ESPN Soccernet - Correspondents - FC Inter Milan

Posted by Gianni Serra on 02/13/2012

If Novara had to face only Inter, manager Emiliano Mondonico would be dreaming of Champions League football now. Hardly any other team will be so generous to them as Inter.

Six points in two games was the maximum Novara could achieve and they got all six against Nerazzurri. Despite the two sides now being led by two different coaches, the outcome was still the same. A Caracciolo's gem was the only goal of the game. More than enough to kill Inter hopes avenging the defeat in Rome with a win.

A clear penalty denied (Poli was clearly fouled), a prodigious save from Pazzini’s shot and a bar hit by Sneijder could have written a different result but the truth is that only losers explain defeat with bad luck. When you play against Novara, choosing to start with Cordoba, Chivu and Stankovic ahead of Ranocchia, Nagatomo and Obi you have already lost [whatever the result]. Just talking about psychology and motivation.

If man management was bad, tactical wisdom turned out to be even worse. To face a team like Novara [10 men behind the ball] with no wide men; no wingers, no overlapping fullbacks, pretending instead to use the central corridor - the most crowded area of the pitch - as the main attacking option was simply suicidal. Such a set up could lead only to a very tough game. And in balanced games you can win or lose. Fifty-fifty percentage. But it was Ranieri's colossal list of mistakes [and Mondonico's shrewdness] that allowed Inter-Novara to be a match on the edge.

Serie A 2011-12 / Day 23

INTER-NOVARA 0-1

INTER: Julio Cesar; Zanetti, Cordoba, Lucio, Chivu (70' Nagatomo); Poli (62' Forlan), Stankovic, Cambiasso; Alvarez (46' Pazzini), Sneijder; Milito. Coach: Ranieri
NOVARA: Ujkani; Lisuzzo, Centurioni, Garcia; Dellafiore (12' Morganella), Porcari (46' Pesce), Radovanovic, Rigoni, Gemiti (65' Paci); Jeda; Caracciolo. Coach: Mondonico

Referee: Russo
Goal: Caracciolo 56'
Yellow cards: Porcari, Morganella
Red card: Radovanovic (80')

Comments

Posted by Sam on 02/12/2012

Unbelievable! I missed the game but was concerned coming into to it considering the form and Ranieris comments after the last game. True to form he bought in Chivu, Stankovic and Cordoba just as he promised and the result turned out to be nothing surprising.
Ranieri has basically laid his faith in the old guard. Forlan was his go to guy to rescue the team despite not having played for a long time.
Interestingly it was Poli, one of the only youngsters trusted who should have given the thrust needed to put Inter ahead but the ref missed what all seem to think was a blatant penalty.
Ranieri cannot evn put the blame on the transition card now as he could of if he was bringing in younger players. He must accept full responsibility for this series of losses. Next season he cannot be coach. Either Capello or Villa Boas must be bought in and be given, regardless of results, at least three full seasons to transition this team. CL is now nothing bit a distant memory for Inter.

Posted by Sia on 02/12/2012

I agree with you 100% Gianni. Here is my comment re-posted again.

I normally wait for Gianni to write his Blog before I put in my two cents on the subject. But today match against Novara in my opinion was mostly 80%-90% coaching mistake and it belongs under this blog regarding coaching.

Ranieri introduced this line up today which is beyond me as a fan.

Cordoba, Chivu, Stankovic all in one breath, these three have not played in 3 to 4 months, they are beyond slow and old, why put 3 players all old and out of shape in one game together.

Then he took the only two young players which were doing all the work out, Poli and Alvarez and kept slow Stankovic and Chivu on most of the game, until Novara scored, then in last 20 mins he tried to play catch up game by adding Forlan and Pazzini to the attack.

Inter practically played with two men disadvantage through out the game due to bad coaching selection and mistakes by Ranieri.

Posted by Tony on 02/13/2012

Agree with you Gianni.

The lineup gave it all away prior to kickoff and in game tactics made it all the worse. Ranieri has let us down after giving us so much hope.

I have to accept, albeit with great disappointment, that the season is over as far as a top three place is concerned.

Posted by Angel on 02/13/2012

For the positives, i loved seeing Ricky and Sneijder together in the midfield, it would have been sweeter if Maicon was up front to join them, but he was not available due to previous buckings. Cambiasso and Poli also had nice games.

The first half was played with allot of energy, but once Novara went up inter lost their focus. Wes & Stankovic started to kick everywere they could, and the forwards were lost due to lack of passes from midfield.

