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On Sunday AC Milan ended Inter's unbeaten home record after 32 months. The Champions of Italy and Europe are going backwards under Benitez. In Nerazzurri's downfall there is no trace of other teams improvement - Serie A's football has never looked so ordinary and UEFA Champions League's Group A opponents are not heavyweights. It's a mixture of errors and mismanagement that have led Inter to an unexpected low.
Joel Obi: out for a month because of a thigh strain
©Getty Images
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1. 2010 World Cup
Inter had 10 players involved in South Africa. Many of them have struggled to cope with the extra month of football after a long and very demanding season. Some of them still look drained. To play short of form and fitness can only partially explain the current injury plague.
2. Injuries
Last term the total amount of injuries was 12. After only three months and a half in the new season the number is 31. The difference is so huge that no one can argue: Benitez and his staff are not unlucky victims, they are responsible. Such injury proneness must be related to the new training regime.
3. Transfer market
Some fans blame the lack of top-class signings and/or good replacements after the Treble. Players in: Coutinho, Biabiany, Castellazzi. Total bought: €8.3m. Players out: Balotelli, Burdisso, Quaresma, Jimenez, Krhin, Rincon, Filkor, Daminuta. Total sold: €53.2m. Moratti’s unwillingness to bolster Inter squad during the summer cannot be denied. However, a good coach is the one who can assess players potential and evaluate their qualities in order to determine the system best suited for them. Not the opposite. So far Samuel Eto'o - in a proper striker position again - is the only player who has taken advantage of Benitez schemes.
4. Tactics
Rafa Benitez was genuinely excited by the prospect to coach so many great players, but he was too frenetic to stamp his mark in order to cancel the ghost of Mourinho. Too many changes too soon have undermined players' confidence. Some woeful tactical decisions added unnecessary confusion. Most of all he forgot that counterattack is in Inter's DNA. Inter greatest sides relied on fast-break counter-attack: 1963-65 (coach: Helenio Herrera); 1979-80 (Eugenio Bersellini); 1988-89 (Giovanni Trapattoni); 2008-10 (Jose Mourinho). More humility would have led the Spanish coach towards safer choices, like a deeper defensive line.
5. Mourinho's shadow
Jose Mourinho is a phenomenal motivator. Not a sophisticated tactician but to achieve success in football you need to play with confidence. The Portuguese is the best motivator of all. Under him players feel like gladiators and play accordingly. Inter players body language against Spurs and AC Milan said that last year's never-beaten-attitude is lost. And frequent comparisons with Real Madrid don't help either. Inter need to rack up a string of important wins to restore their winning mentality and finally put Jose among the good old [and inspiring] memories.
 
Comments
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Posted by Gbolahan on 11/16/2010
And don't you forget, they've suddenly lost the fear factor that Jose brings upon other teams and suddenly become the Team to beat.
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Posted by Dave on 11/16/2010
I feel sorry for Inter because they are a great team. It's a shame they have such a horrible coach. It was such a bad decision to hire Benitez. If anyone ever had any doubts about how bad he is, just look at what he's done to the European Champions. Sack him before it's too late!
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Posted by JTex13 on 11/16/2010
ahh how much joy i get out of watching inter lose. i've always despised Benitez, too, so good that Moratti replaced Mou with him. FORZA JUVE!
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Posted by Rim on 11/16/2010
Inter's success has always come with the worst kind of football - defensive.
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Posted by Enorme Nuez on 11/16/2010
I see this all as excuses when the main reason is Rafa Benitez. How can you go from the Champions of Europe and then be a mediocre team the next. Unfortunately Mourinho will always be mentioned and rightfully so. Benitez has to bare the brunt of taking a team that everyone feared and made them a side that is easily deciphered. Why in the world would you change a system that works? Why not gradually implement your style. To be honest it wouldn't surprise me if stories started to come out that players disliked Benitez and that his man-management skills were awful. Booooooooo.
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Posted by vijay on 11/16/2010
Rafa is a very good manager. Liverpool played some scintillating football in 2008-09, and it was Rafa who got them to that level. Just because of one bad season, he does not suddenly become poor.
Regarding Inter,
1. People forget that its really tough to motivate a team which has just recently won EVERYTHING.
2. Players are tired (Last season + World Cup). Just look at Bayern right now.
3. Important players like Motta injured.
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Posted by Omar on 11/16/2010
I feel that benitez gets alot of blame that he doesn't deserve. How can any coach replicate the amazingness of what mourinho achieved last season? No matter what coach inter picked to replace him they were always going to struggle. I feel that at liverpool Benitez did a good job at first, but the owners, and the whole debt issue was to big a distraction and I can see lots of issues going on behind the scenes that we will never be aware of. If you give Benitez time to change Inter into a team in his own image than i personally believe Inter will win countless more trophies. All he needs is time, and im not saying he wont fail miserably and that he wont get sacked, but for his sake i hope he is given more time. Plus not many people have the courage to list those "facts" in front of the media like that. Fact is the media loves Fergie, and honestly the things Rafa said made alot of sense, its just a shame how the media blew it up and tried to make him look bad
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Posted by coldmoon on 11/16/2010
Forget Benitez... He is just a guy talking loud. He spends too much time and concentration to talk against Liverpool and to save his face. It is true that Benitez does not know how to utilize the players he has, recruit players he has not much interest to use and has one or two favourable players to play on the field when they should not stand a chance at the beginning.
