Inter-Fiorentina: the reality behind the fog

It was easy to predict they were waiting for our defeat. What is that quote? The higher they bring you, the deeper will be your fall. Ok, I can understand media, I can understand our oppositors and other teams' supporters but I don't think it's time to dramatize the last match against Fiorentina.
Or, at least, there are some aspects we should analyze but they aren't about our strenghts or our chance to win the Championship because we're still on the run for it.
THE PRESSING BY FIORENTINA: Sincerely, I have seen a match played for 30', maybe less and I haven't seen this "lesson" by Fiorentina. I have seen players that run more than ours, and if I add this to the Fiorentina's pre-season I can only imagine Paulo Sousa has athletically prepared his players to have a strong start on the season. Or, at least, you don't think Fiorentina is better than Barcellona.
I think the key of the match was the strong pressing that they made starting from the two strikers that used to attack our defensors. We weren't ready to take on this situation: Sousa must have watched some matches of us and he must have seen that we like to start the action from Handanovic to one of the two central defensors. Letting Kalinic or Ilicic pressing Miranda and Medel meant to cut our actions from the beginning.
Was this the "good soccer"? Yes it is, it's a good tactic but it's also a tactic you can do if you have a good energy in your legs and it's not normal to have this fuel in this moment of the season, at least you don't prepare the team to have a fall during the autumn and this would mean that Fiorentina will drop energies from next november, but this is another subject. What it's important to know is if Fiorentina didn't manage to score one or more goals could be a problem for them because they should have lost their energies on the second half.
So, we should resist for the whole first half, and focusing our efforts to the second half.
HANDANOVIC AND SO ON: We've talked about Fiorentina's match so far, but now it's time to write about Inter. Well, I've just wrote that we should resist in the first half but we didn't, moreover, we have played FOR Fiorentina and not AGAINST Fiorentina.
The mistake done by Handanovic after one minute with the following penalty was the best gift to Fiorentina because it allowed them to play exactly as they wanted: defense and pressing to our defensors to cut our actions from the beginning and, being on defense finding the counter-attack knowing that our physical condition is not optimal now.
Anyway, not happy with the Handanovic's mistake, we have continued with mistakes by Guarin and Kondogbia. Guarin didn't cover to Alonso and to any others on his side, and the same happened with Kondogbia: he should intercept or tackle the Ilicic's shot in the action of the second goal.
Little particular: have you seen how Kalicic flied to score the goal? Simply because of his condition, better than ours.
MANCINI: In the condition of 0-2 after 18' Mancini tried to change something defensively: he saw that our defense was suffering too much and he decided to renforce it sliding Perisic from the attack to the wide and Santon from the wide-back to the center. Defense with three defensor.
Little problem: Perisic isn't a wide and his defensive skills aren't as good as the offensive ones and wasn't a problem for Fiorentina's players attack from his side. Adding this to the fact that Santon can't play as central defensor because it's not his role and the 0-3 was easier than what expected.
0-3 after 23'. The 3-defensors system was a big mistake by Mancini that, if he really wanted to do it, should change Ranocchia or Juan for Palacio (at his age we should take him off this kind of matches).
THE LAST GIFT: Now, it was clear the match was finished after 23' but we decided to give another gift to them: the red card to Miranda. Playing in 10 players, after 30' meant that we could end the game in that moment because it was impossible for any team in the world to correct the match. Impossible because the Fiorentina put 10 players behind the line of the ball and because we don't have a physical condition acceptable in this moment (and this also explain the many matches won for 1-0). Yes, any team, including Barcellona that lost 1-4 against Celta Vigo: do you really think Celta Vigo is better than Barca? Of course not, but in this moment it's possible to see this kind of results.
THE FUTURE: Has the team that won 5 matches just disappeared? Of course not, we have done a suicide, but the future is clear. We must archive this match and trying to learn from this mistakes.
The "amazing soccer" of Fiorentina was a normal strategy on the pitch but it was helped by our fundamental mistakes. Without the mistakes by Handanovic, Guarin, Kondogbia, Perisic, Santon we will be able to take on this strategy, resist to it and defeat our oppositors. It's nothing special, but it isn't only if you don't score to yourself.

Sometime happes (c) Inter.it

The importance of being Felipe

Many things have happened since my last post (sorry, but my job has asked me for an additional work). It was the 19th of August and we had just sold Kovacic to Real Madrid; we were in the middle of a bad pre-season and a hard discussion about the confused ideas of Mancini (Too many new players? Too poor quality? Too little players? Too much money spent for Kondobgia? Will we be better than Milan or the new Napoli by Sarri? and so on...). 

Over the last 3, 4 weeks we have sold Hernanes as well, we have bought Perisic, Ljalic, Telles, Melo, and we have played and won the first three matches, we have understood that Mancini prefers everyone else to Ranocchia, and that Medel is a good player even if he should play as striker or goalkeeper.

Many bloggers and journalists have wrote about the new Inter, the different options Mancini has, and bla, bla, bla, but there is one particular point that I want to focus on. Now we are a team. Let me explain my idea of team.  

A team is composed by a group of people that use their abilities for achieving a goal. There are two opposite type of teams: the "Artistic with Creativity" ones and the "Strong with Personality" ones. Such as Atene and Sparta: both of them made the history even though they were completely different between them. If you prefer you could call this difference: Quality and Quantity.

The job of a leader is trying to create a team with some good components from both of these types, and it's exactly what Mancini tried to do in the last market session.

Last years we didn't have a bad team. We had artistic people such as Hernanes, Kovacic, Icardi, Palacio and others, and we also had strong people such as Juan, Medel, Guarin, and others. 

The problem was that on a scale rate from 1 (poor personality) to 10 (good personality) and 1(poor creativity) to 10 (good creativity) all of our players were around 5, the middle: no good artists, no good strong. They were the middle, in the average, in the mediocrity.

So, what did Mancini do last months? He bought players at the top of their abilities: Melo, Kondogbia, Murillo, Miranda (strong with personality) and Jovetic, Perisic, Ljalic (artistic with creativity). 

The results? Even players such as Juan, Guarin, Santon and Medel have took advantage from them. It's not been a case if Juan has played his best match since his arrival at Inter. It's not been a case if Medel has played better than Ranocchia or most of defensors in Italy. It's not been a case if Guarin has been finally crucial against Carpi (assist and penalty) and Milan (goal). 

Did they improve during the summer? No, they are improved thanks to the arrival of players with a strong personality. In particular Felipe Melo (top personality). Probably he has been the most important acquisition together with Jovetic (top creativity with good personality as well: the champion is the one that has a top creativity and a top personality, such as Messi or Ronaldo). 

Since his first match (the derby) he has put his strenght, his ambition, his anger, his ability to be the Boss of the midfield on the pitch. He came into the pitch with the eyes of the tiger, he knows what he wants, he wants to be the Boss and everyone will try to take him on will be cleaned away. 

His screams against Balotelli awoke his teammates: Juan, for example, was another person. The save against Luis Adriano was an action that seemed impossible for him until a couple of weeks ago (the problem of Juan has always been his concentration: he's a good defensor, but he's rarely concentrated for 90' and this brought him to make mistakes in positioning).