The issue i saw that was of tactical concern is that Novara played the way inter should of played. They were tactically balanced in defense, and played the counter attack beautifully. They had at least 3 clean shots that could of been goals. Inter wanted to attack attack attack, when they should of played the counter. Inter under estimated their opponents, and payed dear for it. I say play every game like your playing AC Milan, with hard defense and counter attack. With the tools we have, inter are qualified for that style hands down.

Posted by footyfetish on 02/13/2012

I don't agree with some of the comments here. I think we played a decent first half and with a bit of luck, or minus some selfishness from Snejider, we could've gone up and then the team would've gained in confidence. We got caught out because Lucio went up for that free kick and got stuck in no man's land and our defense got outnumbered on the counterattack. But that happens, and I don't even blame Lucio because what can you do when Pazzini's just taking up space up front. What really bothered me throughout the game is Sneijder taking one shot after another when he had strikers in much better positions. He also hit a string of poor free kicks-- why not let Stankovic take one every now and then? Very selfish and it totally destroyed the whole rhythm in attack.

Posted by Parth on 02/13/2012

I feel Inter should play as many youngsters as possible without thinking of victories. Ironically, I feel Inter will win more with such strategy.

Hope Inter go past Marsellie (Fingers crossed).

Posted by Stephen on 02/13/2012

This was the last straw. I like Ranieri, but this was inexcusable. It's only a matter of time before he is shown the door.

Posted by Nathan on 02/13/2012

Sometimes it might be better to wait 48 hours before offering an opinion. The Lecce match was a disaster, the Napoli Coppa match turned on yet another inexplicable refereeing decision that went against Inter, the Roma match was as bad as anything from the end of the Cuper era. This match strikes me as one Inter could and should have won. One can say that only losers complain about luck, but proper decision making by the referee isn't luck. If a blindingly obvious penalty is called a Novara win becomes very, very unlikely.

I too would like to see more reliance on youth, but the indications here that Ranieri is hopeless and should be fired now strike me as counterproductive. The man is not an idiot or a dilettante. Capello is not the answer; Inter most assuredly does not need a man who leaves boiling bad blood wherever he goes. The big issue now is Sneijder, he is not scoring or providing assists and Inter's total loss of form coincides neatly with his return to fitness.

Posted by el_capo79 on 02/13/2012

I'm sick and tired when I hear Ranieri should play more the young players. Guess what, none of them are young anymore. They're getting older and older because Morati knows better than the coaches when it comes to who should play. Except Benitez everyone else just plays the same old players. We should not be playing Obi, faraoni, poli, ranochia, nagatomo, etc because they're younger. It should be because militia, cambiaso, chivu, Cordoba, Samuel, stankovic and above all, ZANETI are too ... old (yes it is time for the captain to retire).
This does not excuse Ranieri at all. The changes were completely idotic and the starting 11 was set for failure from the get go.
By the way I totally agree with Nathan, since Sneider returned, this team is looking more and more chaotic (sorry to everyone for the long posting. I had to vent but the funny thing is I don't feel any better)

Posted by Levi on 02/13/2012

I would have to disagree about Cambiasso and even Zanetti. I think one day (possibly soon) the captain will no longer be able to tackle effectively, go on long forward runs, and run back for defense. But not today. He's far from the problem. I think people are blaming age for other things. Chivu is not too old. He's 30. He is too slow to play on a squad that needs its backs to make runs in support and his D is too inconsistent. Stankovic may be too old to run, but he had a good game anyway. His passing was consistent and accurate. Still, its probably time to replace him. Cordoba is too old to start, but that's why he doesn't. He is filling in for an injured Samuel. What needs to be discussed is not the age of the players, but why these world champions are unfocused and unstable. The injection of youth cannot be the only solution here - or it would have worked already.

Posted by el_capo79 on 02/13/2012

I can tell you exactly why our guys are not focused and fail to deliver (well at least my 2 cents on the matter).
First of all when you change coaches this often it is impossible for the players not to blame the coach and take no responsability for the bad results.
Secondly we have lost the sense of being a team. We didn't become world champions because of having the greatest talents in the world. We won everything because we played as a team. After Leonardo, I can't remember the last time we've done that. Too many players take unnecessary shots when their teammates are in better scoring positions. That coupled with very slow and aging players, young players unsure about if their efforts and patience will be rewarded, an owner that can't seem to support any coach (other than mourinho) and you have the perfect recipe for chaos.

