blucerchiati looked as if they were going to be on the end of a mauling at San Siro when going 2-0 down in 32 minutes, but did fight back after the break with a Morten Thorsby tap-in and a couple more chances.
This was the rescheduled Week 25 fixture, so all the teams have now played 26 rounds and Samp sit one point clear of the relegation zone.
“We helped Inter have a strong start, because we were timid, timorous, slow to press and did it badly,” Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
“At least we showed some character in the second half, tried to fight back and turn the game around, which we almost did. A defeat here is understandable, not the first half performance, but we did better after the break.
“I saw we kept pushing and could create some problems. On 2-1, we had to give it our all, as losing 2-1 or 3-1 makes little difference. I tried to encourage them to believe.
“The referee was very understanding towards the end, as I got too heated, but he let it go. When I arrived, we were bottom of the table, so it’s not as if we’re worried, we just knew from the start we had to fight.”
Ranieri moved to three at the back in order to mirror Antonio Conte’s system, but regretted the decision.
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“I agree it might’ve had an influence on the team, negatively. We knew everything about the way Inter combine and move, so I didn’t expect us to be so timid, to keep going deeper and deeper. That was not right, so I had to change.
“There wasn’t enough communication between the defenders, especially when playing behind closed doors, when you can really hear each other. Unfortunately, in modern football, defenders don’t communicate as much as they should.”