Conte sees Inter as favourites

by DeviAngel Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:59 pm

Juventus boss Antonio Conte has described Inter as favourites to win the Derby d’Italia on Saturday evening.

Juve have 16 points to Inter’s eight, but Conte is refusing to under-estimate a side which has dominated Italian football over the last five years.

“They are a strong side with a good backbone,” he stated. “They are still favourites for the game tomorrow and for the Scudetto.

“You can’t change the grid positions or alter your evaluations of teams until we get to the half-way point of the season…”

Inter have spent the week criticising the number of penalties being awarded against them, but Conte says he has just been focusing on his own side.

“I’m not interested in Inter’s protests, I’ve only been thinking about our problems in an effort to resolve them,” he added.

“The game against Inter will be a glamour tie against a great team, but at the end of the day it is still only worth three points.

“I’ve only had a few days to prepare for this game, but that’s fine. We’ll go there with the right tension.”

Conte refused to give anything away with regards to his plans for Juve’s starting XI, but he did compliment Mirko Vucinic.

“I’ll see how the last training sessions go to understand what decisions to make,” he said.

“Vucinic? I’m happy with him and I was content with how he, and the rest of the team, played against Fiorentina.

“The fact that he’s not scoring is only a marginal issue as I prefer an attacker to help the team. Then the collectiveness of a side will help an individual to flourish.

“I don’t get upset at missed chances, I get upset if a player is in the wrong frame of mind. Vucinic is doing great things and he’ll continue to do that.”