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Posted by Not News on 11/16/2010
Benitez should stop justifying his actions and achievements at Liverpool and start implementing strategies to achieve desired results at Inter. It looks like he's still interested with events at Liverpool and that might be distracting him from the job at hand with Inter. Its also funny that Benitez only thinks his solution to the problems at Inter is the Jan transfer window. I would have thought making his team play football would be the solution
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Posted by bleah on 11/16/2010
with an inter team which is still pretty strong considering the rest of the serie A teams having relatively average squad, im surprise that benitez still manage to screw up in italy. in liverpool, he kept complaining how he cant buy players and all. but with inter, he has probably one of the best squad in the league. so i guess, he is a lousy manager......and ultimately inter paid the price for it.
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Posted by luis guerra on 11/17/2010
I still hear is words saying I am going to shange the way inter is plaing Mourinho playing a to defensive game
am going have inter playing a ofenssive game
Mourinho is to bouring
Benitez you have spoke too soon
Mourinho is better than 100 Benites
Luis
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Posted by Costa on 11/17/2010
There was a typo I think in your last reason, but if I'm reading it correctly, there is no way you are claiming Mourinho simply to be a motivator. The man is a wonderful tactican...this was evident with Porto and Inter. Rafa is honestly rubbish and forgetting Valencia, his legacy has relied on 45 minutes in Istanbul and Steven Gerrard hitting rockets from 30 yards out for the FA Cup and other important games.
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Posted by didier on 11/17/2010
i feel like too much blame goes on to Rafa but i do agree with you to a degree. lets not forget that Rafa one the Champions League with Liverpool and that was no fluke so he knows what it is to have European success. also, he won La Liga with Valencia as well before he joined the Reds.
but i do agree that he has definitely gotten many things wrong so far. i have always been skeptical about Rafa's tactics and approach to games. and when you say the players lack motivation, that is completely true. the first part of the first half showed just how unmotivated Inter players were, letting Milan run walk all over them.
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Posted by kl on 11/17/2010
Rafa's major notable achievement at Pool is that 1 run to the Champs' League title, and perhaps 1 other final which they lost to Milan. He also won 2 La Liga titles with Valencia I think. Here's the thing: if you notice his teams, Rafa cannot tolerate too much creativity. Ironic, because this sounds more like Mourinho, but because Rafa himself isn't flexible enough in his strategy. He's not a lousy manager, just perhaps not quite flexible enough with the players he has on hand.
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Posted by Cyprian on 11/17/2010
I like blogers at ESPN. This is amazing:
Hahahaha....typical of the big fat spanish waiter to offer excuses after excuses after every defeat or poor performance by Inter Milan. Mourinho won the treble last season with virtually the same team. Now he's saying that they are not good enough & needs to buy new players. Haven't Moratti learn from Hicks & Gillette huge mistake in hiring the big fat spanish waiter?After getting thrashed by Tottenham & now losing to AC Milan, Inter are now virtually out of the Seria A title race & in real danger of getting knocked out at the group stage of the Champs League. Well maybe it's a good thing that they finished 3rd in the group & drop to the Europa League. Once there, Rafa's Inter will probably meet Roy's Hodgson Liverpool at some stage. If that happens, im sure Liverpool will love nothing more then to exact sweet revenge on Rafa by knocking out Inter!!!
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Posted by Jared on 11/17/2010
To all you benitez haters, don't talk about what you don't know. Benitez achieved arguably more than Mourinho did at Inter.. Look at games like Man Utd 4-1, Madrid 4-0, Madrid 1-0, and this was all in the space of 2 weeks. Look at the sort of squad he won the champions league with, it was considered horrible for that competition. He turned steven gerrard into one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. Spotted Torres and made him one of the most prominent strikers in the world, torres's own words:"i have to give credit to Benitez, if it wasn't for his advice i would never have become the player i am today". Not to mention we were regular champions league contenders under him up until last season. Give him time and he will grow Inter into his own team that plays attractive football. YNWA
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Posted by Frank on 11/17/2010
benitez don't friend his players is a foolish man that is why he is always down
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Posted by Benedict, Lagos. on 11/17/2010
Benitez is a good coach but not as good as Mourinho. The problem here is that towards the latter part at Liverpool he failed and it was that lack or low confidence that he brought to Inter Milan. Again, the so many injuries has not helped him. You will agree with me that coaches like players usually have low confidence and this has affected Rafa so much due to the failed final days at Liverpool. It will take time for Rafa to get the results but will my team, Inter Milan, that won everything last year not suffer so much before Rafa gets it right? That is the big question and I am very sure that is what is going on in Moratti's mind. Moratti needs gaurantee that if new players arrive January, things will change for Inter. It's obvious that Rafa and Mourinho have never been good friends and he will try to cancel that Mourinho ghost like the writer said. This is where I blame Moratti for hiring him.Rafa is a good coach but his confidence is very low.Inter should have gone for Gus Hindick.