Posted by Nathan on 02/13/2012

The one aspect of being an Inter supporter that I do not enjoy overmuch is the seeming inability of Interisti to accept anything other than winning everything all the time. This hasn't been a particularly enjoyable campaign but these things happen. Barcelona is 10 points back of Real Madrid and appear to be running out of gas; it can happen to any club. Alex Ferguson seems to be the only manager that can regenerate and win at the same time, and I don't think he is available.

Posted by sam on 02/13/2012

@Nathan: It is a funny quality for Inter supporters to suffer with the team and accept nothing but victory. In this instance however I have to disagree that this is the problem. Most Inter fans I have spoken to have accepted that we are in a trough at the moment and in a period of transition. I think the problem is that although we have accepted this transition period, it seems that the manager and owner have not, and therefore we have the situation of bad results and no real sign of transition.
Barca a few years ago offloaded Ronaldinho, Deco, and many other stars, allowing youth to flourish and look how they did. Instead of following this path however we followed Milan who were world beaters, refused to transition and suffered for a number of seasons. Even now they have only papered over the cracks in their team and a struggling for a competitive outfit. Inter need to let some of the older favs go and 'refresh' the team, top professional teams cannot afford sentimentality.

Posted by Bellal A. on 02/14/2012

I agree with Sam, we need to inject youth...hopefully Guarin and Palombo can make a decent impact. but i am doubtful.

Posted by Angel on 02/14/2012

Incorporating young players is a great thing to a club, but their must exist a balance. Arsenal for example cleaned house and wanted to go young, and have not had any real success in winning silverware in the last 8yrs or so. I believe Inter can still play with Stankovic, Forlan, Chivu, but you must put players like Alvarez, Poli, or Costaignos along side them to help them mature, and make the team work better together.

I remember when Ronaldinho played in Barcelona, they would always put Iniesta or Messi to play along side him to let them gain minutes & experience, and slowly make the transition over a period of 3yrs to incorporate them more in the regular starting lineup.

The issue is not age i believe, instead it's finding consistency and inter's lack of effective creativity. This team was made to counter attack, we have the players, and the coach...only thing missing is to play as a team.

Posted by footyfetish on 02/14/2012

I just came on here to add a little thought about the team needing balance, and I see Angel's already addressed that. Well spoken! My thoughts exactly.

Posted by Sia on 02/14/2012

I'm with Sam, his last remarks are fantastic and very true.

Posted by Nathan on 02/14/2012

@ Sam: Honestly, I think it is inaccurate to indicate that Moratti has not accepted this as a period of transition. Castaignos, Alvarez, Faraoni, Poli, Nagatomo, Juan, Guarin, and Ranocchia are not the kind of players you buy or bring through if you do not have an eye on the future. The club has been preparing for Financial Fair Play for some time now. I may not have personally liked selling Eto'o and Motta, but when clubs show a willingness to overpay by half for aging players, what choice is there? Moratti has been deficit spending for years and we have all come to expect it.

Barcelona ditched Ronaldinho and Deco when they became more trouble than they were worth. Both players became more trouble than they were worth at other top clubs as well.

Posted by Sam on 02/14/2012

@Nathan and Angel: I would be the first to thank Moratti for all he has done for the club but my concern is what is happening with these young players. As Inter's biggest fan Moratti is indebted to the legends at the club for the treble year, like we all are. Unfortunately as President he needs to make the tough call to let some of them move on for the good of both the club and the younger players. Angel states that Inter are an awesome counter attacking team which is true but the players we are buying are not suited to this style of game and are suffering. Coutinho, Alvarez, Guarin etc are passing players or wide players and if they are to succeed they need a style that suits them. I dont say clear the house but I think we need to look at the qualities of the future stars of Inter and decide which style will suit them and which veterans can fit into this style otherwise their skills will be wasted. We need to build a team not a collection of individuals.

Posted by Varun on 02/15/2012

It is in games like this one that you get to see Ranieri's Tinkerman policies in full fail force.If the starting XI was bad, the decision to replace Alvarez for Pazzini was even worse. The Argentinean and Sneijder kept the pressure on Novara through the middle (there are no wide players at Inter so that strategy was impossible). Pazzini has really not done much to deserve the amount of time he gets on the pitch, Milito would try and spill his guts even when things were not going his way but by contrast Giampaolo sits and waits. Without Maicon, introducing Pazzini is a useless tactic as the Italian has himself admitted. I for one, hope that Inter fail to reach the CL - just because that might wake Moratti up to the reality of the situation. I don't want Inter to spend heavily in the market as there are enough young players out there already. What this game missed was decisive strikers like Eto'o and Balotelli - unfortunately we thought it wise to sell them both.

