It is never ever acceptable for Inter to lose to Juventus in any match regardless of its nature and the 3-0 humbling Inter took from their arch-rivals away from home will not be easily digested by Inter fans the world over. The defeat just underlines and increases focus on Inter's poor patch of form. It's the first time this season that Inter have hit a rough patch.
All throughout the season, Inter hasn't received much plaudits for their style of play or the manner with which they achieve results. I feel it is fair criticism for Inter have not played very well for much of this season and yet have managed to scrap out wins to reach the higher regions of the league table and for a period of time were top, closing 2015 in top position. In this period, Inter were very solid, tough to break down, determined and united. However, there were also games where Inter played more freely to get their wins by and large though, Inter's football this season have not been pleasant to the eye and it's tough to imagine a side that largely scrapes it's way to the league title in modern football even in a country renowed for tactical football like Italy. Granted, a team worth its salt in emerging as league champions would be one that is solid in defence and is able to scrape out wins or results when the going gets tough and that is a vital component in emerging as champions of Serie A. In those aspects, Inter are on the right track but I personally don't feel a team can play like that for most of the season and win the league title.
The positives that were prevalent in my previous post on Inter. Defensively, Inter are still solid and hard to break down. Inter still remain very well organised and tenacious. Mancini has rotated his squad well and kept everyone on their toes. He has made the side a chameleon, rotating formations to match their opponents. However, individual mistakes are creeping into the defensive third which is one factor why Inter have been dropping points and not winning matches. In the match against Sassuolo, they had to face up to a stupendous display by Antonio Mirante in goal. Inter had enough chances and shots on goal to win two football matches but it wasn't to be in this one. They were caught out on the counter attack as they tried desperately to get one goal at least to win the match, the otherwise excellent Joao Miranda giving away a penalty in stoppage time for Sassuolo to score and condemn Inter to their first defeat of 2016. In the match against Atalanta, Jeison Murillo, another excellent acquisition scored an own goal before Inter grabbed an equaliser ironically through an Atalanta own goal. The team offered little going forward to warrant a win or score a second goal and had the heroics of Samir Handanovic to thank for the win. Inter then beat the impressive Napoli in the Coppa Italia quarter finals for only their second win of 2016. In the match against Carpi, Inter had a good first half where they were in the lead but were slightly lucky that Carpi's first chance of the match was pulled back for a perceived foul on Murillo. In the second half, Roberto Mancini's change of formation disrupted the team's flow and they couldn't adjust as they struggled to create anything of note. A further change to the formation did little to help Inter rediscover it's attacking purpose. Despite that, Inter did create some clearcut chances and there was a particularly clear chance that fell to Mauro Icardi who took too long to get his shot away. Carpi then hit Inter on the counter attack deep in stoppage time to grab an equaliser and set up a variety of puns that were born out of the name of the Carpi goalscorer, Kevin LASAGNA. Finally, there was that heavy and sickening defeat to Juventus in the Coppa Italia semi finals.
Mistakes are creeping into Inter's defence and for a team that has largely depended on its defensive solidity and the excellence of their goalkeeper to win matches, it is proving to be costly mistakes as Inter can't seem to win matches or hang on to leads. The second contributing factor has been apparent all season and that is the lack of creativity in midfield. Mancini had built the midfield to be gritty and workmanlike in the summer. In this aspect, Gary Medel has done very well and he has even dropped back to be an auxiliary centre back with equal comfort and excellence despite the presence of centre backs like Andrea Ranocchia and Juan Jesus in the squad. Felipe Melo has done well as long as he has his head screwed on but unfortunately he has shown to be a ticking time bomb that can explode at any time. Geoffrey Kondogbia who arrived amidst much fanfare in the summer, has been disappointing. I didn't understand the hype over his signing then having not seen him play much previously and I don't understand it now having seen him play. Marcelo Brozovic has been the most potent attacking threat from midfield while Fredy Guarin has just been his usual hit and miss self. Inter has desperately missed the drive and creativity of Mateo Kovacic, who I always felt was going to be a big loss to Inter as he wasn't adequately replaced in the summer. The decision to have a workmanlike, gritty and tenacious midfield is now coming back to bite Inter.