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Posted by greg on 11/17/2010
the minute I heard Benitez say "I teach football" in a TV interview I knew this guy knew nothing about winning at the top level. Rafa,you don't teach football as a coach of Lievrpool or Inter, you motivate your players, that's all.
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Posted by Sam on 11/17/2010
Great article Gianni. I think you have hit the nail on the head. Benetiz was too obsessed with proving to Mourinho that he could win with Inter playing 'attractive football' and not counter attacking, this mistake has backfired dramatically with only Eto'o flourishing. Changing tactics so drastically takes a long time and normally a complete change in playing staff. It also means several years away from titles, just look at Arsenal.
I also agree with the injuries, there have been too many to be coincidence. His training methods must be at least a part of the cause.
IMO at this level players need less 'coaching' and more management and positional training, they should have the general skills. Both Mou and Ferguson prove this, being excellent motivators and man managers. Benetiz seems to lack this quality and it shows by the body language of the players against Milan, they looked lost despite having a numerical advantage.
Also Torres was not spotted by Benetiz, he was already WC.
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Posted by Nicola (Let's back Rafa) - Milan on 11/17/2010
I hope Moratti wont sack Benitez. Stability is the key to keep on winning. Benitez himself now knows that dismantling Mourinho system wasnt his smartest idea. A win in Abu Dhabi can be the turning point for our season, so please let Benitez stay in charge until then and asking for his sacking. Do you really believe Spalletti, Hiddink, Rijkaard can get better results with half squad injured and with only 3 months time at their disposal? I just think Omar was the wisest of all, I quote: "How can any coach replicate the amazingness of what mourinho achieved last season? No matter what coach inter picked to replace him they were always going to struggle". Spot on.
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Posted by Sadiq on 11/17/2010
Despite the fact that there are many factors to be taken into account but still Benitez has a greater hand in Inter's downswing. This is for good reasons that, one, Inter players that were rated last season the best in their respective positions are doing so poorly this season. Two, his records at Liverpool doesn't seem to be in favor of his quality. For all the years he has spent there he couldn't win a single premier title. Don't tell me that he has won Champ league. I count that one as luck only. I can go on and on, my conclusion is that if Benitez can't motivate his players like the way Mourinho did, then sack him, it is just a waste of time, he is not up to the task.
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Posted by what he said on 11/17/2010
Benitez is not at fault? Why?
1. Injured players -- this is explained clearly by the blog writer. If Benitez had calculated the fatigue of these stars, he would have rested them, or at least rest the most important ones. Look at Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal or Fernando Torres in Liverpool, they're back, fatigued, but not injured, and now they're looking to get back to their old forms. Heck, look at Xavi and Iniesta, they're still playing non-stop.
2. A team that's won everything is hard to motivate. This is true, but that does not mean Benitez might have decent man-management skills. Conversely, you may say that Mourinho might not be able to motivate them either but face it, Inter are less disciplined now.
3. He's had good seasons at Anfield too. So? Who cares about the past? He's done horrible. A high defensive line against Spurs? What? Sudden tactic changes that the players might not be used to? What? He should've kept Mourinho's way, or at least mimic it for some time.
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Posted by mickeysoo on 11/17/2010
I watched MOU boring inter side win everything i and i had to give credit to them and the man.After playing more games in one season than most of the teams in the seria A inter players were going to get tired and not adding the world cup to players who played in it.Rafa has just been unlucky to come in at this time as tiredness breeds injury no wonder you have many inter starting players out injured.Things would have been different had he even had the midfield pairing of motta and cambiaso.how can you blame a coach who in only three months has the majority of his 1st eleven out injured.There is no training that can cause this.Rafa in his season before last at pool had very good results when he had almost his best 11 playing week in week out.every pool supporter knows that his last season was blighted by injuries to important players.why did morrati give MOU all the money he wanted but will not give Rafa?And i baffled to hear people saying rfa is not good tactically.are you guys serious
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Posted by HELLSAMMAS on 11/17/2010
Disgrace of an article mainly because of this line "The difference is so huge that no one can argue: Benitez and his staff are not unlucky victims, they are responsible". I seriously doubt that much changed in terms of their fitness and training regimes, the fact is its down to a combination of the world cup (players extra fatigued) and (mainly) plain old bad luck, although the age of their squad may also be a contributating factor. However I have little doubt they would have beaten Milan if they had a full strength team. Even with an, almost embarrassingly, understrength side (the Matrix?? way past it, Cordobra at full back, chivu, Obi...) and a chronically out of form Militio they only lost due to a disgrace of a penalty (disgrace as in "the matrix" was only ever going to take leg in his ungainly tackle)
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Posted by dave on 11/17/2010
THIS WRITER HAS NO CREDIBILITY AS HE HAS A BIAS AGAINST BENITEZ. THE REST OF THE PEOPLE HERE ARE SHEEP WHO JUST FOLLOW WHAT IS WRITTEN AND THEY LOOK FOR ANY IMAGINABLE WAY TO THINK OF CRITICIZE BENITEZ DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT IS ALL SPECULATION.
