Antonio Conte urged Inter fans to back his side and was disappointed to hear them whistle Friday's lacklustre 0-0 Serie A draw against Roma.
Juve can return to their familiar position by beating Lazio on Saturday and head coach Conte was keen to remind the Inter faithful that his men are punching above their weight by most reasonable measures.
"The fans must support us and help us, as they are doing, because it is a moment where we must make a virtue of their support," he told Sky Italia.
"I was sorry to hear a few whistles after wrong passages [of play]. This is not good, we need everyone.
"They must support us and they must not whistle at the first mistake.
"It is not easy to play at the San Siro, many of the boys are young, everyone needs help.
"I wanted to say this because I always want to protect the group. We must not become presumptuous, these kids must always be supported."
Instead of criticising his all-star forward line, Conte chose instead to credit Roma's stand-in goalkeeper Antonio Mirante.
"Yes [Lukaku and Martinez made mistakes], even if we also have to take into account Mirante's great game, which was the best on the field," he said.
"When we win, we draw and we lose, we do it all together. The midfielders also had the opportunity to score, not just the forwards.
"In the second half there was a good opportunity for Matias Vecino that Mirante deflected for a corner."
Conte added: "We had a good game and we are happy with what we produced. Unfortunately we have not finished, we must be more precise."
Inter welcome Barcelona for a crunch Champions League clash at the San Siro on Tuesday, as they need to match or better Dortmund's result against Slavia Prague to progress to the knockouts.
ficcdkorsu
459
I hate those idiots who expect someone to go from zero to hero overnight. Conte doesn't have the needed player to even rotate the main 11, he has done superbly considering what he has to work with. Seriously, I knew Conte would do great in Inter, but he has exceeded my expectations.
ManUtdRed
114
Conte is right here,I am sure most of the Inter fans like their players and are happy with how well their team have played this season,but some of their fans are just disgusting,how can u boo your players after just one bad game,and they were not playing team like Brescia it was Roma,a point against them isn't that bad.Entire team plays for the badge and players with bad attitude like Icardi have been removed,they have got a young squad who will make mistakes. I remember when some of their fans racially abused Koulibaly last season and their ultras defended Cagliari fans who racially abused their own player in Lukaku. I repeat I am not saying those small number of fans represent their whole club,but there are some issues in your fanbase