Inter sitting in the relegation zone but who is to blame?

No one can deny that the start of the 2011/12 season has been a disaster for Inter with them sitting in the relegation zone at a lowly 18th place with just 4 points from a possible 18 making this possibly the worst ever start to a league campaign in our club’s history.  This got me thinking as to who should take responsibility for this disaster?  Is it the coaches? The players? or even our beloved President Massimo Moratti?  Well in my opinion it’s yes, yes and yes they are all to blame and have contributed to us being in this position.

I then started to think am I the only Interista that thinks this so I decided to ask the Inter Family on Twitter and Facebook to see what the general opinion was and the responses I received proved that there are many issues affecting Inter at the moment, fellow Nerazzurri World writer Hadibase wrote the article Blame the Management: The downfall of Inter Milan in which he gives his opinion on what’s gone wrong. 

Olympiacos 2-2 Inter: ‘Pazzini’ comeback saves Nerazzurri embarrassment

The last pre season friendly of summer 2011 ended in a 2-2 draw for Gasperini’s team against Greek side Olympiacos, and even though Inter had to come back from two behind there was still many positives for the Italians, the first half for example saw Gasperini’s plans starting to take shape with excellent build up play and creation of chances, they also showed the flexibility of the squad with changes in formation from 3-4-3 to 4-3-3. The second half started badly with bad defending giving away the first goal for the 10 man Greek team from a dead ball situation then later a bad clearance from Ranocchia gifted them a second. Though the Nerazzurri fought hard and Pazzini managed to pull off a brace to save the day and finish the game as a draw.

Highlight video via ROARINTER

TIM Trophy 2011: Two mini derby wins and a trophy for Inter

It was Inter’s treble winning hero Diego Milito that showed he was ready for the upcoming season by hitting the crossbar and also scoring the winning goal against Milan to secure the trophy in the second match for Inter in the pre season triangular tournament.  The trophy itself doesn’t really mean anything but if your one of the clubs that doesn’t win it you can be sure of some serious criticism.  The competition consists of three 45 minute games and the winner is the team with the most points at the end of the night, Inter claimed the trophy with 5 points: 2 for the win against Juventus on penalties and 3 for our 1-0 win against Allegri’s AC Milan.  It was by no means a perfect night for the Nerazzurri but it was clear that the team is starting to find it’s shape with the return of south American players that have missed out on the previous pre season games, and even with our new formations and tactics our old character still stood out giving us Interista hope that things are going to come together as the start of the season approaches.

The evening started with the mini derby d’Italia against Juve which ended 1-1 and was decided on penalties

Inter’s Summer Transfers – Do They Really Fit In With Gasperini’s Formations?

With about a month left in this year’s summer transfer window have Inter lived up to the promises made at the end of last season? Unfortunately not! Don’t get me wrong I believe that the players we have signed will be useful to us, but I believe that the biggest thing holding us back is Gasperini’s formations.

We have signed two wing backs, Nagatomo & Jonathan, yet in Gasperini’s formations there is no place for wing backs meaning that these two and Maicon will be forced to play as wingers or full backs dependent on whether we’re playing with a 3 man or 4 man defence. It’s not just the defence that is causing problems with fitting players in, our biggest signing so far is Alvarez who plays CAM or as a winger but so far this pre-season he’s been pushed into a deeper midfield position or as right forward which in the match against Galatasaray he looked pretty uncomfortable in my opinion. Also on the subject of midfielders out of position Gasperini’s formations are also forcing Sneijder (one of the best trequartistas in the game) to play a deep central position which to be fair Wes is taking in his stride and playing well in, though it’s hardly taking advantage of the talent available.

The final problem with his formations in my opinion is the three forwards, the central position is fine with Pazzini & Milito perfect for this role but Eto’o out wide is a problem because he has said several times he wants to play in the middle even though he is great on the left and this could make up his mind about leaving us, also that leaves Pandev for the right and in my opinion he is a complete waste of space, yeah he gets a few goals but in a squad like ours i’m sure even I could score a few! My main problem with Pandev is that he lacks the skill of his team mates and to me he looks clumsy on the pitch.

 

Inter’s 4th pre-season friendly ends in an eventful 0-0 draw against Galatasaray

It was the fourth pre-season summer friendly for Inter yesterday against Turkish side Galatasaray played in the neutral venue of the rewirpowerSTADION in Bochum, Dusseldorf, which is a city of the largest Turkish community in Germany. It wasn’t a surprise to see that the stadium had sold out all of it’s 20,000 seats to see the Turkish giants take on the World Champions. The weather conditions were hardly perfect, with a temperature slightly above 10 degrees, heavy rain, a slippery pitch and a bothersome wind. It also proved to be that the Turkish team & fans were hardly perfect either with some nasty tackles & an incident involving the Galatasaray throwing flares in the second half. Both their players & fans were a disgrace considering this was supposedly a friendly, there is no need for fans of any club to be throwing flares on to the pitch & the crunching tackles coming from the Galatasaray players were out of order, if I didn’t know better I would have thought this game was a UCL knock out match not a pre season friendly & I feel that the Turk club should be fined for the behaviour of their fans.