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Posted by Sigurd on 11/17/2010
I have always mentaied that Benitez is an ordinary manager.
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Posted by M Marshel on 11/17/2010
They finish fourth at best.. Its a team without committement -- Benitez is an average manager with a great team --
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Posted by Shawn on 11/17/2010
It suppost to be Benitez and Inter. Stop comparing with Jose. Jose truly, he is the Special One why he left Inter? The whole issue lies with money, debt and transfer window.If he was not a good motivator how they manage to win Champion League after been trash 3-0 at the first half? Every manager has their way of bringing their team, give him a chance to prove it.
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Posted by devilsutd on 11/17/2010
hahaha.. well if u hire benitez thats what u get.. He is the most over hyped coach.... EVER...
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Posted by City Kidd on 11/17/2010
A lot of liverpool fans were not saying he was a lousy coach when he won the champions league, and liverpool were a great team until the debt situation. He's a good coach and just needs a bit of time to settle in and if u look back a couple years ago at Sir Alex Fergison he was almost sacked by Man u, give the man some time!!!!!!!
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Posted by Judas Priest on 11/17/2010
Im a die hard Liverpool fan to the core. Benetiz is not a great manager nor is he a bad teeth. after all, inter wanted him. That should mean something, in it? He didn't have all the money he wanted for players back in merseyside. i guess time will tell... However he could be highly irritating with his 1st 11..
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Posted by max on 11/18/2010
maybe Inter should hire Roy Hodgson to take them to the next level
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Posted by Kappa on 11/18/2010
well if you wanted to watch a game of chess or a boring game of Snooker with Cliff Thorban, then you can win everything with Mourinio....bore the opposition to death..else its not so easy to play football and win...just ask Wenger
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Posted by adegbite on 11/18/2010
I guess benitez must find the pareto optimalty between inter milan and samuel etóo.Under mourinho inter were winning games and etoo wasn't scoring too often.Now with benitez he is scoring freely and the team is losing.The answer is simply change of tactics, let etoo sacrifice personal achievements for team efforts.
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Posted by rudolf on 11/18/2010
Injuries plague mainly caused by Rafa's heavy fitness training program which as we know put so much strain on players body.
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Posted by max on 11/18/2010
To all of those who defending Benitez mainly on the point of Liverpool winning CL and being second in Prem league one season....I would say Chelsea got to CL final with GRANT!! and also 2nd in Prem league with Grant.
You mean to say that Avram Grant is nearly qualified to coach Inter?
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Posted by kirk on 11/18/2010
Honestly, i do believe rafa came at the wrong time to manage inter. The team had just achieve history with a treble last season, thus making the expectation and reputation on the squad sky high. The media,as well as the fans were expecting a similar outcome from mr rafa, thus the tactical and man management skills were to be blamed from each single failure.
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Posted by fridid on 11/18/2010
I wish Benitez would just stop talking about the Jan transfer window as if it is the only magical solution he has. His track record at getting new players and performing at the team level hasn't been that great, especially at this level.
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Posted by mania on 11/18/2010
banitez is a loser, he destroyed my team liverpool by signing useless player and he gonna do the same thing with inter milan. watch the space.
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Posted by red on 11/18/2010
Beniez sure get sacked in another month. His loss at milan derby has already prove that he could not achieve what Mourinho suceeds, by winning the champion league. Inter must be grateful if they able to won a cup. Just look at benitez record, he has gone 5 years without a trophy in Liverpool.
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Posted by abdul on 11/18/2010
although im not particularly a fan of rafa he is not altogether bad, true he fiddles with his system too much and makes weird tactical decisions at times but still he isnt the worst manager out there
circumstances have also been harsh to him with the WC and fatigue plus Mourinho legacy. Like it was said before its hard to motivate players who have won everything and maybe think way too highly of themselves (confidence is one thing, cockiness is another), i mean just look at Barca after their all conquering season
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Posted by Binya on 11/18/2010
Sack the coach now!!!!!!!!!!! He is no use at all.. Inter already has a decent squad.. But he is still barking his favortie quote "We need to spend more".. That shows how stupid he is...
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Posted by nevin on 11/18/2010
the present inter coach lacks the foresight to start the right side based on the game that inter has to play rafa is trying to play a type of football to prove the point that he can coach as well as jose get real jose is in the coaching form that few coaches may ever reach. inter milan squad has depth so rafa has no excuss its not about money to spend only but finding balance and the right mix something he has not shown to have in a long time.
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Posted by samosa on 11/18/2010
i hate to say this but this inter team is an average team which was made invincible by an extraordinary Manager, now that he's gone, its time for reality check!
