Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti has sprung to the defense of Gian Piero Gasperini, calling for the under-fire coach to be given time to succeed.

Gasperini has made some radical changes since taking over at Inter in the summer, namely switching to a back three.

But it went horribly wrong on the opening weekend of the new Serie A season as his defense was at sixes and sevens in a 4-3 defeat at Palermo.

"That wasn't the start we expected," said Zanetti. "But first of all we have to stay calm and believe in our work.

"Obviously, there are things that need to be ironed out but we're all ready to do that.

"We have a coach with new ideas, everything's changed and we need time to develop what he's asking."

And Zanetti insisted that the panic surrounding Gasperini's tactics is misplaced.

"The coach is intelligent, he certainly isn't making his decision to ruin us, he's working with us," said the Argentine veteran.

"If after a few games things still aren't going well, I think Gasperini will change something.

"I can see in everyone the desire to make things right, I don't know how much time it will take but we're trying everything we can to make the coach's ideas work.

"Gasperini has a different idea about football, every coach has his own ideas and that's the way it should be.

"We hope to start doing what he's asking of us soon because on Wednesday we begin our first Champions League match and on Saturday we're playing Roma."