ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - FC Inter Milan

Posted by Gianni Serra on 01/30/2012

Whilst searching for an eighth win, Inter lost! The writing was on the wall but maybe it arrived earlier than expected. The first blow in the league came after seven consecutive wins for Nerazzurri, but it's the second loss in a row after the 2-0 defeat at Napoli in the Coppa Italia. To lose against Lecce, who hadn't won in the previous 19 league games, is embarrassing for any top team but it should be more acceptable after the resilience shown by Serse Cosmi's team.

Inter created enough scoring opportunities against Napoli and Lecce to win both games but ended up with two losses. It can happen. Luck didn't help, whereas it did in some other games that Inter won without doing too much. Too simple an explanation?

Milito nearly exploited Benassi's only mistake of the game but his shot went wide: the unlucky outcome summarized the difference between previous wins and this loss. As the Prince's display wasn't below his recent standards, the same could be said of Inter. Lecce's win was sealed by a strike against the post and by two great saves from Benassi, one of the two really outstanding.

But, despite Inter doing enough to earn a draw or even more, Ranieri's choices have been questioned for the first time by the same ones who hailed him as a genius for playing Alvarez out of position. It’s too easy, and also wrong, to blame this defeat on the introduction of Sneijder into the starting eleven or with his substitution. Ranieri's choice to adopt a diamond in midfield to accommodate the many talents of the mercurial Dutchman, after two months spent with the 4-4-2, was a must after Sneijder was Inter's best player against Napoli.

However, considering his long layoff and how injury-prone Sneijder is, it was a mistake to start with him for the second consecutive game in less than three days. Certainly, after the spat with Pazzini, it was a mistake to replace Sneijder with Alvarez at half time when Inter were already one goal behind. Not a very clever move.

As it's not very clever to stick week in week out with the same 12-13 players. Rotation is needed in great sides to keep players fresh, motivated and in form. Did really Ranieri think to save the game with Zarate's introduction? A player frozen out for a couple of month now was required to come to the rescue. Obviously he failed. It happened to be the former Lazio forward but it could have been Castaignos, Poli, Coutinho... Oh, Coutinho.

Inter are desperately trying to loan the young Brazilian out until the end of the season, whereas Ranieri and the board are doing the best to convince Thiago Motta to delay his transfer to PSG for six more months. A resource treated as a problem and a problem as a resource: this approach is Ranieri's real mistake, not an undeserved defeat at Lecce.

Serie A 2011-12 / Day 20

LECCE-INTER 1-0 (1-0)

LECCE: Benassi; Oddo, Miglionico, Tomovic; Cuadrado, Giacomazzi (78' Obodo), Blasi, Olivera, Brivio; Muriel (72' Seferovic), Di Michele. Coach: Cosmi
INTER: Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Nagatomo; Zanetti, Cambiasso, Obi (73' Zarate); Sneijder (46' Alvarez); Pazzini, Milito. A disp: Castellazzi, Cordoba, Ranocchia, Chivu, Poli. All: Ranieri.

Referee: Banti
Goal: Giacomazzi 40'
Yellow cards: Cuadrado, Muriel, Olivera

Comments

Posted by Moises on 01/30/2012

Absolutely agree with you Gianni, the lack of rotation is a problem. You can't expect to play 3 matches each week using 13 players. Ranieri could have used this game to give some playing time to the ones who need it (maybe use Poli, Ranocchia, I don't know).

I did not watch the first half but even though Inter was creating chances, none of them were truly clear, they were just pushing hard but like you said they were out of luck. Hopefully, this will be the end of this short losing streak.

Posted by Sia on 01/30/2012

I watched the entire game, Inter played a relax 1st half in my opinion, they did not see an urgency to play hard, perhaps as Gianni and others mentioned team was tired. Maicon and Samuel looked very tired. Last 15 mins of 1st half Inter started to play and create chances. The linesmen on the second half of the match did make some interesting calls just against Inter. Milito was tackled from the back on a breakaway and he kept his flag down, which with Lecce player he did the exact opposite. Then it came two disallowed goal, which I thought Cambiasso’s goal wasn’t offside or was a very close call, it seemed all calls went against Inter and for Lecce by that one linesman, so it took the momentum away from us.

Introducing Zarate was the biggest mistake of the game; also Ranieri needs to come up with at least one or two more formation with Snejider as a play maker, his selection of how to use Sneijder effectively is not present at the moment.

Posted by Sia on 01/30/2012

I like to add that Inter has agreed to Coutinho loan to Espanyol which in my opinion it is a huge mistake.

Posted by mustafa on 01/30/2012

Sneijder is still the better option for Inter. For Zarate, he is full of quality but can go too far forward and forget to defend.

