Inter have faith in Mancini - Zanetti

Inter vice-president Javier Zanetti has backed coach Roberto Mancini and is confident that he is steering the club in the right direction.

The Italian, who took the San Siro side to three consecutive Scudetti in his first spell at the helm, saw his club knocked off top spot in Serie A at the weekend.

Inter's 1-1 draw with Sampdoria enabled Fiorentina to move two points clear at the summit with a victory over Atalanta, but Zanetti is still pleased with their start to the season.

"We are a team that can improve even more and Mancini is doing a fantastic job," he told Radio Rai.

"We have a lot of faith in what Roberto is doing."

Having failed to qualify for Europe last season following Mancini's arrival in November 2014, Zanetti is hopeful of a more fruitful campaign this time around.

However, he did concede that the team needs time to gel following a number of new additions.

"It is proving to be a hotly-contested championship this year and it's too early to talk about the title. Our objective is to be back among the contenders," the former full-back added.

"I want us to fight until the very end, but we still have some growing to do as a team because there have been a lot of changes in the squad.

"When so many new faces arrive some of them need time to adapt and some have come from different leagues.

"We need to work together and when things don't go our way, we must keep our cool and trust in the work we are doing."