Mancini puts Inter slump down to youth

Roberto Mancini is happy at Inter and believes their recent slump in form is natural given the number of young players within his team.

Inter were the early leaders in Serie A, but have fallen away and now sit 13 points behind leaders Juventus in fifth position.

The Milan club have won just three of their past 10 top-flight matches, but followed up a 3-0 victory over Juve in their Coppa Italia semi-final second leg – a result which was not enough to secure a place in the final – with a 3-1 triumph over Palermo last weekend.

Questions over Mancini's future at San Siro remain, but he is unconcerned by his side's situation and views it as part of the natural progression of a youthful, developing team.

"I always have incentives here because I like this job," the coach said.

"Everyone can do well or do poorly. We want the best for Inter, but of course the result ends up affecting all decisions.

"We were in the lead for many months. There was a peak in the first few months and then a drop in results due to errors that are part of the growth of a young team; [Jeison] Murillo, [Mauro] Icardi, [Jonathan] Biabiany, [Marcelo] Brozovic, [Geoffrey] Kondogbia are all very young players."

Mancini confirmed Brazil coach Dunga will be in attendance for Saturday's meeting with Bologna and they will discuss the availability of Miranda for the Copa America Centenario and Olympic Games this year.

"Dunga is coming here and we will have a chat. I don't know what Brazil's plans are, I'll speak with Miranda about his international call-up," he said.

"I think it's unlikely that Joao [Miranda] can play in both, he needs some holiday before the new season."

Mancini warned against complacency against Roberto Donadoni's team, who are unbeaten in five matches.

"We will have to be careful, Bologna will be a difficult game," he added. "We cannot think already to [the match against] Roma [on March 19]. Donadoni has done a great job and is a good coach."