Inter WLD

Following on from my post yesterday on Manchester United, this is my review on Internazionale Milano. 

Inter played Hellas Verona and won 1-0 to stay top with 5 wins out of 5 matches. A perfect record and a new club record. It sounds pleasant but the football has been anything but pleasant. The Inter camp were pretty bullish about the football played with a devil may care attitude. Who cares about entertaining, good football as long as we win. That's what they say but it grated at me because I know Inter can't go on playing like that and getting away with it. Things got to change before Inter are caught out.

Next for Inter was an early top-of-the-table clash against Fiorentina. Inter's next big test after the Milan derby. I didn't watch the match as it wasn't shown "live" in Malaysia. I wasn't surprised to know that Inter lost but I was rather surprised at the scoreline. I would say it was coming as Inter have been getting away with it from the start of the season.

I can't comment on the football played as I didn't watch the match but based on what I have read, Fiorentina deserved the win as they played better. In a strange way, I was happy because good football prevailed and I hope it serves as a lesson to Roberto Mancini and his coaching staff that they got to play better if they are to win matches and trophies. Victories can be eked out when the going gets tough and it's not exactly your day, that is a sign of a champion team. You can get lucky in some matches but you can't eke out results every single game and get lucky all the time.

Finally last weekend, I managed to catch Inter play against Sampdoria away at the Luigi Ferraris stadium after missing the last 2 matches. From the start, Inter were on the backfoot and Sampdoria hit Inter with rapid counter-attacks. Inter lacked the ability to retain possession and the guile or pace to create chances at the start. Slowly, Inter grew into the match and got better but Sampdoria continued to create better chances. Sampdoria had an incredible miss in the first half through Joaquin Correa who somehow put his shot wide in front of a gaping goal. Inter had a good chance too when Fredy Guarin lacked the awareness around him to rush an acrobatic volley over when in acres of space, yards away from goal.

Sampdoria then took a deserved lead on another of their rapid counter-attacks through Luis Muriel who had already fired one effort wide before scoring minutes later. Inter to their credit got a deserved equaliser after huffing and puffing for the most of the second half. There was no better person to score than Ivan Perisic who was arguably Inter's best player. He put in a great shift and I was particularly impressed by the effort and commitment shown to track back and break up attacks. Overall, I feel it was a deserved result and if anything, Inter were more likely to grab the winner the longer the match went. It was probably as good as I have seen Inter play all season but with lots of room for improvement. 

Adem Ljajic had a good cameo appearance but I have read that he was punished for lack of effort in training which is why he only got 5 minutes against Sampdoria. For a player that has a bit of a reputation of a troublemaker with a contentious past, that doesn't bode well in the dressing room especially if it's not dealt well internally. 

After the international break, Inter face Juventus and it doesn't come bigger than that. More than performance, a victory is needed in this one. It would be a bonus if victory is achieved with a good performance. Mancini would have to take stock of the internationals coming back from international duty before making plans to face Juventus.

Final word on Mancini, I love the style of football he employed early in his first stint at Inter before resorting to a more physical approach in his later years to win the Scudetto which to be honest was not hard to achieve when your rivals are severely weakened due to the Calciopoli sanctions. I would want him to return to that style of football with steel added to the side to avoid conceding so many goals. Unfortunately, I don't think it's possible as Mancini has the belief that football and trophies can be won through a physical approach. 

In the larger scheme of things, I don't mind if any team outside of Juventus or AC Milan win the Scudetto as long as they achieve it with good football. I wouldn't even begrudge Juventus or Milan if they can win the Scudetto with good football. I genuinely believe a team that plays attacking football with intensity and tactical flexibility can win the Scudetto. The league needs a revolution like that to make others sit up, take notice and follow suit.