Zanetti retains faith in Inter

FC Internazionale Milano captain Javier Zanetti is confident his team can bounce back from their opening-night defeat by Fenerbahçe SK with a strong performance against PSV Eindhoven on Tuesday.

'No excuses'
Deivid's solitary strike in Istanbul condemned the Nerazzurri on Matchday 1 and Zanetti knows a vast improvement is required if the Italian title-holders are to avoid making the same mistake as last season, when they lost their first two group games in the UEFA Champions League. "We didn't play well against Fenerbahçe for lots of reasons – but to give them would be making excuses," he said. "We don't want to make excuses, we just need to change the way we played that night."

Victory in Rome
On the positive side, Inter lead Serie A with 14 points from six matches and were buoyed by a fine 4-1 win at championship rivals AS Roma on Saturday. Zlatan Ibrahimović, playing the lone striker role, notched his seventh goal of the campaign before the Nerazzurri reverted to a 4-4-2 formation following the dismissal of Roma's Ludovic Giuly. Roberto Mancini's men scored again through substitutes Hernán Crespo and Julio Cruz, and defender Iván Córdoba.

System addicts
"Compared to the Fenerbahçe tie, we are much fitter and we have also found another system of playing in which we feel very comfortable," said the 34-year-old, who is expected to return to his old right-back berth. "We're a versatile side, capable of playing different tactics and changing the way we play at any given moment. It will be a very difficult game because Champions League matches are very different and it is very important for us to get a win – if we play like we did in Rome, we will."

'Right approach'
It is no secret that Inter have key personnel missing through suspension and injury, yet Zanetti insists that with the right mental approach they will climb off the bottom of Group G. The Argentinian international said: "Against Roma we had the right attitude. We wanted to win and despite the fact we were playing many people's favourites for the title, we won because of our mentality. We lost to Fenerbahçe because we played badly, pure and simple. Absences will naturally have an impact because we are down to the bare bones but there's nothing we can do about that. We have to live with it and show we have enough determination to overcome it."