Inter Milan coach Frank De Boer says his team simply were not ready for the start of the season, although he did not want to blame his predecessor Roberto Mancini for what he said was an insufficient physical condition.
The Nerazzurri lost their opening Serie A fixture 2-0 at Chievo on Sunday and De Boer lamented the condition his players were in, admitting they could not have done any more than they did.
"Our physical condition is a tricky question at the moment," De Boer told the club's official website. "We have to improve on it and the only way is by playing games and unfortunately we can only do that in matches where there are three points at stake every time.
"I can't blame the previous coach for this, we just have to address the situation immediately. We're disappointed. You always want three points and nobody was expecting this type of performance. We have a week ahead to improve on our fitness levels and how we play without the ball, another area where we struggled.
"You can't deny that it was a tough outing today, but we're just at the beginning and we can improve both in terms of our play and fitness-wise."
De Boer will be given the time he needs -- which he claimed could be up to four months -- to get the team playing according to his philosophy, with the club's new owner Jindong Zhang saying he has every faith in the Dutchman.
"We all believe in him, in his ideas and his philosophy," Zhang wrote in a message on Inter's website. "Just as we believe in the team, made up of key players with experience, some of whom have been playing here and others who have arrived this summer, attracted by Inter and ready to give their all."
Zhang added that he will be in Milan next weekend to attend their second game of the season at home to Palermo, having watched the Chievo defeat on television "with all the Suning staff as one big family."