This is what Melo has brought to us: top personality (and also a bit of creativity). Melo and Jovetic are our real top players this year because this is what a top player does: he improves his teammates. Do you remember Luiz Rozario de Lima, called Ronaldo? He was the top player and thanks to him players as Taribo West and Francesco Moriero seemed top players as well. But they weren't. They were good only because of the presence of Ronaldo (and Simeone). 

So, let me paraphrase the title of a famous Oscar Wilde's book, because with a player such as Felipe Melo anything seems impossible. 

(c) Inter.it

The secret to be a top player

Kovacic has gone to Madrid. I say it at first: I'm fine with this decision for many reasons:

1) PRICE: It's impossible to refuse $35 plus bonus (if they confirm this amount of money). It's impossible because we aren't a healthy company and we are under the control of the Uefa and its Financial Fair Play according to it every company must be financed by itself. Currently, we can't finance ourselves so we need to increase our profits to cover all our debts and meanwhile we need to spend 0 euros during the transfer market. Until now we have spent a lot of milions and we needed to get some money back from sellings. We have sold some young players but it has not been enough and we need more cash. In this situation is impossible to refuse 35M.

The second reason is that currently Kovacic is a top player in potential. I mean, in his game we can see he will become a top player but at this moment he's not as good as any other normal player. He doesn't add anything and he probably pull something off. Have you seen the goal scored by Milan during the TIM cup? Kovacic had to be there, covering on Bertolacci, but he was somewhere else. If two expert coaches as Mazzarri and Mancini hasn't found the right position to him means that at this moment he's not as good as we need. Because we must win (= qualification to the next Champions' League) now.

Let's see the last years average rate performances: 

2014-2015: 5,84

2013-2014: 5,84

2012-2013: 6,04

These are numbers of a common player, not a big one. So, we have sold for 35M a player that will probably spend more of the next season on a bench or questioning: Is he really a top player? Currently not, he'll become one day. Maybe.

2) AGE: Now, let's go to analyze some features a bit deeper. Let's start with his age. Anyone says he's too young to be a top player. Ok, generally it's true because he is only 21 but we are talking about a top player and a top player is good at 30 as at 20. I'm not talking about Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo or other super players but also other normal players that became amazing over the following years. One could be Coutinho (now 23): when he arrived at Inter he was only 19 and he showed amazing skills and a good potential. He didn't play a lot only because he had players like Milito, Cassano, Eto'o, Pandev and so on, but if Coutinho had been at place of Kovacic he would have played every match and, let me say, he would have played much better than Kovacic. The age is not important: or you are a top player or you aren't. Well, I mean, I'm talking about the level of Di Maria, Ozil, Fabregas, this kind of players and at 21 years old everyone of these were already good players. Kovacic isn't. 

3) TACTICAL: Is he a midfielder? No, he's not. Is he a playmaker? No, he's not. Is he an attacker, a striker, a wide or a player that could play in one of the offensive roles? No, he's not. Or, at least, he is not at this moment. This is another important aspect fo being a top player. You can have a bit of confusion with your role when you play during your youth, but once you play in the First Team you must have understood which is your role on the pitch. Anyone has understood where Kovacic could play. The same, if we're talking about a top player he should have the power to change the game or, at last, he should have the power to give you the maximum result in a position, even if that position is the wide back. Kovacic can't assure nothing. At all. Which is his role? In Spain is different, positions aren't very important and maybe Kovacic will have the chance to play freely and he will probably excel, but not here, not in Italy where if you are a midfielders you must know how to defend and how to attack. Especially if you are a top player.

Let me give an example. Curently Gnoukouri is better than Kovacic because he knows his position and in that position he can improve himself. He could also change a bit his way of game playing on the side, but it doesn't matter. Gnoukouri can give you a better performance, and we are talking about a teenager of 18 years old. Is Gnoukouri better than Kovacic? I don't forecast the future, I can only see that currently Gnoukouri is much more useful than Kovaci.

4) PERSONALITY: There is one last aspect that a lot of people pretend to hide. The personality. If you analyzed the story of each top player we could see that the talent isn't enough. A good talent without a lot of suffering, workouts, determination is completely useless. We aren't in the 60s' when a player like George Best could have a popstar lifestyle and being an absolute champion on Sunday afternoon during the match. Actually is not possible. Look at the career of players like Balotelli, Adriano, and a lot of others that only focus on their talents. No, you must work everyday on your skills, on your problems, and every fall is a chance to improve yourself. 

If we could see the career of Bobo Vieri we see an outstanding star, an unbelievable striker. But if you look at that a bit deeper we could see that the first young Vieri wasn't so good, when he played for Juventus he wasn't the amazing striker as when he went to Lazio and Inter. Why? Simple. Because he worked a lot on his mistakes, on his body, on his skills. 

What is the difference between Cristiano Ronaldo, Bobo Vieri, Messi, other successful players and Kovacic? The fact that his last months haven't shown a big improvement than his first months at Inter. He doesn't seem to have the personality and the determination to be a top player. 

I don't know him personally, of course, so I can only talk about what I can see during the match, but he gives this image: it's like the student that knows he will be promoted because he is intelligent, and for this he doesn't study. The legend says that Einstein wasn't a good student but afterwards he has become the best scientist in the world. I think that Einstein wasn't good at school in those subjects he didn't like, but he was really curious in improving and studying in those he liked. And all of this work has brought him to be the genius he's been.

If Kovacic wants to become a top player, I guess he should work at first on his personality and then on his position on the field. Real Madrid is a big milestone on a carrier, but you must demonstrate you deserve the camiseta blanca, otherwise next summer we'll be here talking about a Kovacic sold for 5M to a smaller team.

Anyway, good luck Mateo!

(c) Inter.it

Why I am not worried. Moreover, why I think we are getting better

There is a strange vibe around our team along this summer. It looks like we are a confusing team, with no strategy, with a confused manager on the bench. The two derbies lost against Milan have brough the feeling we are far away from a good point. Is that true? My opinion is no, at all.
• MATCHES: Let's take a look of our pre-season matches.
Bayern Monaco, 0-1. We have played a good defensive match with a couple of good chance until we have played with out best players. Bayern scored the goal only when we changed the whole team (and with a positioning mistake by Juan).
Milan, 0-1. We have played with a team full of youngsters for 70' and Milan has never been really dangerous. Then it scored with an amazing goal (but a bit fortunate) by Mexes in a corner action. With out best players (for only 20') we didn't score, but we played much better than Milan.
Real Madrid, 0-3. It's been our best match for 20' playing at the same level with the Real, having some chances to score a goal, but then Cristiano Ronaldo and friends scored the first goal and the match changed at all.
Galatasaray, 0-1. Icardi, Palacio, Hernanes and others have had the chance to score a goal against a team that it's champion in its country. I guess it has been a good match by Inter, when only a goal has missed.
Bilbao, 2-0. We have seen a very good Inter, with an outstanding impact by Jovetic, at his debut with our shirt. I think this is the real Inter, even though there weren't some players that are going to arise our level.
Tim cup. Milan, 1-2. We started with a really strange tactical set by Mancini and apparently it was really strange, but not completely (after I'm going to explain it). For 30' we haven't managed to figure out the situation and Milan was completely full in control of the match. Afterwards, Mancini changed Brozovic for Hernanes changing the set up as well and everything has changed. The Brozovic goal, the second Brozovic chance by Brozovic saved on the line by Romagnoli, the goal scored by Nagatomo, the Kovacic chance in only 15'. Playing only 15' we could score 2 goals against.
Tim cup. Sassuolo, 0-1. We haven't played a good match, but it wasn't the real Inter. Schelotto, Manaj, Delgado aren't our best players and it's impossible to evaluate this match.

