Stramaccioni hails Inter mentality

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

The win moved Inter up to third in Serie A and the result never really looked in doubt after Diego Milito and Antonio Cassano had scored before the interval. Even when Romulo struck early in the second half, Inter kept coming at the visitors whose hopes of a point were firmly dashed when Gonzalo Rodriguez was sent off in the 62nd minute

"I think we won this by chipping away at the opposition's confidence. We bossed possession, we were aggressive and we showed the right mentality with three players up top who were a menace every time they got on the ball," Stramaccioni told Sky Sport Italia.

"When you're playing a direct rival, as we were tonight [Sunday], you must put away your chances when they come along because it's just too dangerous to leave the game open - you risk dropping points."

Inter were particularly ruthless against Fiorentina with two of their three pronged attack of Milito, Cassano and Philippe Coutinho on the score sheet.

"I can tell you that I've always believed in this team, even when we were struggling. I'm not talking so much about the Roma game but the three points we dropped against Siena. Still, at least that game helped us to reach rock bottom and grow from there - we understood that we had to work in a different way," Stramaccioni said.

"I think I could probably define tonight's [Sunday] game as the first one in which we've really played like Inter. We were strong and solid as a group."

In September, Inter slumped to two home defeats against Roma and Siena but Sunday's win over Fiorentina has lifted them to third in Serie A just four points behind Juventus and Napoli who are both on 16 points.