Assistant manager Sinisa Mihajlovic admits Inter “played badly,” while Gianni De Biasi takes hope for the future.
“This is a very important step forward and with four rounds to go it is a considerable advantage,” said Mihajlovic after the 1-0 victory away to Torino.
With Roma held 1-1 by Livorno on Saturday, it allows the leaders to go six points clear at the top of the table.
“It’s true we played badly tonight, although we got a bit better after the break, but the lads fought hard until the final whistle.
“Perhaps we were a little fortunate, but the important thing was to win and get the three points.”
Curiously, Torino could decide the Scudetto, as they face second placed Roma next Sunday.
”If they play like this then Toro can definitely get something off Roma. I hope so, anyway.”
Roberto Mancini, who officially missed the post-match meeting with the media because he’d shouted himself hoarse on the touchline, made some unusual tactical decisions.
Most notably he fielded a very defensive 4-5-1 system for large portions of the game and substituted striker Mario Balotelli just 37 minutes in for winger Cesar.
“We took him off because, being very young, he was rather targeted. He risked a booking and it didn’t seem right. He was being provoked, was on a yellow card and so we preferred not to risk it.”
The performance was certainly a boost for Torino boss De Biasi, who only replaced Walter Novellino on Wednesday evening.
“I thank everyone for their compliments, which should be directed at the team and not to me, as they put in a wonderful game against the top of the class.
“The result may be negative, but the statistics show we did very well indeed. With a little more luck on some of our many scoring opportunities, we could be here discussing a different result.
“I have been here for three days and a half, so I just tried to give the team some confidence, working on the simple things and the pride of wearing a Toro jersey. It’s a shame we conceded that goal on a distraction.”