Posted by Levi on 01/30/2012

Ranieri mentioned in a press conference that it's possible that once forlan is healthy again they may switch to a 4-2-3-1 with Forlan out wide and sneijder behind a lone striker (probably pazzini). Any thoughts?

Posted by Aflack on 01/30/2012

Has Forlan ever played a wide position in 4-2-3-1? Asking a 32 year old to change his game is quite a task, especially at a position that requires tracking back and breaking out with speed.

Posted by Jrank on 01/30/2012

what we need is to take out of form pazzini and put in a young ready to play zarate im tired of watching game after game where pazzini is out of form and is dead still we need more play from zarate up front hes got great dribbling and control let alone pace which i think is way better then pazzini

Posted by Tony on 01/31/2012

I more or less agree with everything stated thus far. Clearly, the Lecce game was the game to try some other players and rest some tired legs of the squad. Being knocked out of the Coppa and scrambling for third place while trying to advance in the Champions League will further stretch this teams energy levels. An opportunity missed and I am afraid it will bite us later. Can anyone explain what Obi offers that Poli, Faroani or even now loaned out Countinho don't? The day will come when Zanetti will need to sit and his performance yesterday was the worst I have seen from him ever. He was not even inspiring his lackluster mates to play hard. Inter did sign a 20yr old center back today, Juan. Not that he will ever get to play due to the "risk" of losing points. Ranieri dressed 5 potential center backs against Lecce, that alone told me we were in trouble let alone the Zarate intro....Lord help us get to 3rd place, it's all we can hope for this season.

Posted by Sam on 01/31/2012

Agree completely, Inter seem to have the belief that the youth players are the problem not the solution, they do not give them enough faith and rely too much on players who have done it in the past, rather than letting the younger guys show what they can do. Coutinho never got enough of a shot, neither did Santon, Destro etc. They could have been great but Inter refuse to let them do anytyhing. Rnaieri seems to now be relying on Forlan coming back, another player who is getting on. Castignos however is left simmering on the sidelines, his confidence fading. Young players need the confidence of their coach or else they risk fading into nothing. I like what Rnaieri has done but for me it is coming at the cost of Inters long term future. Inter need to think past the now and begin building something for the long term. A coach who can nurture and give players confidence and our owner needs to accept that it takes time to build a great long lasting successful team

Posted by footyfetish on 01/31/2012

the problem is players like Zanetti, Lucio or Samuel are inconsistent. they have a great game, then a decent game, then a poor game, and at the top level that's not good enough. for some reason, however, they always seem to get a pass on these boards. I see people try to find a scapegoat (either a less popular player or the coach), but rarely do I see any of these players criticized. sure, they all had a great game vs Milan, but you can't coast on that for the rest of the season. whatever happened to Ranocchia, anyway, why has he been marginalized?

Posted by Pietro on 01/31/2012

@ footyfetish. Lucio maybe but Zanetti and Samuel inconsistent? They are still the most consistent players Inter have! Samuel vs Lecce made a mistake, only one in the beginning and thank gos the Lecce forward missed it. After that he was spot on. Zanetti did not play at his best but he wasn't a burden for anyone in the team. Ranocchia played vs Napoli just because Lucio got the flu... so yes, he's been marginalized

Posted by footyfetish on 01/31/2012

@ pietro; attacking players are streaky by nature, whereas defenders are expected to be more consistent. Samuel was lucky on a number of occasions when his blunders almost cost us goals, even in the game vs Milan Pato could've easily scored twice off of his mistakes, and that was a "good" game for Samuel. just because he makes a good tackle every now and then and looks all menacing some people says he's "the wall" but to my eyes he's getting pretty slow and his positioning is off. I thought this was gonna be Ranocchia's year, he's got loads of talent, just needs some experience. Also, it's a shame Coutinho's leaving, even on loan, seems like all these young players are dumped to the side.

Posted by Parth on 01/31/2012

To be honest, Inter werent really creating chances. They had a lot of ball, but were only trying one thing - Get to flanks, wipe in the ball, try to head in. There was no variety, no inspiration.

Posted by Pietro on 01/31/2012

@ footyfetish. I like Ranocchia too and he played very well last season. However I still disagree about Samuel, imo he's still one of our best players. I agree that Coutinho leaving is a shame and Guarin is no better than Obi so I dont understand our transfer market

Posted by Ned on 01/31/2012

Guarin is a potentially outstanding player. Physically and technically gifted, he's got a rocket of a shot on him and puts himself about. Good luck.

Posted by Sia on 01/31/2012

Gianni, you should write a small blog on Inter's January transfer market? And share with us your thoughts regarding the changes? Just a suggestion of course.

Posted by Gianni on 02/01/2012

Hi Sia, I have followed your suggestion. Thanks.

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