Inter’s second pre season friendly against Mezzocorona ends 6-1

After a morning training session that included recovery programmes for Ivan Cordoba, Jonathan, Thiago Motta & Nelson Rivas. After the session it was decided that three players weren’t 100% and wouldn’t be involved in the afternoon friendly against Mezzocorona, missing was Yuto Nagatomo (slight muscle strain in the left thigh which he picked up during the morning session), Giampaolo Pazzini (groin fatigue, is this down to the fact he’s still a newly wed? You decide!) & also Walter Samuel (who is still involved in a strength training program after last seasons injury)

So on to the afternoon match which i got to watch on a very grainy & slow live stream that tested my paitence several times by putting adverts on at random times during the match including as Inter scored their first three goals, luckily for me (& the sake of my computer, which i was getting close to throwing out of the window!) it came back on just in time for the replays each time. The fireworks started early before the match when in a mark of respect for the great Giacinto Facchetti who’s 69th Birthday it would have been today, the players came onto the pitch all wearing the special ‘Grande Inter’ shirt with the number 3 on the back, which they then threw in to the crowd as a present for a lucky few Interista.

A week of Interviews for the Nerazzurri

The world’s press has been focused on Inter in the last week or so with the Sneijder transfer saga & the Calcioploi accusations against Facchetti, but the squad at the pre season training camp at Pinzolo have been concentrating on building their fitness & adapting to new coach Gasperini’s tactics. Although the main point of the camp is to get the players and staff ready for the upcoming season there has been a very fan friendly feel to the whole thing with Intersta flocking in their thousands to get a glimpse of their heroes training & also there has been various evening events around the camp to entertain and enthrall the fans present including various appearances by Nerazzurri stars & Gasperini it has just emphasised the whole Inter family philosophy that we are so proud of.

Inter 6-1 Trentino. The new Nerazzurri show class

Inter’s first pre season friendly went with a bang as Gasperini’s flexed their muscles in a 6-1 win over local side Trentino this afternoon with usual suspects Pazzini & Eto’o scoring the first two goals in the 1st half. Trentino managed to claw one back with a high curling shot over Castellazzi. New boy Alvarez slotted home the 3rd and narrowly missed a wonderful long range effort from outside the box, Pandev gave Inter their 4th showing that despite being fairly slow & clumsy he can still put them away. The final two goals came from youngsters Castaignos & Longo. I have to admit I didn’t see the match as I was working but from what I’ve seen on YouTube Ricky & Luc both are showing that they are fantastic purchases for the Nerazzurri as well as the established players showing that the ‘Grande Inter’ is still is alive & kicking. I realise that we were only playing a small fry local team but the squad seems to be connecting very well & for me this upcoming season is looking very promising.

Inter Squad official presentation

There was a “full house” for the official presentation of the 2011/12 Inter squad in Piazza San Giacomo, Pinzolo, this evening, just as the whole of Pinzolo and the Val Rendena are sold out in this period while the area plays host to the Nerazzurri’s pre-season training camp. This evening there was chanting, passion, flags and a huge banner: “Giù le mani da Giacinto” (Hands off Giacinto). The Inter fans wanted to show their support for Facchetti, the symbol of this club, as the team was presented by Roberto Scarpini live on Inter Channel.

After Inter were welcomed to Pinzolo by the local authorities – the mayor of Pinzolo William Bonomi, president of the organising committee, Anita Binelli, president of the local tourism authority (ApT Madonna di Campiglio-Pinzolo-Val Rendena), local councillor for tourism and president of Trentino Marketing SpA Tiziano Mellarini – Signora Bedy Moratti greeted the fans on behalf of the president and the club. Then all the players were called onto the stage one by one: first up was vice captain Ivan Ramiro Cordoba, who also greeted the fans on behalf of captain Zanetti and his other team-mates involved in the Copa America (Cambiasso, Milito, Lucio, Maicon, Julio Cesar) and the Under-20 World Cup (Coutinho). Samuel Eto’o was the last man called up, to great acclaim by the crowd.

There was applause for all the players and an impromptu director’s role for Yuto Nagatomo: he incited everybody to ‘jump if you’re not a Rossoneri fan’ (a typical terrace chant). Gian Piero Gasperini accepted the invitation and began bouncing up and down with the rest of the square.

Location:Piazza San Giacomo, Pinzolo

Inter’s First Day Training at Pinzolo

When the Inter squad & new manager Gian Piero Gasperini arrived at the team hotel in Pinzolo they were greeted by hordes of Interista all waiting to get a glimpse of our heroes, they were all there, apart from those involved in the Copa America and Coutinho (Under-20 World Cup).
The new season for Inter & Gasperini starts here!

Just before the 1st training session at the Stadio Pineta started at 17:00 over 5000 fans opened the training camp with applause & a standing ovation for the giant photograph of a smiling Facchetti unfolded by Ivan Cordoba & Dejan Stankovic which will stay on the wall of the changing rooms facing the pitch for the length of the training camp.
Now the season can get going: Gian Piero Gasperini’s Inter are kicking off with their first training session of 2011/12 & also their first working with the new boss.

The session today was completely dedicated to ball-play, possession exercises & specific training matches. There were specific programmes for Ivan Cordoba, Thiago Motta and Raffaele Di Gennaro. Sulley Muntari, Felice Natalino and Nelson Rivas played with the group for part of the session.
The day was wound down with a series of stretching exercises & as a curtain call Samuel Eto’o challenged Paolo Orlandoni from the penalty spot and scored to the joy of the spectators, he then kicked the ball in to the crowd for one lucky fan as a present.

After signing some autographs, Eto’o went on to speak to Inter Channel.
“It went quite well, a bit warm but not as hot as Milan. I’m feeling good,” he added, “and here we have found a great atmosphere to start a season which won’t be easy. But we really want to give something back to all these people and thank them for their enthusiastic reception by winning. Me leaving Inter according to the press? I spoke to president Moratti after we won the Coppa Italia against Palermo and when the president speaks I say ‘yes’. We’re going ahead together.”. So the season is starting with good news that Eto’o is staying, hopefully now Sneijder will follow suit & help the mighty Nerazzurri be unstoppable again!