Mancini: “We were much better after the break. Kondogbia, Medel and Perisic…”

Inter head coach Roberto Mancini has commented on the 1-1 scoreline in the Stadio Luigi Ferraris that handed his side their first draw of the season.

"At the start, our own mistakes led to a couple of soft counter-attacks for Sampdoria. We were too slow and our movement was poor. We were much better after the break and perhaps we deserved to get the winner at the end."

"Nevertheless, they're a great squad and ultimately a draw is not a bad result. The important thing is that we finished the game on the front foot, which is a good sign. The guys put in a good performance today, especially in the second half when we opened up the play and grew stronger physically." 

Mancini then moved on to assess the individual performances from his players. "Ivan Perisic got in behind on numerous occasions, even though he started the game in a central position. He has the ability to do that job and he was fantastic today in the No.10 role."

"As for Kondogbia's substitution, I had originally planned to take Felipe Melo off, but Geoffrey picked up a knock and I was forced to substitute him instead. He will get better, he's still getting used to Italian football which is a lot more physical than in France. He's still learning to play on the side of a midfield three, where he has a lot less space than when he played in a classic central midfield."

"Gary Medel is doing really well in defence so far, but he will come in handy in midfield as well."