In the attack, Ivan Perisic hasn't looked like his normal self. He has only displayed glimpses of what we know of him in terms of assists, getting past his man and getting shots on target. He has down well in his defensive duties though. Stevan Jovetic started the season explosively but has fizzled out. He is not a number 9 and his natural tendency is to drop back into the number 10 role but yet Mancini plays him as a number 9. He has not developed a good partnership and understanding with Icardi. He did little in the match against Atalanta where he was used from the start but played a crucial part in Inter's Coppa Italia quarter final win against Napoli. His form has been inconsistent and he is not having the impact that is expected of him. Adem Ljajic has been a revelation. He played little early in the season and looked like he was on collision cause with the manager at one stage but he has performed very well recently. He has created a lot of good opportunities for his team-mates and himself and not neglected his defensive duties. Jonathan Biabiany hasn't featured much for me to give an opinion on him, Rodrigo Palacio is the best striker we have got to play the number 9 position offering greater mobility and dexterity than our current number 9, Icardi. Icardi is an over-rated striker. I had stated over the summer that I would have rather Inter cash in on him. He doesn't offer much except waiting for the ball to come to him and that too he is making a royal mess out of getting his shots away or on hitting the target. It has been so frustrating watching Inter squander chances that Mancini offered to show his strikers how it is done and I reckon even at 50, Mancini would be the team's best centre forward if he played.
Overall, the defence is making individual errors, the midfield is not creative enough and the attack is toothless which is why Inter have reach a rough patch. Out of these factors, two factors existed from the start of the season. Inter's midfield was built not to be creative and the attack was always toothless because despite last season's Capocannoniere, Icardi is not a good enough forward to get goals on his own like Ronaldo, Hernan Crespo, Adriano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Diego Milito were in the past. He plays an old-fashioned game where he needs chances created for him on a platter and it doesn't suit him to play in this team for this Inter is more focused on keeping out their opponents than imposing their game on their opponents and creating their own chances. It's inexplicable why Inter are resorting to play in such way and I have bemoaned the fact all season. I believe football matches are won when you take risks, go forward and create chances to score. It is out of fashion for a team to play ultra-defensive, looking to hit their opponents on the counter and forcing them to make mistakes to score. Such approach is not suitable to be used in modern football and certainly not the way a big team like Inter should be playing. I believe in each season, each team has it's fair share of luck that eventually evens itself out at the end of the season. Inter has used a sizeable chunk of its luck to get to where it is now and it is equalising itself now. Moreover luck favours the brave and if Inter are not brave enough to go forward and create chances, how do they expect to get a little lucky when trying to force a result?
At the onset of the second round of fixtures, I was of the opinion that this would be Mancini's real test this season as Inter tend to struggle in the second half of the season in recent seasons. Inter had a great first half to the season in Andrea Stramaccioni's first full season in 2012-13 and Walter Mazzari's first season in 2013-14 but they struggled badly, failing to qualify for Europe in 2012-13 and just about qualifying for the Europa League in 2013-14, in the second half of the season. It has not been a great start for Inter in the second half of this season so far and you would think that the present squad has more quality than the ones Stramaccioni and Mazzari possessed and would pull through it soon but football is not won on paper. This is the first real challenge for Mancini this season and he has to steady the ship and rediscover the team's form to qualify for the Champions League. Anything short of that would be a failure. All throughout the season, the manager and the Inter hierarchy has downplayed Inter's Scudetto hopes and that should be help to avoid placing more pressure on the team in this rough patch but the team's free fall has seen them slip out of the Champions League positions albeit on goal difference. Time will tell if this is only a temporary blip or a permanent slump and the teams need to win more than one game to be able to get back into the position it wants to be.
In the winter transfer window, Dodo has left to joined Sampdoria on loan which is a valid move because the left full back position has at least 3 options for Mancini to choose from and it could do him some good to get game time elsewhere. Ranocchia's time at Inter was up when Medel was favoured over him in the early parts of the season in some matches when Murillo or Miranda were missing due to injury or suspension. He too has moved on to Sampdoria on loan in his bit to regain his place in Italy's squad for Euro 2016. I feel at this point where Miranda and Murillo are going to be missing through suspension and mistakes are creeping in the defence, he could have been able to lend a hand in shoring up the defence especially with a point to prove in his mind. Guarin has finally left Inter after going close to an exit for the past few transfer windows but there has been no indication at all that Inter would sign someone creative to replace him in this transfer window. There has been talk about signing Roberto Soriano but it doesn't look likely to be concluded in January. Inter is expected to invest on the amount received from Guarin's sale on signing Eder, a signing if it is successful, I would be excited about as Inter would finally get a modern centre forward that can score goals on his own and works for the team (and an Italian international albeit an Oriundi).
Inter has another big match coming up against AC Milan and both teams head into the derby in indifferent form. In such matches, form goes out of the window and this match has draw written all over it on paper. It is a big match for Inter on the back of their poor form. AC Milan needs the points to stay within reach of their objective of at least qualifying for the Europa League and grab some bragging rights as well. Let's see what the derby throws at us.