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Posted by rawr on 11/18/2010
Benitez's Liverpool pressed high up the pitch, and he tried to do the same at Inter. But Inter have an old squad and their back four aren't known for pace. Injuries to their best defensive midfielders make it even harder to win the ball. Inter become vulnerable to ball over the top and ineffective at pressing at the same time.
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Posted by lucas on 11/18/2010
Inter were built in such a way by Mourinho that any attempt to tweak via tactics or players was always going to result in worse performance. This is all about Rafa and his ego.
A great manager would have simply sat back and played the same kind of football with the same players instead of shoehorning the likes of Babianny, and Coutinho, and if the media is correct, pursuing his favored son of Mascherano into a squad already bursting with better players at those positions.
True Eto'o has been their star this season, back in his central role, but, and I am anything but a critic of Eto'o, methinks there was a reason Mourinho shunted him out wide and Barca wanted rid of him.
Moratti, is, in truth responsible. His own ego required that he sign a "big name" manager to follow Mourinho, he should have seen the massive problems of hiring someone with a comparably sized ego in Rafa and just promoted from within or found a young coach who Mourinho rates. Keep the ties.
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Posted by lucas on 11/18/2010
Also, in regards to Bayern, their lackluster season can be attributed to almost the very same reasons. Van Gaal, like Rafa can never be 2nd fiddle. It must be his system, not his players, which win games for him.
Conversely, men like Mourinho, Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, are the first to praise their star performers. It is all about mentality, a footballing style, tactics are for the trainers...
Couple that with the massive injury blow of losing Robben, and all the attacking spark is gone. Muller is a good player, as are Schweinsteiger and Lahm, but Bayern's refusal to buy new centre halves to replace the cruelly explosed Van Buyten and Dimichelis, and his maddening insistence on relying on Klose (who is awesome and lovabale during World Cups but a ghost thereafter) and now Gomez paired with Olic (hard working but limited, and, also now injured) is starting to part ways for the illusion it always was.
Without Robben, Bayern are almost impotent against decent opponents.
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Posted by Frank on 11/18/2010
Calciopoli is the only reason Inter have dominated Italy. The Serie A is not the weakest it has ever been, it was much weaker when Juventus were demoted to Serie B and Fiorentina, Lazio and Milan were all punished for apparent match fixing. Actually, Serie A is the strongest it has been since Calciopoli and this is one reason why Inter have struggling because other teams are finally catching up. The other reason here, of course, is the fact that Benitez replaced Mourinho. The two are worlds apart, Benitez was always going to struggle.
It is great to see Inter in this position, Calciopoli was a scandal of a scandal. There are big questions marks regarding whether it was true or not. The fact that it is still in court suggest it really is just a political game being played out by the football powers of the country. Who is responsible? One should always look at who benefits the most from such an event as to indicate the real perpetrators.
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Posted by ryan on 11/18/2010
Jared - Your and idiot. A two week run against great teams, although important, is still a two week run. That means nothing compared to Mourinho's trophy haul. Remeber West Ham's FA Cup run from a few years ago - no you don't becasue they didn't win anything - ergo useless.
You said Rafa spotted Torres? Fernando Torres was one of the biggest prospects in Europe since he was 16. Rafa was actually lucky to get him. He wouldn't play for anyone else in Spain and the Premier League was the next best league to play in. Liverpool was 80% spanish, it was an easy switch for a young man. He didn't go because Rafa spotted him.
Rafa is a HORRIBLE coach. The guy i'm sure know's everything about football, but he doesn't let players play. In the end he wants recognition. Proof is his fueds with other managers. He didn't want Torres to beat Vidic he wanted to beat Ferguson. Eto'o refused to play out wide anymore and now he is on fire up front and Benitez will take credit for that switch.
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Posted by ryan on 11/18/2010
A man who's #1 priority is to overhaul the best team in the world to play the style of football that he wants is too errogant for my tastes. So he doesn't like Mourinho, ok. But now Rafa has pie all over his face and he's looking for blame. All we heard was "new players" "new players" when he was at Liverpool, now all over again. He spent Hicks and Gillette into the poor house (200M+) and then lead Liverpool to the Europa League. Why would anyone thing these are the credentials necessary to take over the Champions of Europe. I would rather try an unproven coach then someone who has already proven to be a poor man-manager, motivator, talent developer, talent scout. You don't need to win something every year, but 2nd to 7th shows your frailty. I just don't understand why astounding failure (7th) doesn't show more about your character than a C. League triumph 1 year into your tenure with a team you didn't build. He ruined Liverpool from the top down and blames everyone but himself
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Posted by ryan on 11/18/2010
adegbite
You are so right. Eto'o was willing to sacrifice personal acheivements for team ones becasue Mourinho made him realize that was his place as a footballer. Now the man that built the Liverpool squad (a mid table Europa League team) is going to come in and tell the best players in the world how to play. I don't think so. Eto'o said he was not going to play out wide and Benitez, as small of a man as he is, accepted it. I think it was also a symbol of trading Eto'o for Milito as trading Mourinho for Benitez. Nonetheless, the guy is not fit for Inter if he is so uncapable of rationalizing to Eto'o that his place out wide last season was worth the reward of three thophies, then he should be an assistant. Not the main man, not the guy buying players. Just remember the wonderful Liverpool team he built. And yes it does seem Rafa managed players are often hurt. jose's players played at the WC, and their not in crisis mode. Rafa will never live up to Jose and im sure it kills him
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Posted by didi on 11/19/2010
to bring benitez in was a mistake from the beginning. he's a good coach. but his soccer approach isn't suite with the team mourinho inherited. moratti & branca made it worst by lack of summer transfer to suits rafa's attacking mind & sticking with last year fast-break team.