And now, let's go to see our rivals preseason matches:
JUVENTUS:
Dortmund, 0-2.
Lechia, 2-1
Marsiglia, 0-2
Lazio, 2-0
LAZIO:
Auronzo, 14-0
Cadore, 9-1
Vicenza, 0-1
Anderlecht, 1-3
Sigma, 2-3
Mainz, 0-3
Juve, 0-2
MILAN:
Alcione, 5-1
Legnano, 5-1
Lione, 1-2
Inter, 1-0
Real, 0-0
Bayern, 0-3
Tottenham, 0-1
Tim, Inter, 2-1
Tim, Sassuolo, 1-1
NAPOLI
Anaune, 8-0
Ferlapi Salò, 5-2
Cittadella, 5-1
Nizza, 2-3
Porto, 0-0
ROMA:
Gyirmot, 1-2
Real Madrid, 0-0
Manchester City, 2-2
Lisbona, 0-2
Barcellona, 0-3
Valencia, 3-1

I don't see 7-0 against big teams by our rivals. I see that each team is trying to do its best to find the right set up asap.
• TACTICAL SET UP: Mancini has always said that he wants to play with different systems. Getting the defense with 4 players we can have these modules:
4-4-2: we don't have any wings, so has tried a module with two attacking midfielders on the sides. During the TIM cup, Kovacic and Hernanes shouldn't play as common wings but they should start from the side for going to the center. If you remember the first Mancini did the same with Emre and Veron. In the 2004, we played with this team:
Zanetti-Burdisso-Materazzi-Favalli
Veron-Cambiasso-Davids-Emre (Stankovic)
Neither Emre and Veron were wings but they started from those positions to go to the center and becoming dangerous with their fantasy. So, the idea wasn't bad, the problem is that unfortunately both Kovacic and Hernanes aren't good players, currently they are half players and it's not possible to ask them to play as Veron or Emre/Stankovic. Anyway, I guess we'll see again this system, but only when we will have Perisic on a side and a Guarin/Brozovic/Kovacic on the other side.
4-3-1-2: I don't think Mancini likes this system but it could be the best to support an offensive set up. Kondogbia and Medel on the side and Kovacic in the middle could be a solution, but not only because we also have players like Brozovic, Guarin, Gnoukoury, Hernanes that can play in these position. These players could also play as attacking midfielder, especially Kovacic that is still searching his best position (I hope it is ahead of the defense).
4-2-3-1: It's the module Mancini prefers, and I think it's the best one, because it becomes a 4-5-1 on the defensive phase and a 4-3-3 in the attack one. Salah would have been the better to play with Perisic and Icardi, but he's gone to Rome and now we have Jovetic that is not a wing, but he could play there.

At last, I guess we haven't seen the full potential of players like Brozovic and Kovacic and I guess that over the next season we will see the explosion of these two players, especially by Brozovic that could really become our new Stankovic. Waiting for the physical improvement by Gnoukoury (this is why Mancini wants an elderly in that position), I think we have the right players to do a good season.
We only need a new left wide back (it's not possible to see Juan over there) and an attacker like Perisic, one that cold play in attack and on the side, one like David Silva, or Pedro, or Eto'o. We need an attacker like this.

I believe in the Inter that Mancini is jellying day after day. I'm trustful. It's only August, and I want to remind you that last October people wanted to sack Pioli as Lazio's manager because of an horrible start in the season: he has arrived on the third position. So, let's give the right time to Mancini and to this Inter, we have all the prerequisite to do an amazing season.

(c) Inter.it

Inter-Bilbao: what we have learnt

Inter-Athletic Bilbao has been a good demonstration on the real job Roberto Mancini is doing this summer. A tactical job, yes, a work on players' mentality, of course, but first of all he has revolutionated the type of players.
If we go to see the single performances we can divide players in three categories: good performances, medium, and bad performances.
GOOD PERFORMANCES: Miranda, Murillo, Gnoukori, Jovetic.
MEDIUM PERFORMANCES: Santon (good in particular in the first half), Brozovic, Nagatomo (in a new role), Juan, Medel, Montoya, Palacio.
POOR PERFORMANCES: Guarin, Ranocchia, Icardi (goal a part he hasn't played a good match, but it's not his standard).

It's not casual the fact that the best players are those that Mancini has decided to buy this summer (or last January as Brozovic and Santon). He's creating a new team with new players, better ones, and this is what we really needed.
You can change managers, training systems, tactical modules, but players like Guarin or Ranocchia will continue to be confused on the field. Let me add even Juan that was the main reason of most of goals we suffered last season because of his problems in positioning and concentration (and only this summer: Bayern's goal was caused by Juan).
Not only, last three years we had players that didn't have good quality in their feet, but Mancini has immediately begun to find players with good feet and the level of our soccer has improved.
If you play with Miranda-Murillo instead of Ranocchia-Juan the team performance is going to improve. And I could continue talking about the big changes we are having in terms of new players, but I think that last season we had big problems in the defense because of Guarin, Ranocchia and Juan and just changing these players will be a huge improvement.

Now, we have a last problem: the left wide back. It's not possible to see Juan in that position, because there we need someone that knows how to defense and when to attack supporting the offensive phase. We need someone that knows how to do a tactical diagonal, and how to maintain his position instead of being everywhere but in the place he must be.
I hope Juan should be sold, but there is a reason if Marquinhos, Romagnoli or other young defensors have huge appraisals and Juan and Ranocchia are players than nobody wants: the reason is on their performances. Unfortunately. Managers, especially abroad, are willing to spend milions of pounds or euros for good players, and Juan and Ranocchia aren't. Unfortunately.

Anyway, the Mancini's therapy is only at its first step, and we'll need to accomplish our goal (qualification to the next Champions' League competition) to have a further step (buying even better players), but we have a certainty: the music has changed, and we have the sensation that we've got back our loved Inter.

(c) Inter.it

The role of 25 players in the team. My idea

25 players with more than 21 years old for each team. This is the rule that the Italian soccer federation has ordered to all teams, and this has caused a big problem because a lot of teams must play many players before the end of the market session.

The rule is even stronger. Every team can have 25 players of more than 21 years old, and 4 of these must have been formed by another Italian team: when we was young (15-21 years old) he should have played in Italy for at least 36 months. Furthermore, other 4 players of the 25 must have been formed by the same team.

