Luciano Spalletti Slams Inter Mentality After 4-1 Humbling Away to Atalanta

Luciano Spalletti was refreshingly blunt in his post-match comments following his team's 4-1 defeat to Atalanta at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia. 

The Nerazzurri entered the game on a seven game winning run in the league and fresh off a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in the Champions League, but were blown away in the second half of a thrilling game in Bergamo. 

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Spalletti, quoted by Football Italia, told DAZN following the game: "Unfortunately, we seem incapable of maintaining concentration for long periods.

"That means we give our opponents extra space and our lapses in focus. We take it too easily and when we’re up against a side that is this determined and well-organised, it all becomes more difficult."

Despite being pummelled in the first half, a Mauro Icardi penalty early in the second period levelled the match and gave Inter a lifeline – but only for 15 minutes, before Gianluca Mancini put Atalanta back ahead. 

Inter entered the game with the league's tightest defence, but fell apart under pressure on Sunday. Spalletti added: "The game was going in the direction we wanted after the equaliser, the direction we had hoped for from the start, but we lost too many individual duels and our positioning was all wrong.

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"Atalanta maintained a consistent approach from the start, but we pushed up through the middle and for a while either side could’ve won. Then we had another dip in concentration and Atalanta took advantage on set plays."

Inter now prepare to face Frosinone next weekend before facing rivals Roma and Juventus next in Serie A.