Inter v Frosinone: Medel determined to keep improving

Gary Medel has insisted Inter must continue to improve if they are to be successful in Serie A this season ahead of Sunday’s home game against Frosinone.

Roberto Mancini’s men have enjoyed a fine start to the 2015-16 campaign and heading into the weekend share top spot in the table with Fiorentina after 12 games, with both sides collecting 27 points so far.

Medel is not getting carried away just yet, though, and has told his team-mates there is still a long way to go before they can start thinking about the Scudetto.

“We still have to improve a lot,” Medel said at a media conference.

“We have a great team, but there is still a lot of work to do and there are many more games left in the league.”

Geoffrey Kondogbia, however, is optimistic about Inter’s chances of winning silverware this term. 

“The Scudetto? Yes, we can win the title. We have to work hard,” the Frenchman stated on Inter’s official Twitter account this week.

Inter have every reason to be confident heading into Sunday’s encounter as they have lost none of their last 22 games against a promoted team (16 wins, six draws), with their last defeat coming against Novara in 2011-12.

Additionally, the last time Inter were on top of the Serie A table after 12 games, they eventually won the Scudetto (2009-10).

Frosinone will not be pushovers, though, having scored two goals in four of their last seven league games. And Leonardo Blanchard is keen to spring a surprise. 

“I scored against Juventus [a 1-1 draw in September] and I now want to score against Inter as well,” the Frosinone defender told reporters.

Blanchard could face a tough task to beat Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic at San Siro, however.

Handanovic has a save ratio of 86.3 per cent this term, his best tally in a single Serie A season so far. 

Mauro Icardi’s disappointing form could prove to be a boost for Frosinone, though, as the striker has only averaged a goal every 72 ball touches in the league this term after averaging a goal every 46 touches in the last two seasons. 

Key Opta stats:

– These teams have never met before in Serie A or the Coppa Italia. 
– Inter have the highest percentage of foreign players used in the league this season (87 per cent, 20 out of 23).
– On the other hand, 75 per cent of Frosinone’s players used so far are Italian (18 of 24), a proportion inferior only to Sassuolo (87 per cent). 
– Mancini’s men have won seven games by 1-0 scoreline in the league this term – only three times have they won more games by that scoreline in a whole season.
– Frosinone have recorded a 8.9 per cent shot conversion rate, better only than Udinese (8.6 per cent) so far. 
– Samuele Longo made his Serie A debut for Inter back in May 2012: that was the Frosinone man’s only Serie A appearance with the Nerazzurri.