Summing up, 17 players can come from wherever you want (group A), 4 must have played in Italy (no matter the team) when they were 15-21 years old (group B), 4 players must have played with the actual team when they were 15-21 years old (group C).

So, let's trying to understand the current situation at Inter.

GOALKEEPER

Handanovich: 31 years old (A: 1/17)

Carrizo: 31 years old (A: 2/17)

Berni: 32 years old  (C: 1/4)

DEFENDERS

Jesus: 24 years old (A: 3/17)

Andreolli: 29 years old (C: 2/4)

Montoya: 24 years old (A: 4/17)

Vidic: 34 years old (A: 5/17)

Santon: 24 years old (C: 3/4)

Dodo: 23 years old (A: 6/17)

Ranocchia: 27 years old (B: 1/4)

Murillo: 23 years old (A: 7/17)

Miranda: 31 years old (A: 8/17)

D'Ambrosio: 27 years old (B: 2/4)

Nagatomo: 29 years old (A: 9/17)

MIDFIELDERS

Kondogbia: 22 years old (A: 10/17)

Kovacic: 21 years old (C: 4/4)

Guarin: 29 years old (A: 11/17)

Medel: 28 years old (A: 12/17)

Brozovic: 22 years old (A: 13/17)

Hernanes: 30 years old (A: 14/17)

STRIKERS

Palacio: 33 years old (A: 15/17)

Icardi: 22 years old (B: 3/4)

Biabiany: 27 years old (C: 5/4)

Jovetic: 25 years old (A: 16/17)

Shaqiri: 24 years old (A: 17/17)

This is the situation according to the official website. We have 17 players in the group A, 3 in the  group B (but we should understand the Jovetic's status), and 5 in the group C (Kovacic has played for 3 years and he arrived when he was 18 years old).

So, we have at least 1 player to sell, but the Vidic's injury put it aside the list and probably we'll sell Andreolli, Juan (let's hope), Nagatomo, D'Ambrosio, Shaqiri, and Dodò (loan). (I don't consider Schelotto as well that is already out of the team).

If we sold these 5 players, we'd have space for Melo, a left wide back and another attacker (Perisic or someone else). 

Our situation is not so dramatic, considering the fact that this market session will last for another month, more or less.

(c) Inter.it

Preseason matches. Get 'em for what they are

Reading everywhere I find people worried for this summer preseason matches. 'We haven't scored a goal', 'we have lost with everyone', 'we don't play well' and 'Mancini is a bad manager because he isn't figuring out our situation'.

I could understand if these complaints arrived from some supporters because we have one of the most demanding supporters in Italy, but I'm really hard to understand why journalists, former soccer players and other experts don't say the reality. That is just one: the preason matches are useful only for mixing up every part of the puzzle (every player is like a piece of a team that is like a puzzle to be composed) in order to find the right set up for the future.
If we don't experiment at this moment when results are not important, so when?
If we don't try something new, if we don't try players in other roles or zone of the field where they could act better, so when?
If we don't try with any pressure some actions learnt during the training sessions, so when?

I'm not worried. I understand what Mancini is doing.
Last year he got a bunch of players chosen by Mazzarri and that Inter was based on one idea of soccer: a big defence with at least seven defensive players (Ranocchia, Vidic, Juan, D'Ambrosio, Nagatomo, Medel, M'Vila) leaving the commit to attack to the other three offensive players (Hernanes, Icardi, Palacio, Guarin, Kovacic and so on). The focus was on the defence, on the fact that we had to pay attention on our oppositors than trying to score a goal more than the others. This could be a good system if you have players like Cavani, Lavezzi, Hamsik, or Ibrahimovic, but what if you have players like Hernanes and Kovacic that still have to understand their positions, Icardi that was only a good striker (not like now that is a total forward), and the worst Palacio of last years? With no quality in the midfield and with no good wide backs (Dodo and Jonathan were embarassing players, Nagatomo has been injured for the whole year and D'Ambrosio should "learn" how to play for Mazzarri) how could we have a good game? The results were what we saw until december.

Since his arrival Mancini has tried to change the mentality, bringing the desire to score a goal, trying to improve players skills. Players like Palacio, Medel, Icardi, Hernanes have improved their soccer, but it wasn't enough. We needed something more, we needed strong players with rock bodies and fine minds. We also needed better players, and it's easy to see that we have improved:
Jonathan --> Montoya
Ranocchia --> Miranda
Juan --> Murillo
Nagatomo --> Santon or someone else
Medel (as director) --> Kovacic
Kuzmanovic --> Kondogbia
Osvaldo --> Jovetic
Don't you think we have improved? The others are the same: Brozovic, Guarin, Palacio, Icardi, Hernanes, Shaqiri, Kovacic, Handanovic. At last, let me add guys such as Gnoukouri and Biabiany that will play a good role in the next season.
I think we have done a huge step forward, but we need time. It's not easy, we need time to set up everything, every honest expert can say this.

According to the our past preasons we can see that:
2006/2007: Lost against: Milan, Juventus, Napoli, Tottenhem. Won against: Alto Adige (2-1), Porto, Maiorca (1-0). Draw against: Monaco, Aja, Watford, Sporting Lisbona.
At the end of the year we won the Scudetto with a record number of points.
2007/2008: Lost against: Valencia, Arsenal, Aston Villa, AZ Alkmaar, Barcellona (0-5). WOn against: Cina Olimpica, Man Utd, Napoli, Juventus, Milan.
At the end of the year: Scudetto
2008/2009: Lost against: Juventus, Milan. Won against: Al Hilal (1-0), Bari, Bayern, Ajax, Benfica. Draw against: Siviglia.
At the end: Scudetto
2009/2010: Lost against: Chelsea, Club America. Won against: Milan, Monaco, Bahrein (1-0). Draw against: UCLA College (2-2), Juventus
At the end: The Triplete

These are the preseason matches of an Inter that was destined to win everything.
I prefer to lose now and winning afterwards than the opposite. Moreover, we should understand against who we have lost: Bayern Monaco (with a goal scored thanks to the usual error in positioning by Juan), Real Madrid, Milan (with an impossible goal by Mexes and with our youngsters for more than one hour on the field) and Galatasaray.
This time last year we won against Roma and Real Madrid, and all of experts talked about a good Inter gelled by Mazzarri. Then we know how it finished.
So, please Mancini, do every experiments you want and let th others talk just to sell some copies of their newspapers feeding supporters that see a doom in every aspect of their lives.

(c) Inter.it

Market strategy

In this moment if the year the top players are journalists and press agents because supporters need to dream with some names and inside the media there are a lot of journalist whose jobs is coming up with some "scoop". It doesn't matter if it's a fake news and if most of them are rumored by teams' press agents to improve the image of the club and selling tickets and merchandising for the next season. And everybody knows people need a dream, an idea in his mind, to convince him to buy.

Anyway, we've just passed these weeks reading of how magnificent Is AC Milan and of how many refuses Inter has received from top players.

