Wednesday 13 March 2013 14:45, UK
Andrea Stramaccioni insists he does not feel he is on the verge of the sack - but he admits it will take a monumental effort to earn his side a morale-boosting passage to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Although Stramaccioni's priority is getting Inter back in to Europe's premier club competition, the way in which his side were blown away by Spurs last week cannot have helped his morale or that of his young squad. He rang the changes at the weekend following the Gareth Bale-inspired defeat in London, but the move backfired as Inter lost at home to Bologna, who have been on the fringes of the relegation zone for most of the season. Stramaccioni, who was a surprise choice to succeed Claudio Ranieri last March, has swung the axe again, with Alvaro Pereira, Dejan Stankovic, Ezequiel Schelotto, and Marco Benassi all excluded from the squad for Thursday's game against Andre Villas-Boas' men at the San Siro. Bale's absence due to suspension, and a number of injuries in the Tottenham squad, make the task of qualifying much easier, but Stramaccioni sounded doubtful about his chances of winning the tie. "We want to do well and honour (the competition), but we know our situation and our numbers are limited," said the Inter boss, who is without star duo Diego Milito and Walter Samuel through injury. "Football is strange... 3-0 is difficult to overturn, but we'll be taking to the field to win. "At the moment, we all know the importance of the 11 league games we have left, but our focus is on Tottenham because I and my players want to do well. "We want to do well in front of our fans and win the game, and then as far as qualifying for the next round is concerned, we'll have to see. "There's no point denying it - we're not playing well at present and it's up to me, as the coach, to find the way to give my players more security which they don't have."