Cristian Chivu urges patience with new boys John Stones & Curtis Jones as Inter scrape past Cagliari

Inter made it two wins from two at the start of the new Serie A season, but the 1-0 victory over Cagliari was far from the comfortable afternoon Chivu had envisioned. The spotlight in the early weeks of the season has inevitably fallen on the club's marquee summer signings. Stones and Jones, arriving from Manchester City and Liverpool respectively, represent a significant shift in recruitment strategy. However, neither started the match in Sardinia, with Chivu opting to use them as second-half substitutes to help manage their fitness levels.

Chivu explained the rationale behind their staggered integration into the first team, highlighting the different styles of play they are currently navigating. "The new players have just arrived. Playing on certain pitches with a certain amount of pressure is their bread and butter," Chivu said. "However, Stones needs to regain his fitness, and Jones needs to adapt to our game . Their attitude is nothing to criticize; they're two exemplary players, and we're happy to have them."

The match also forced Chivu into several tactical improvisations, particularly in the defensive line. With injuries and fitness concerns affecting his selection, the coach had to move Benjamin Pavard into a wing-back role while slotting Yann Bisseck into the heart of the defense. It was a move born of necessity rather than design, and Chivu admitted that he would have preferred more personality and control in the closing stages.

Chivu reflected on the turnover during the transfer window as the club lost five key players and worked diligently to replace them with specific profiles. "Since [Andy] Diouf was showing signs of improvement, we ultimately chose a more defensive profile on the right wing. In midfield, we've been thinking about Curtis for a while now because of his personality, intensity, quality, and calmness. We have a midfield of great players; it's up to me to choose the best and make everyone happy," Chivu explained.

Hakan Calhanoglu continued his red-hot start to the campaign, sweeping home a brilliant first-time strike from the edge of the box after just nine minutes. While the Nerazzurri dominated large spells of the contest, they failed to convert their superiority into a more comfortable scoreline, leading to a frantic final few minutes where the home side threatened to snatch a draw. The manager was quick to point out that his side flirted with disaster by failing to be clinical in front of goal.

Chivu did not hold back in his assessment of the nervy ending. "These are your classic games where if you don’t kill them off, you can run into trouble. We were a bit disjointed in the final minutes, we got confused and lost our distance, but we held on," Chivu admitted.

"If there's one regret, it's not having closed the game out on the many chances we had, and then we were able to fight until the end . Given what we are at the moment, we leave Cagliari with a win, with a few more minutes for the players who arrived from the World Cup."

With six points already in the bag, Inter can afford to look ahead to their European commitments with a degree of confidence. The draw has handed them a mouth-watering clash against Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Inter boss is relishing the opportunity to test his new-look squad against the very best in the competition.

"We'll be playing in Madrid. We want to be competitive and we know more or less how many points we need to get to avoid making the playoffs," Chivu concluded.