Now things are clearer, and we can see that Milan hasn't bought anybody so far and we aren't buy 10 players.

Because we don't need them.

As I wrote before, we need two new central defensor and at least one wideback.

And infact we are buying Murillo, Miranda and Zukanovic.

Then, we need a director in the midfield, someone who knows how to filter defensively and direct the flow on the attack.

And we are buying Imbula or Kondogbia.

At the end we'd need a new attacker, maybe someone that could play on the side.

That's why we are thinking about Cuadrado or Salah.

Stop.

With these players we could easily fight for the second/third position. We forget we have players as Shaqiri, Hernanes, Icardi, Handanovic, Brozovic, Kovacic, Medel, Guarin. And Mancini.

Ecentually we must consider today it's the 17th of June and the market will close on the end of August: two months in which everything could happens.

Why we don't need a lot of players

I guess everyone of us has in his eyes what kind of players AC Milan is about to buy, on the other hand everyone of us has in his eyes our terrible last season.

But...

But there is a bigdifference between our and their seasons.

With Mancini we have changed our games and we have played a good soccer even without Shaqiri (he's a top player), Santon (he's our best wing), a good midfielder in the middle (Medel can't start the action) and, moreover, without a defense. We have lost a lot of point for mistakes of Ranocchia and Juan, without them our position could be much better.

Our situation isn't so desperate.

Starting from the top.

GOALKEEPER: if we confirmed Handanovic, we'd have a top player here. Good.

DEFENSE: it's the sector we must reinvent. We need the best Vidic and a new defensor beside him. Maybe if this is fast. We have bought Murillo and the couple Vidic-Murillo is much more better than the Ranocchia-Juan one. 

On the wings. Santon is ok, so we need a new player on the other side (D'Ambrosio could be fine, but we'd need someone better with him on the bench with Nagatomo). It'd be the best if this could also play in the middle (one as Chivu used to be).

Sellings: Andreolli, Juan or Ranocchia, Campagnaro, Jonatan

MIDFIELD: it depends on the tactic Mancini wants to use. 4-2-3-1? 4-3-3? 4-4-2? Anyway, we need a player that knows how to manage situations, start new actions, a director. Touré? Motta?Kondogbia? I don't kowbut we need this kind of players because we already have who could run for two (Medel), a jolly (Brozovic, Guarin and Kovacic).

ATTACK: we have found back Hernanes, Shaqiri is a top player that we have seen only rarely, Palacio will be phisically fine without the World Cup, Icardi is a sniper.

Probabily we need someone to replace Palacio and Icardi.

Eventually we'd need a new defensor, a top player in the middle and a good attacker (a wing for the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3). Stop. Everything we'll buy more, or better, is welcome, but this is the minimum we really need.

Handanovic

X - Vidic - MURILLO - Santon

X - Medel (Guarin, Brozovic)

Shaqiri - Hernanes - Palacio (X)

Icardi

Give this team to Mancini, avoid the mistakes of positioning and marking of Juan and Ranocchia and we'll be anle to fight to enter in the Champion's League.

We don't forget that we are in Italy where Lazio has arrived in the third position with players like Parolo, Djordevic, de Vriji etc., players that we'd consider as a failure.

We already have good players as Guarin, Hernanes, Vidic, Shaqiri, Santon, Handanovic, Icardi, Palacio, Brozovic. Waiting for the real Kovacic...

The next Serie A at today

Writing about the new Serie A the 10th of June could be crazy because the market will close at the end of August, but let's play to imagine what could be the next Serie A at the moment.
JUVENTUS: It starts from the final of the Champions' League and from the victories in Coppa Italia and Campionato, but it has also bought two good players as Dybala and Khedira.
Probabily they will lose Tevez and Pogba, but they will be sold for a lot of milions of euros and those milions will be used to buy new fantastic players, maybe even better than these two. Naingolaan, for example, could cover easily the hole let by Pogba.
MILAN: It comes from two dramatic seasons and it needs to rebuild the team completely. Galliani is starting from the attack and his idea is to buy Ibrahimovic and Jackson Martinez. Then he'll have to buy someone else in the midfield because it can't continue with Montolivo, De Jong, Poli, Muntari, but behind Mr. Bee there is Doyen sports that takes care of interests for many good players. One of these is Kondogbia, and he'll be perfect for Milan. Something good must be done also in the defense because it's impossible to continue with Bonera, Mexes and so on, but Galliani has finally a lot of money to spend and I'm sure he'll build a good team.
LAZIO: It's always a mistery, but it starts from a good team built by Stefano Pioli month after month. I don't know which kind of players Tare could buy, it's too soon. Probabily Lotito is going to wait to know if Lazio will participate to the next Champion's League or not.
ROME: The feeling is that the environment is about to explode, and the possible loss of Naingolaan could be a good shock against the chance to stay for Garcia. Sabatini must do much more better than how it did last two market sessions. Last summer he spent a lot of money to buy Iturbe and on the last session he spent money to buy Ibarbo and Doumbia, players too poor to improve the situation of a team that has arrived second for two seasons.
INTER: We only have a true: Roberto Mancini is the guy who created the team that won everything on the last decade. Thanks to him we bought players as Maicon, Julio Cesar, Maxwell, Cambiasso, and so on, so he knows how to come back to the victory. The problem is that he'd like to buy top players but these cost too much or are happy where they star.
Yayà Touré? No, thank you.
Kondogbia? Too expensive and if must move he will go to AC Milan.
Kolarov? Too expensive.
Benatia? Too expensive.
And so on.
At now we only have Murillo that we don't know, but he can't be worse than Juan Jesus so it's already an improvement.
The breaking news today is our interested for Perisic of Wolfsburg, but I know that nobody really believes on this.

Juventus has already completed his market and it's stronger than before.
Milan is negotiating a lot of top players thanks to Mr. Bee's money.
Rome, Inter and Lazio are in confusion, or, maybe, are "Under construction".
Cross fingered!

Milan and Mr. Bee

I've lived the news about the acquisition of a minority part of the property of AC Milan quietly. I think a good competition requires good competitors and if Juventus has found in the new Stadium a good source of resources while Inter and Rome are trying to improve their brands with a new economic approach, it's good that Milan and Silvio Berlusconi have found a new partner to make more competitive their team.
That's only a few things that aren't clear on me.

1) The Milan value
Every newspaper in Italy talk about sums of money as if we lived in a world with only one currency.
According to Forbes (1) the value of Milan is $775M.
According to some newspaper (2) the 48% of Milan has been sold for €480M.
This only means that Berlusconi is a financial master and Mr. Bee and his partners aren't so smart as they think. Why? With the actual currency rate, 775 milions of dollars are around 687 milions of euros. While 480 milions of euros are around 541 milions of dollars.
This means that, according to Forbes, the value for the 48% of Milan is about $372M (329 milions of euros). Paying €480M Mr. Bee and his partner have paid the 48% more than the real value of the company.