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Posted by Andrew on 11/19/2010
I say give him a change. Moratti should let hims sign 2 or 4 players in January. Remember Mourinho's team didn't click straight away. Also does Benitez even speak Italian!? He needs time to learn the language!
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Posted by LetterT on 11/19/2010
Frank:
"Calciopoli is the only reason Inter have dominated Italy...There are big questions marks regarding whether it was true or not"
That's what typical media and fans who support Juve and Milan always say. Question is it true or not? The case was investigated not only by Italy association but also UEFA so it's quite dumb questioning is it true or not.
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Posted by Tom RedMan4Life on 11/19/2010
Very well said Ryan! It's a shame the so-called Rafa loving pricks are still blind by the flukes that man had at Liverpool and all his claims at no money to spend shite! We shall see very soon if he would come up with different excuse at Inter once that great club starts to drop down to the Europa level, the same way he left Liverpool.
I hope Moratti will see he's made a big mistake employing Benitez to damage his club, rather than continue from where that great tactician and motivator, Mourinho stopped. YNWA!!!
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Posted by Sam on 11/19/2010
I have read a few people, I am assuming Liverpool fans, citing World cup fatigue, injuries etc as defence for Inters woeful form in the last few weeks and to Benetiz's general skill as a coach. For me these are problems but not the reason why I have become so disappointed in this Inter and this coach in particular. What has me worried is the seemingly oblivious way Benetiz has played his team. Against Tottenham in the first leg we were 4-0 up. Bale socres three. Ok no problem. Second leg Benetiz does NOTHING tactically to fix this and Bale does the same thing again! Against Leece and Milan similar gaffes appeared in his tactical thinking leaving Inter supporters scratching their heads. These were simple tactical errors made by our coach, errors that any average joe could have pointed out. His high backline, which has left us exposed time and again as we do not have the personnel to pull it off is also a source of annoyance.
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Posted by Jared on 11/19/2010
At everyone who blames the injuries on rafa... There are no foundations for blaming him other than the fact there were less injuries last season, which is just poor logic. Injuries are just an unfortunate part of the game, especially post world cup. Now Ryan, the 2 week run i spoke of was only part of a great run of results which i extracted from. It was just an example of how good Liverpool were under Benitez. With regards to Torres, he was a 15 goal a season striker at best before Benitez took a risk on buying him (that no one else was willing to do by the way, including arsene and SAF) and then turned him into one of the worlds best strikers, plain and simple FACT. Last off i will say, if you want the real low-down on liverpool and Benitez, go to: www.tomkinstimes.com. If you can read his "STATSTICAL" findings (note that they are statstical findings and not opinonated) and honestly tell me you believe Benitez was as bad a coach you seem to think he is, then.. well... god help you.
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Posted by Jared on 11/19/2010
Also, at anyone who thinks Benitez "fluked" in the champions league, look at his record in the CL with Liverpool. Here is his record: 2 time finalists, winning one. A further apperance in the semis in 07/08 and an apperance in the quarters in 08/09. So all up that makes 4 out of 5 years he made it to the quarters and further. Remembering this is for a club who were not even regulars in the champions league group stages before he arrived. Seems like a pretty good European record to me?
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Posted by jono on 11/19/2010
Yah man, rafa you are such a great manager come back to England and manage Chelsea or Arsenal....then you can ruin them for good like what you did to Liverpool
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Posted by Sarfoalbert- kumasi, Ghana on 11/19/2010
Benitez is a good coach by all standard but Mourinho is better. Its very awful a great team like Inter is struggling just at the start of a long season. There is only one antidote, Sack Rafa and buy in January.
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Posted by pablo on 11/19/2010
Benitez is a good coach.. all the Mourinho fans get his c**k out our mouths
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Posted by Sia on 11/19/2010
Rafa needs to go. What did Rafa do at Liverpool that people consider him a great coach? One lucky Champions League title, that's it. Which by the way they passed Inter with bad refing the year they won it, by over 110 mins of man advantage out of 180 mins of play.
Bad refing gave Liverpool a man advantage on both legs against Inter & the advanced.
Rafa needs to go quickly.
FORZA NERAZZURRI
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Posted by S on 11/19/2010
Also Frank which has several comments stating all 5 years of Inter winning the Scudetti, plus Champions League title & lets not forget the Coppa Italia titles all under Calciopoli, it is an Idiot (Frank) the idiot does not know crap about Italian Football.
