Inter left Rome with a point that Cristian Chivu viewed as valuable, but the coach made clear that the comeback from two goals down should not conceal the concerns behind another slow start.
Facing Roma in a city and stadium closely tied to his own playing past, Chivu watched his side fall 2-0 behind before producing a far stronger second-half response. He praised the character shown over the final stretch of a match that lasted 100 minutes, while insisting Inter must stop needing adversity before they reveal their best level.
Chivu values the response, not the opening
The Inter coach said the key was the reaction after the interval. Roma, he noted, are a major opponent and had shown the threat Inter expected from them during the first half. Yet he believed his players had to impose themselves from the first whistle rather than respond only after conceding.
“A game can run for 100 minutes and it has to be approached in the right way,” Chivu said. “You must take action, not simply react. We were up against a very good team.”
Asked why Inter had again gone two goals behind, Chivu declined to reveal the internal message delivered to the squad at half-time and during the week. He said the players knew his thoughts and hoped they had fully understood them.
He nevertheless took encouragement from the team’s second-half performance, highlighting its attitude, determination, quality and personality. Inter, in his view, showed more than they had in the early part of the season, even if there remain issues to address away from public discussion.
“It was a good point on a difficult ground,” he said. “The whole team could, and should, have done better. There is a lot to improve both when we have possession and when we do not.”
Work still needed without the ball
Chivu returned repeatedly to the need for improvement in the defensive phase. He rejected the idea that his side lacked aggression altogether, saying Inter do possess that quality, but cannot allow it to appear only once they are already chasing the game.
He stressed that responsibility extends across the team and that the balance between the two phases of play remains central to Inter’s work.
“In football there are two phases: with the ball and without it,” Chivu said. “We need to improve when we do not have the ball.”
The draw leaves Inter on 13 points at this stage of the campaign, a better return than at the equivalent point last season. Chivu also pointed to the weight of the fixtures already played, with matches against Napoli and Roma included among the early direct meetings.
For all the positives in Rome, however, he underlined that the season is still long and that the team has substantial work ahead.
Tribute to Sandro Mazzola
Chivu closed his post-match remarks by offering condolences to the family of Sandro Mazzola. He described the former Inter great as an icon of both the club and Italian football, and a figure whose standing reached far beyond Italy.