2) Thinking as an investor
Financially speaking there are other simple questions: AC Milan has a revenue of €250M (and without the Champions' League is possible that this amount will drop), a percentage of debt/value of 44%, it needs frequent ricapitalizations and, furthermore, it doesn't have its own Stadium. Thinking as an investor, why should I pay an huge amount of money, moreover paying the 48% more than the real financial value, to have the minority in the company?
Let's imagine we are in the boardroom and we must take a decision for improve the incomes.
I have just invested €480M and I think we must organize a tour in China with the first team on Christmas, beacuse with this act AC Milan could improve the prestige of its brand and could sell a lot of merchandising and I could earn a lot of money with some satellite activities, but in the boardroom Berlusconi stops my idea because he doesn't like it. Is that possible? Yes, it is.

Carlo Festa (3), a "Sole24ore" journalist, wrote something similar: «The only reason I found is that in the contract exists some put call options to put Mr. Bee in the majority in one year. Without this provision, 480M spent to buy the 48% of Milan doesn't make any sense, financially speaking».

3) Why Milan?
In this particular moment, a lot of big society can be bought with less than €480M. I mean, the 100% of them. According to Forbes, we can see that teams like Inter, Atletico de Madrid, Napoli, Galatasaray have a value lower than that sum, but a lot of other teams aren't in the list (there are only the 20 richest companies) and they can be easily bought. So, why do Milan? Why in this moment when the economical situation is very bad and its prestige is getting back to the time before Berlusconi?

Anyway, these are just some questions and Andrea Agnelli, President of Juventus, has shown the some doubts (4): «We read impressive numbers, but we don't know if they are real, and when I see the numbers in the balance sheets I can't see a correspondence with that number».
In the world of business investors make their analysis before proceeding with an acquisition of with a merge so I think this is only the first step towards something that now it's difficult to see if we are not one of them. For the moment, good for Milan supporters because will see good players playing with the rossoneri shirt, and good for the Serie A as well because another competition as the last year isn't desiderable.
We need more stronger competitors to make the Serie A league stronger against the Premier League and the League and investors as Mr. Bee are welcome.

If the agreement with Mr. Bee is real we must admit that this man is a master.

Sources:
(1) http://www.forbes.com/teams/ac-milan/
(2) http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Serie-A/Milan/05-06-2015/milan-blitz-notturno-ad-arcore-mr-bee-ma-silvio-ha-detto-no-offerta-12046027175.shtml
(3) http://carlofesta.blog.ilsole24ore.com/2015/06/07/le-tante-domande-senza-risposta-dellaccordo-bee-berlusconi-sul-milan-e-quei-480-milioni-in-cerca-dautore/
(4) http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Serie-A/Juventus/08-06-2015/agnelli-juve-straordinaria-noi-finali-champions-ci-arriviamo-12080838134.shtml

Handanovic and his request to move

Today we have lost the match against Juventus because of a stupid mistake by Handanovic. One minute later Palacio and Icardi have been the chance to score a goal finding a super Storari along on their way.
A stupid act of our goalkeeper and a goal for them. A good safe of their goalkeeper and zero goal for us. It's strange to say, knowing the real value of the two goalkeepers, but today Handanovic has been our problem, Storari has been their man of match (I think more than Morata).
Anyway, today we haven't lost because Juventus has shown up it's stronger, we've just lost because our shots hit the bar (Shaqiri), the referee (Brozovic goal was good) and a super Storari. Meanwhile we have found Handanovic on his worst match since his arrival at Inter.
It doesn't matter, it could happen.
Fortunately the today match was good only for statistics and not for something else. Or, maybe, did someone expect to earn the qualification for the Europa League this year?
So, now we'll have to win against Genoa and Empoli only to arrive in the first 8 teams and then thinking of the market because that one will be the first step of our renaissance.

On the next market, we'll have to be courageous and saying goodbye to Handanovic. Not because of today's mistake, but because he wants to play in a stronger team (good for him, it's the same desire Ibrahimovic when he moved to Barcelona and we won the Triplete) and he's one of the players we can easily replace with someone else. Cech? Neto? Bardi? I don't know now, but I know that he's one of the best goalkeepers in Italy (how many points we have earned thanks to his saves?) and we could earn a lot of money from his selling.
And Storari has shown up that you can have a normal goalkeeper, if you have good defensors and good midfielders.

Does he want a new contract? It shouldn't be a problem, we don't need him, we need money to buy stronger players for other roles, so thank you Handa, thank you for having spent the best part of your career in the worst moment of our story, but now it's time to say goodbye, and the mistake you've done today is like a little pill to smooth your goodbye.

@Inter.it

Derby's vote

Handanovich, nv: There were 70,000 supporters plus one at Meazza Stadium. Maybe yesterday was the kind of match he expected to face when he signed for us.

Juan, 5: He's not a wing defensor and we've had another opportunity to find out. No offensive phase (even when he could cross he chose to pass back) and also bad defensive phase (Milan's only few attacks came from his side). Furthermore, I'd like to say that yesterday he didn't do any important mistakes but see again the Milan's goal and look at him: who is he marking? Himself?

Vidic, 7: Even though he has played against none, he has showed up the fact that he's our best defensor. Punctual, focused, clear and even Ranocchia has benefitted. Captain.

Ranocchia, 6.5: He hasn't the personality for being our leader and he needs a good partner to play well. With Juan he plays bad, with Vidic he plays well. 

D'Ambrosio, 6: He isn't Maicon so we can't expect a lot from him, but something more than the simplest things yes.

Gnoukori, 7: No fear for his debut in the most important match of the year. Impressive, focused, good for a debutant. He gives the impression that he only wants to play, the environment isn't important. A potential good player in two years (he must improve his body).

Medel, 7: We can't think of him as Pirlo or Xavi but he has had the merit to let the middle line up. Important.

Kovacic, 5/7: His double vote is simple to explain. 5 if we consider him a player with more than 100 matches among professionists because he hasn't played well, not at all. 7 if we consider him a youngster at his first important match, as Gnoukori (by comparing them, Gnou has played better).

Hernanes, 6.5: He's lke a lamp that doesn't work very well: one moment the lamp is on, then it's off for 10 minutes. However he shows he can be something different in the future.

Icardi, 6: A bit under his normal standard but always dangerous.

Palacio, 6.5: Nothing crucial, but the sensation is the good player we used to see is coming back.

Shaqiri, 6.5: Maybe he's passing a little flexion but with him on the pitch (and Hernanes in the middle and Kovacic on the bench) we have played much more offensive and dangerously. We must play with him.

Obi, nv: Nothing special.

Before the derby

Handanovich

D'Ambrosio, Ranocchia, Vidic, Juan

Kovacic, Medel, Gnoukori

Hernanes

Icardi, Palacio

These are the 11 players that are about to play the derby. Has Mancini done the right choices?

I really hope, but I can't notice that he has given the midfield's keys to Milan because they have more physical player in the middle: De Jong, Poli, Van Ginkel could lead over there. 

I'm not even sure that two young players as Kova and Gnou could protect our defense. Ok, Guarin can't do it as well, but at least he has a strong body.

I hope Mancini knows what he's doing because tonight we must win, not for the table or for a place in the Europe League but for our morale, our self-esteem, our objectives.