Calciopoli has been open for investigation for years Frank & teams that were caught cheating were Juve, Milan, Lazio, Viola & few others in B, DO YOUR HOME WORK IDIOT before posting garbage about Inter on this site. As of today, still no solid evidence of Inter cheating Frank, stop ass kissing Juve & Milan.
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Posted by Pietro on 11/19/2010
2 Andrew: Rafa Benitez's Italian is perfect.
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Posted by Pietro 2 on 11/19/2010
JARED, poor logic? Muscolar injuries hit players who'd watched world cup on telly just like u and me. I think rafa must be given some more time but I am puzzled as SAM for some inept tactical (in)decisions...
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Posted by Zach on 11/19/2010
Cannot agree with you more about Benitez. As a die hard Liverpool supporter I can say assuredly that he and his staff are problematic...especially when assessing when a player should come back from injury. Excuse after excuse about Torres' hamstring became indicative of the Mickey Mouse operation being run in the backroom. At some point you have to turn the light on the management and say what the hell!? Not to mention that there isn't enough talent to fill the void of the players who are injured and subsequently reinjured by the same injuries that plague them during the season. Benitez was and always has been lucky. I will be glad to see him coaching in a 2nd or 3rd division where he truly belongs in no time. Oh, and his tactics, or lack-there-of, are predictable and easily broken down as he is beaten time and again by mediocre management and tactics.
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Posted by adibetong on 11/20/2010
Rafa destroyed LIverpool and likewise to Inter too.Give him until January if he says so. Then no improvement on the team, sack him.I think he should coach the likes of Barnet and if he is able to transform them into Premiership material, he IS a very good coach/manager.To be a successful manager, he should be able to transform world class players into invincible ones and mediocre ones into world class players. Then Rafa can say he is better than Jose who is actually a very good motivator and tactician.A food for thought everyone.......
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Posted by Framet on 11/20/2010
Great article.
But in my honest opinion, there is only one reason for Inter's failures: Rafael Benitez.
I'm still appalled at the fact that Moratti handed his team over to some dude who turned one of the world's greatest football clubs into a 7th place flop.
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Posted by Dada Benjamin G on 11/20/2010
In my opinion i guess everyone have contribute very well..... And special thanks to you Gianni........ You really have a good sense of belonging...... But one thing i would like to tell everyone that have say one or two things about mine La grande.... No matter how terrible the situation have been for 10years back intermilano have not being this poor at this stage of the league..... Benitez needs to understand that to every issue a good manager needs to find solutions...... He great problem is that he never learn from his mistake..... He never want to know that the situation in serie A is different from that of where his coming from..... In serie A your best friend now would be your football foe because records count.... Italian people are great people but not on pitch.... Tell him his now in milan he should behave like Milanesse....... So that when he get Nigeria then it would be easy for him to behave like the Nigerian people.... He should stop shifting blames because when things are working well he would not shift the glory..... He should stop seen Mou as enemy but great man with special quality both as leader equally as an effective and efficient Manager... Take it Benitez is the first problem!
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Posted by Tinashe Mutize on 11/20/2010
it was always going to be a difficult task for any coach in the world taking over after such an amazing jose spell,,,,, even pep guardiola is struggling to match the records he set, lousi van gaal is also in the same predicament..... but the problem is rafa talks a lot and claiming to mek inter better than wat mourinho made it is absolute nonsense he's simply not good enuf,,, definitely not in the same league wt the special one! Seria A is a mediocre league though he could still turn his fortunes around
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Posted by coldmoon on 11/21/2010
To Jared and those who have faith in Benitez because LFC won a CL and was at another CL final,
I am a LFC Fan but I can say that it is fact that made LFC won the CL that year. If you want to name a specific winner, it would not be Benitez for sure. I would say Gerrard for sure. As Gérard Houllier claimed, Benitez only built on Houllier's success. In some sense, Gérard Houllier might be right. If Benitez actually won based on his talent, tactic and the team selection, Liverpool should not lose 3-0 at halftime. He should not let the Heroes (Dudek, Smicer, Cisse, etc) leave so soon or warm the bench next year. Those actions only reflect one fact which is Benitez did not have faith in his team because it is not "HIS" team. They were deployed because he had no better starting XI. However, he then bought in more and more players who did not last long in "HIS" team again. Ferguson was right. Benitez spent a lot.
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Posted by coldmoon on 11/21/2010
Also...
Don't say he helped Torres to become a better player. If so, why did he not help other promising players? Torres was with Atlético Madrid which did not play well at his time. How can you expect a losing team/ so-so team produce a strong attacking side which can supply Torres chances to score. He scored around 33% of goals for Atlético Madrid.
Ironically, Atlético Madrid achieved more and even won Europa once for the next 3 years after Torre left them. I hope you won't draw another conclusion here, "Atlético Madrid is better without Torres because he is not good enough".