Posted by Mustafa on 02/15/2012

After all these comments, I would like to reflect on the happenings at Inter. I don't like how many Italian teams this these days that are still looking to figure out the future of football. In England and Spain, teams are integrating the U-20 teams into the first teams, so that there is a very smooth transition between the two. This allows for a smooth path for the young ones to play. Ranieri has problems to fix, but I would like for him to do that, because right now
we have a lot of talent within our ranks. Gianni, I know that you being an Italian journalist, you understand the Italian football vibe a bit better than I do, and I was wondering if you could reflect on my ideas, please?

Posted by Nathan on 02/15/2012

@ Varun: The sales of Eto'o and Balotelli were for very different reasons. Balotelli finally found the outer limits of everyone's patience and City came forward with a great deal of money. Moratti would have sold Recoba for that kind of cash. Anzhi made an offer that neither Inter or Eto'o could refuse. No other club on earth would have paid that much for an aging striker.

Posted by Varun on 02/16/2012

@Nathan: No I understand Inter's logic behind both those sales, but it seemed foolhardy to sell Balotelli especially after Mou left. A new manager should have been given time to see if he could integrate him into the squad.

Then while Eto'o's departure was again forced by the wages offered to him and the amount at stake, it seems that the Inter management was too confused whether they wanted to offload him or Sneijder.

There is huge potential for a younger Inter and I think a few more purhcases think Goetze, Rossi and Ogbonnam, could really transform this team. However, the problem is with all the youngsters to adapt to Italian football and be given a chance we need a revolutionary coach - Guardiola if he is available or Hiddink.

Posted by Nathan on 02/16/2012

@ Varun: You make some very reasonable points and I do not see much to disagree with. Personally, I would always give Rossi a wide berth. Something about him has always rubbed me the wrong way. Seeing him celebrate like a lunatic when he scored against the US, a country where he essentially spent his entire life, confirmed it for me.

Posted by ricky mahendra on 02/17/2012

go inter milan spirit

Posted by ricky mahendra on 02/17/2012

go inter milan spirit
back on track scudetto
never give up.........

Posted by Mustafa on 02/18/2012

You know what I feel like right now? I feel like throwing my head through a wall and forgetting that I was ever an inter fan. I AM CALLING FOR RANIERI'S HEAD!!!!!! Bologna 3-0 inter? Am I dreaming?? When will this be over? Let's all protest against ranieri!!!! CAPELLO, if you are reading this, I want to let you know how badly we need you. As always, pazzo Inter!!!

Posted by Angel on 02/18/2012

Time to start from scratch....and time to bench the so called 'star' players, perhaps that will make the players react.

Everything starts in defense, and ends in defense with this team. The season can't go on with the current system of attack.

Bench Rannochia, Nagatomo permanently please, along with All the forwards except Milito. the team needs to make drastic tactical changes in order to at least be at middle of the table or stay at top 5.

Posted by Angel on 02/18/2012

Time to start from scratch....and time to bench the so called 'star' players, perhaps that will make the players react.

Everything starts in defense, and ends in defense with this team. The season can't go on with the current system of attack.

Posted by Zaid on 02/18/2012

Like almost everyone else, I am much speechless on what to say after watching the Bologna game. The mind goes empty, the heart stopped, the desire vanquished.

I firmly believe Inter are going to suffer this season, if the youngsters are not drafted in immediately. Anyhow, the damage will be probably felt when CL is in full swing. Which mean winning all the league games again 'weaker' opponents such as Lecce, Novara, Bologna given that we are 'stronger' and most of the matches is at home. Past track record is overwhelmingly on Inter favour. But nothing can prepare me for this (what happened now).

The invisible winning mentality instilled with such hardship by a certain Portuguese is not only such a distant memory, its totally gone now.

Ranieri should stop being such an in-denial egomaniac and resign.

Please do the respectable action and be accounted for your damaging mistakes.

But I guess, he is just like every other manager and is waiting for Moratti to sack him.

Posted by Gianni on 02/18/2012

@ Mustafa. To put it simply: Ranieri knows that he needs to get results today to save his job tomorrow, and he thinks veterans are the safest option. Maybe with a 5-year contract he'd have behaved in a different way. Maybe... but I don't think so. Zeman is the ideal coach for youngesters not Ranieri. Never been.

Posted by Katarina on 02/25/2012

It rlealy is a sad situation. The decision making from the top has been terrible in the past year and a half putting Inter in a terrible position moving forward. The only way I see things getting better if we bet solely on the young players we have and wait it out, or spend crazy money to fix things only to go through this mess again.Thanks for commenting.

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