I'm afraid Mancini has given a present to Inzaghi, exactly what as he did against Wolfsburg when he put Juan in the middle knowing that he was our weakpoint. That mistake cost our elimination.

Let's hope...

Anyway, go Kova! Go Gnou!!!

Go Inter!!!!!

It was so simple...

I must think that Verona is our perfect victim. Even in our worst moment under Mazzarri's guide we beat it so I should think that they are like a medicin for us.

We played a good match, nothing special, just a normal match transformed into a good one only because Juan didn't do his usual fatal mistake (how have we improved our defence since Mancini put Juan on the wing and not in the middle? As I've always written, every other defensor we got is better than him) and because we played a bit more dinamically, physically and mindly.

With Juan in the middle of the defense we used to start from a 0-1 or 0-2 and it's difficult to win if your oppositors take advantage from your weak side and score goals. 

A better defence, Palacio at the 50% of his standard and we seemed a good team.

Furthermore, another difference with the match against Parma was the way we approached at the match. Not just as 'we're stronger, you're poor, so we're going to win easily' but we put something more on the pitch. The hearth? No, just our running. You can be the best player but if you don't run you can lose against everybody.

Is it enough to climb some positions? I guess so... I hope so.

@Inter.it

Moratti or not Moratti, this is the dilemma

The latest news refers to a possible comeback of Massimo Moratti as Inter's President. He'd have the idea to find tons of euros to get back that 70% he sold to Thohir only 14 months ago. The method would be simple: asking 1,000 euros to almost 30,000 supporters, every year. Alongside he'd ask a loan to some banks in order to repay what Thohir has put in the club.

At least, this is what some Italian newspapers write on. I guess the reality is very different for some reasons:

- selling an asset of you business for 100 and then buying it back for 150 (Thohir hasn't given money for free, he's negotiated an interest rate) is a foolish financial operations;

- no Banks will borrow 200/300 billions into Inter's company, because if someone could be interested on it, probabily it'd have already done it;

- Thohir wants to expand his business and his fame (and of Indonesians') in the Europe market and Inter is his vehicle.

Anyway, the point is: do we really want him back? Putting a part the Mancini and Mourinho's era is impossible to forget what Moratti has done for Inter.

Disastrous market players, unexperted managers, wrong choices, normal players considered and payed as top players (Recoba...), a financial management that almost brought us to the hell... 

We started to win when he gave white paper to Mancini and Mourinho walking himself out. A part the decisions to hire Mancini and Mourinho he managed the club as his own toy and not as a company.

Actually we need a company style and Thohir is the right person at the right moment. I like his business plan, I like the fact that he has hired manager from other top team and not from his family (like Milly Moratti as our Creative manager), I like his ideas. I like the idea that we're becoming less milanese but more Internazionale.

@Inter.it

Chasing Mateo

When Mateo Kovacic arrived was one if those day in January when winter shows his strenght. He was just something more than a teenager but few days before Snejder had been sold and the t-shirt number ten was given to this young boy from Croatia. He had good reviews from international critics and he was considered a potential future champion. In those four months he played in every position in the midfield and he wasn't bad but he was helpes by two facts: Stramaccioni relied on him and that Inter had a really poor quality that he managed to stand up.

When Mazzari arrived sonething changed for Kovacic. Mazzarri didn't have/didn't want big quality in the middle and thought to transform Kova into a copy of Hamsik. After one year and half this experiment was abandoned because Kovacic has a different game style and because of the sacking of Mazzarri. Since the arrival of Mancini, a trainer that loves high talented players with good quality, everyone thought it could be a new beginning for him but Mancini has suddenly started to play with the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-3.

Kovacic has become confused and with the arrival of Brozovic and Shaqiri and the growth of Guarin hr has lost the touch with the field.

Chasing Kovacic, where is he?

I guess he has five big problems: once he will fix them up he'll be a top player.

1) The shoot skill

A player like him should score at least 10 goals a year but for scoring so much he should shoots at list 4 or 5 times more, but Kovacic shoots just once or twice every two matches.

He should be trained on this.

2) His role on the pitch

Which is his role? As Pirlo? As Iniesta? As Pogba or Marchisio? Nobody knows, neither him. His trainer should fond a role for him and insists on it. Having a clear role helps in practising on it.

3) His style with the ball

I guess he should pass the ball as soon as possible, he shoul avoiding to dribble 10 opponent every time he touches the ball.

He reminds me the first Zanetti when he use to dribble many opponents without think of them.

4) The number 10 on the t-shirt

That number is too heavy for him. Matthaeus, Ronaldo, Snejder, for example, wore that tshirt but Kovacic isn't so soccerable mature. I guess choicing a new number could be really useful for him.
5) The personality
What is the difference between a player as Cristiano Ronaldo and another one with a huge talent that lose himself in some minor leagues? His determination and his willing. Cristiano Ronaldo wanted to become a top player since his youth and he has worked hardly on this task, day by day. A lose game? It doesn't matter, every fall is the start for a new growth. The incident is only a step, it isn't the end. Does Mateo have the right personality to become a top player?

I really hope he will figure them out as soon as possible because he can become a top player somewhere else. We can wait for him, of course, but we can't wait him forever. He has 10 matches to show us he has got the top player's skin, otherwise we can say hi to him on next summer.

©Inter.it

It's difficult to score a goal (and win) if you don't shoot

The match against Parma wasn't different from other matches along this season. We had the ball possession for a long time, we passed the ball from one player to another then to another then to another then to another and so on. Is this a good way to platy soccer? I don't know. I like a soccer played in vertical, with players that switch from a position to another one, running in an apparently chaos that it's a well-organised tactic instead.
I don't know why but since Guardiola's game style seems that every team in the world should play with the ball possession.
This could be fine but you need the right players. You need players like Robben, Ribery, Messi, Eto'o, Iniesta, Pedro or other that know how to dribble one or two players, that know how to act among three players dribbling everyone is opposing. Do we have this kind of players? No.
Meanwhile you need some midfielders that know how to play the ball profitable. Players like Pirlo, Fabregas, Thiago Alcantara, Xavi and so on. Do we have this kind of players? No.
This means that playing as Barcellona or Bayern Munich even if you have players that are completely unfit to play on that way is crazy but at the end this isn't the point.

The essence of our problem is that we don't have the courage to shoot. It's really strange and I don't understand why but we don't shoot. We play the ball, we pass it thousands of times, but we don't shoot. Against Parma we shot dangerously just two or three times and I want to be kind because I don't really remember some savers from their goalkeeper.

I continue to say that we should play with the set up Mancini wants to use next year (4-2-3-1) using the players we already know that will remain with us (Handanovic, D'Ambrosio/Nagatomo-Vidic-Felipe/Andreolli-Santon in the defense, Brozovic-Medel in the middle, Guarin-Shaqiri-Palacio behind Icardi) but everything is useless if we don't shot.

In the area, outside the area, from our defense, from wherever we like but we MUST shoot. If we don't shoot, we can't hope to score a goal. It's the base.