LFC did not save him by offering him a contract. Chelsea made an attempt one year before he moved to LFC. Don't forget it was the time Mourinho was Chelsea's manager.
Hmmm, it is so interesting that Benitez now landed the IM job.
Benitez is just an overrated manager because his teams won some magical battles! His tactics and team selection have been criticized by the media regularly.
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Posted by Rafa Ebahuri Kulhefa on 11/21/2010
In Rafa they trusted and its Rafa who let them down... down with Inter Rafa! Retire retard!
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Posted by Anonymous on 11/21/2010
the only good signing that Rafa bought was torres; the rest? what happened to all the other players he bought? his liverpool team only won the champions league thanks to gerrard, not Rafa
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Posted by chukwuka nwawulu on 11/21/2010
i pary that inter will sack rafa.he is not a good manger.what he do at liverpool is not good for football.
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Posted by Bifi on 11/21/2010
What are the statistics about teams who have unexpectedly won great prizes? I bet these statistics will say that almost all of those teams have performed terribly in the year following their triumph.
The Inter players have achieved everything they could hope for in their club careers last year, so now they are sated and want to rest on their laurels.
Their success in the CL and domestic cup also meant that they had to play more games than any other club (apart from Bayern who also played every round in every competition last year). The many injuries this year are not the fault of Benitez's training but are the result of too many games in the last year (including the World Cup).
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Posted by FI on 11/21/2010
Their problem is that they are missing most of their squad and basically 6 of their players who were in the starting XI of the CL final last year.
Funny enough, people are blaming the injuries on Benitez now. If his methods were so conducive to injuries...why didn't it occur like this elsewhere?
The reality is no one could contend with this many players out. There is a long season left to play.
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Posted by James Cannon on 11/21/2010
Everyone keeps complaining about Inter's bad breaks/poor management/ injuries... but one would be good to mind how well teams like Lazzio and AC Milan are actually playing.
Forza Milan!
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Posted by Anonymous on 11/22/2010
To FI,
Why didn't it occur like this elsewhere?
You should check what happened at Liverpool in the last two years. I wonder if this is just a pure coincidence.
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Posted by jonsng on 11/22/2010
rafa benitez best tactician in the world,stuck to his zonal defence in set pieces costed liverpool many simple goals,yet he still stuck to it,he also opted to have a regular SQUAD rotation system that eventually screwed up alot of chemistry in the midfield. yes he won the CPL once with liverpool,league twice with Valencia,good for him but he has shown he cannot last long. just after winning the CPL,liverpool were shadows of the past already. after the CPL,liverpool went down hill,now that he has moved to Inter,he is already starting to bring the LAST YEAR'S CPL champions down with him,eventually,he will be the next Avram Grant. NUFF SAID!
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Posted by FI on 11/22/2010
To FI,
Why didn't it occur like this elsewhere?
You should check what happened at Liverpool in the last two years. I wonder if this is just a pure coincidence.
------
I am a Liverpool fan...it didn't happen like this there. Players get injured in every club. But what is happening at Inter is 2-3x worse than normal and what more has happened all in the space of a few months.
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Posted by Anonymous on 11/22/2010
maybe you are right, FI. However, this lousy guy often complained lack of funding, players getting injured and limited team selection when he was @ LFC. If you are right, it was this lousy guy exaggerating the injury list which left a serious impact in my fading memory.
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Posted by Kapil on 11/22/2010
Benitez is the biggest problem....he should be sacked...good for nothing fattoo...
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Posted by Anonymous on 11/22/2010
Benitez claimed of a lack of funding, which was largely true. In his last few transfer windows he was actually working at a profit. To give you a comparison. Martin O'Neill almost spent as much as Benitez did, except he did it in 4 years to Benitez's 6.
Benitez is not exaggerating the injury list. These players are pretty much unfit/injured:
Cesar, Samuel, Maicon, Chivu, Motta, Mariga, Obi, Muntari, Cambiasso, Coutinho, Milito and Suazo
That is basically most of their best XI.
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Posted by Mark on 08/29/2012
Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5 Windows XPUser Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.9.0.5) Gecko/2008120122 Firefox/3.0.5Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5 Windows XPIt was a good result agnsait a very poor performing Chelsea side but what ManU..and frankly all the top teams are struggling with is breaking down teams that sit back and soak up all the pressure then try to steal a goal from a break or set piece, It's ok beating the attacking teams that get forward and leave space behind the defence but i don't believe it's the wins agnsait the top teams thats going to be the tittle decider this year. There will ultimately be many many factors that will decide who will win the league but i certainly don't see ManU as the stand out obvious choice. I also think that as long as Liverpool continue to struggle to win games agnsait teams like Stoke then we will struggle to maintain our momentum and some of Rafa's tactical decisions still leave me wondering why!!.
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Posted by benwalton z on 02/08/2013
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About
Gianni Serra is a European football journalist. He currently writes for lechampions.it, covering international club competitions such as the UEFA Champions League, the Copa Libertadores, the CAF Champions League, the O-League. You can follow him on twitter: @gianniserra20
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