Inter coach Jose Mourinho was impressed with Palermo's fightback and backed Walter Zenga to replace him in the future.

Inter are now four points clear at the top of Serie A after beating Palermo 5-3 at San Siro on Thursday.

But a few nerves were jangled after Inter let slip a 4-0 lead and conceded three goals to Palermo before Diego Milito finally put the game to sleep with a goal in the 84th minute.

"Obviously I'm a bit worried and annoyed, as this game should've been over," said Mourinho according to football-italia.net.

"But sometimes the team loses focus and I don't believe that was the case."

"I prefer to say Palermo had a fantastic reaction, that Zenga thought he may as well lose by six or seven, so he'd go for it and see what happened."

Mourinho had already stated Zenga was his chosen heir on the Inter bench and reiterated that belief.

"I told Zenga to wait! I have a contract until 2013, he'll improve and grow during his career and when the time comes I'll recommend him to the President."

Mario Balotelli scored a brace, but also created controversy when he tried to stop Samuel Eto'o from taking the penalty and then walked off after feeling unwell.

"Balotelli was a bit unwell and had a high temperature. Afterwards I think he had some kind of allergic reaction to medication and so it was best to take him off.

"The penalty was not a problem, the incident was over, sorted out between themselves."