©Inter.it

Next experiments

Mancini tried new solutions against Sampdoria. He tried a defense with D'Ambrosio, Ranocchia, Vidic and Juan and we played a good match defensively speaking. I think this defensive asset could be fine even though I'd prefer another defensor and not Ranocchia and with Juan sat on the bench  with Santon on the pitch.

I guess that when Mancini will understand that the perfect set up would be D'Ambrosio (Nagatomo)-Vidic-Andreolli (Felipe)-Santon will be always too late.

With these four players the defense could be fixed up: Vidic has the right experience to play there and to be the leader of it, Andreolli has the right pace and velocity as Juan (but with more experience and intelligence), Santon and D'Ambrosio could give their help on both phases, defensive and offensive.
Once the defense is settled, Mancini will be able to work on the midfield. He wants to play with the 4-2-3-1 and I'd start experimenting the duo Brozovic-Medel as soon as possible. Guarin? He could play wide on the right side with Palacio on the left and Shaqiri in the middle behind Icardi that is the player that has improved more with Mancini.

Podolsky could play as a change of Shaqiri or Icardi but not on the side because he's not a wing. Another point is that Podolsky is a striker and he needs to shoot a goal to shake the critics and the fears off.

This could be the best Inter from now to the end of the season:

Handanovic

D'Ambrosio (Nagatomo)-Vidic (Ranocchia)-Andreolli (Felipe)-Santon (Juan)

Brozovic-Medel

Guarin-Shaqiri (Kovacic)-Palacio (Camara)

Icardi (Podolski)

Continue playing with the asset of last matches is useless because we are out of every competition and the qualification for one of the European Cups (Champions League and Europa League) are too far to act conservatively.

©Inter.it

Mancini's mistakes

When Mazzari was fired every Inter's supporter was happy because it could have a big meaning: the end of the 'small thinking'. 

Just 5 years ago we won the Trouble, the maximum result for a soccer team, whereas with Mazzarri we thought as a small city's team that should be happy to play in the Serie A. 

In his first interview Mancini changed our world claiming 'We must always win, we are Inter'.

Yes Mancio, we are Inter but after your first four months it's time to have some first considerations. First considerations that are just a check point because we still have to play other 10 matches and if you figured out some mistakes we could probably win all of them. 

So, which have been his mistakes?

4- The winter market

It's always difficult to guess right every purchased player on the market and on last January we found three good players as Santon, Brozovic and Shaqiri. They are good but what could say about Podolsky? We had a negotiation for Salah but Mancini chose Podolsky according to his carrer. Now, I can accept this mistake from Mazzarri but not from Mancini that spent abroad the last 7 years. He should know the physical and the mental condition of Podolsky and of every other player in Europe.

3- Ranocchia-Vidic

His first step has been to change the tactic asset of the ream. No more three defensors (or, maybe, it's better to say five with three midfielders ahead them to make a filter in order to have a defensive phase of almost six or seven players...) and the return of the four defensors: two in the center and two on the side. Amazing intention but every Inter fan has been seeing Ranocchia playing since his first match and everyone of us knew that he's utterly unfitted to play on this way. Choicing to continue with him could be fine if you didn't have another good player on the bench but we have got Vidic! Nemanja has been the captain and one of the best defensor in the last decade and Sir Alex Ferguson must thank him if he has won some trophies on last years of his career. Vidic is still a top player but Mancini has always preferred Ranocchia to him. Unvelievable.

2- Juan

If I were a teacher on a soccer school I'd use him to explain exactly what a defensor shouldn't be. Never. When he played with two other defensors his mistakes were hidden by them but with this asset he's a total disaster. It's like playing in 10, perhaps it's like playing 10 against 12. If I were the coach of the opposite team I'd give to my striker just a couple of instructions: play near him and when we are attacking, just do three or four steps behind to bring him out of his position. On this way the midfielder has just to go straight on the door with no opposition. Juan is always somewhere else but where he should be, he doesn't have the tactical intelligence to understand his position, and the strikers' movements to make him confused, and he doesn't know when he must come back quickly once he's somewhere else. During these four months journalists used to accuse the whole defense but every goal was simply a mistakes of him. It's been a suicide to play with him in the most important matches as the ones against Wolfsburg or Naples. It's not been a surprise to see him playing better as a fullback against Sampdoria.

1- Too many modules

He has always said that he wants to play with the 4-2-3-1. Ok, so why has it turned to the 4-3-2-1 and the 4-3-3 after the first bad results? If he wants to play with the 4-2-3-1 why has he bought Shaqiri that isn't a wide and Brozovic thant can't play in one of the two positions in front of the defense? With these two he can only play with three midfielders (4-3-1-2 or 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-3) but this isn't the tactic he wants: he wants to play with the 4-2-3-1. Anyway, if he had continued playing with the 4-2-3-1 with Guarin and Medel we could have played some bad games and we could have lost some matches but we also culd have played some good games and Guarin would be improved a lot in that position. Furthermore, he'd be able to try Brozovic near Medel or the couple Brozovic-Guarin. The results? Guarin is always the same player that alternate good and bad matches and Brozovic and Shaqiri aren't learning and practicing their future positions. So, where is the training for the future?

Anyway, he has showed up his skills on his career and I hope this is just the first step of a new Inter. I still remember his first Inter with Veron wing on a strange 4-4-2. That team tied a lot of matches but ending up to be the base of our next victories on the second five years of the last decade. Let's work him with no pressure. I'm sure, it'll be the same.

©Inter.it

Who is really interested in matches between National teams?

I must admit, I'm not interested in national teams matches. I've always considered them as a waste of time because I can only have one favourite team in my life, not two of them. Watching a match is something passional, it's something erotical and when I see a group of players with a blue t-shirt I can only play make believe they should have some black rows on them.It's hard to explain so I'm going to imagine a discussion with a friend of mine.

H- So, what time will you have the match on Sunday?

M- No match on Sunday. I have a week off.

H- Really? Why? Is the championship finished?

M- No, it's the time for national teams. You know, that moment thought only for players that could earn more money if they played well or for nationalists that only love things made in their own country or for casual supporters that didn't know the number of players in the field but they blame you because, come on, you can't miss these matches.

H- Well, I'm surprised. You're a soccer fan and you should love the soccer as a game and not only your team!

M- Would you have sex with a person of your own gender? Somebody can, of course, and I don't blame them as I don't blame who watch his team and the national one as well. But you can fall in love with only one person a time. This is what really happens. National team matches are like the ones of our Rugby team: only few really understand it but when Italy plays the stadiums are always full.

H- It sounds crazy but logical. Anyway, this means we'll go to the theater on Saturday night, won't we?

M- Which play?

H- There is a modern version of 'Pride and Pregiudice' with many dancers...

M- Oh, what a pity! I'm sorry about that but I need to watch the match...

H- What? You said you're not interested, didn't you?

M- Right, but I must be up-to-date and then I must support against...

Call me crazy but I only love one team: Fc Internazionale Milano. The rest is worthless.

If only they had some black vertical rows....