Internazionale Main Thread II

[caos]

[Totally FRANK]

[Totally FRANK]

Atalanta lead Acquafresca chase
Tuesday 3 June, 2008

Atalanta are in pole position to snap up talented youngster Robert Acquafresca, who could join them on loan for the next two seasons.

The striker is currently co-owned by Inter and Cagliari, with the Nerazzurri expected to sign him completely in June.

However, according to the player’s agent Paolo Fabbri the negotiations may take a long while.

“I believe Cagliari President Massimo Cellino will try to gain time. I don’t think they will reach an agreement soon,â€

[Totally FRANK]

Moratti Praises Mourinho After Presentation
Inter president Massimo Moratti praised his new coach Jose Mourinho after his first press conference.

Like probably many other Italian football followers, Inter president Massimo Moratti was left pleasantly surprised after his new coach Jose Mourinho's first press conference, particularly by his knowledge of the Italian language. Also, his attitude and the clarity of his answers made a positive first impression on the Italian journalists.

"As Mourinho correctly said, there should be no talk of names right now," said Moratti. "Mourinho wanted to do the press conference quickly to explain this, it's not part of his philosophy and it's not part of ours.

"We have a very strong squad already so it would be pointless to make a lot of purchases. Mourinho is here because of what he has done, his fame is tied to the results he obtained. That's why we are very confident."

On recently sacked coach Roberto Mancini, he concluded: "I was forced to do what I did because of what happened that night [after the defeat to Liverfekkin'wankscum, when Mancini said he would quit at the end of the season before taking it back the next day]. We still have to resolve the situation with him."

[Dejan-Stankovic]

The best news possible! No strikers! We already said our strike force is good enough and it shouldn't be tampered with. Ibra, Cruz, Balotelli, Adriano and Suazo is more then adequate! It appears all the signings will be in midfield and that's obviously been our weak point all season, especially on the flanks. So Quaresma, Aqua/Moutinho and .... If this is the case, they are the smartest buys we possibly could have hoped for.

I can't wait to see Mourinho in action. I know I didn't want Mancio to leave but from his first press conference, it's clear he has the ambition to take this club to the top of Europe and that's a major factor for mine.

Also, one of the comments he made will raise a few eyebrows here and there:

What differences will there be between your style of play and Mancini's?
"First I want to meet the players and talk with them. I just want to say that comunication is very important for me, but that comunication always ends with my decision. I can't wait to start coaching the team."

He definitely won't accept any of the nonsense that Mancini let some of the players get away with. I've got no doubt he'll lay the smackdown on any wiseguy-ness from Vieira, Crespo and most importantly, the tub of lard, Adriano.

[Messinterista]

[Messinterista]

[Messinterista]

[Bagg10]

i started cracking up when he said the first time they contacted him was after the 2nd leg of the Liverfekkin'wankscum tie.

[Totally FRANK]

But i don't think he would want to get both lampard and aquilani/moutinho......They are all similar sort of players.....

[Totally FRANK]

Mourinho Puts Five Up For Sale
According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, new Inter boss Jose Mourinho has put five senior players up for sale, including Hernan Crespo and Dejan Stankovic.

The Special One was unveiled to the Italian press for the first time yesterday, where he admitted that he had already begun his transfer plans for the coming season.

The Gazzetta says that Mourinho will put up for sale four members of Inter’s senior squad. The biggest of the quartet to be sold will be Dejan Stankovic, who was a favourite of former coach Roberto Mancini, but struggled badly for form and fitness last season.

One of Mourinho’s ex-players at Chelsea, Hernan Crespo, will also be offloaded, as will another striker David Suazo, who never settled since his move from Cagliari last summer.

Error-prone defender Nicolas Burdisso is the fourth player up for sale, and this is perhaps less of a surprise, given Mourinho’s defensive mindset.

Finally troubled Brazilian striker Adriano will also be made available when he returns from his loan spell at Sao Paulo.

The money that Mourinho receives for these transfers will then be used to fund two or three big signings, with Chelsea’s Frank Lampard continuing to be linked with a move to San Siro.

[RomaShield27]

Porto have been banned from next seasons CL... could push Quaresma closer to Inter?

http://football.guardian.co.uk/breaking ... 04,00.html

[oily]

[Dejan-Stankovic]

[RomaShield27]

Dark arts and cool craft of Italy's defensive fraternity
Jose Mourinho's new assistant Giuseppe Baresi is the Big Jack to little brother Franco's Bobby Charlton

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport – Rob Bagchi – June 4, 2008 12:18 AM

The announcement this week that Jose Mourinho's assistant manager at Internazionale was to be Giuseppe Baresi came as a pleasant surprise. It had been years since I last thought of him, seemingly stuck forever in the shadow of his younger brother, Franco, that most elegantly remorseless of centre-backs, yet an Italian international and Milanese legend in his own right with more than 500 appearances for Inter.

They had always reminded me of a pair of hoary 1970s comic strips in Scorcher, Jack of United and Jimmy of City, featuring two brothers - one a dutiful plodder, the other blessed with charisma and flair. The differences between the two fuelled an obsession with the Italian art of defending, first pricked during England's game in Rome in 1976 when the terrifying Romeo Benetti, nominally a midfielder, menaced then clattered and battered each of England's forwards in turn.

So brazen were the shin-pad-splitting fouls and the impudence with which he treated complaints it made you want to laugh. Italy seemed happy not just to tolerate it but to celebrate it. Although Benetti's performance there and two years later in Argentina became the epitome of the cynicism that critics still use to deride Italian football, there was an even better example in 1982 in Spain.

In the second-phase group game against Argentina, Claudio Gentile launched a concerted assault on Diego Maradona with such devastating effect that it could arguably be said to have won them the tournament. Of course they played superbly in the final and to beat Brazil but let's not forget that Gentile had more of Zico's shirt in his hands during that match than the "White Pele" had on his back.

It was a perfect example of what Arsenal's Double winning captain, Frank McLintock, calls "marking the inside of your shirt". With Leicester in the early 1960s he played in friendlies against Italian sides which were brutal but educational. "Although we had heard horror stories," he told me, "about the lengths some defenders would go to - twisting your testicles or jabbing a finger up your backside - I only ever witnessed pinching, hair-pulling, biting and the ubiquitous bumping."

He found the bumping and nudging, designed to be irritating, infuriating because you can never receive a pass or leave the ground to head the ball without being knocked off balance. It originated, he thinks, in Argentina long before the savage "anti-football" of Estudiantes became notorious. In the late 1950s that was where the best strikers were and a way to stop them had gradually evolved. The defenders he faced were urbane and charming off the field, but on it, he says, they were "absolute bastards to play against".

As were their scions Benetti and Gentile and others such as Mauro Tassotti and Giuseppe Bergomi, one stare from whom could curdle milk. They were so physically intimidating that they expose Italy's current contender for the role, Marco Materazzi, for what he is - a wind-up merchant, his behaviour more galling than sinister.

But Italy has also produced defenders with a surplus of ability, composure and intelligence. For every Gentile there was an Alessandro Nesta. They, as much as the more obviously aesthetically pleasing talents of Roberto Bettega, Giancarlo Antognoni and Giuseppe Giannini, are the reason why Italian football holds its fascination for me.

Those who transcend defending make a simple game more complex and I have never seen one who mastered all the arts as well as Baresi minor. He did not just build a platform at Milan for Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten; his industry, leadership and distribution was the heartbeat of that team.

There's a part in Fever Pitch where Nick Hornby mulls over the fortunes of Arsenal's Gus Caesar, a player who "leaped over every hurdle in his path" from schoolboy to first team only to find himself eclipsed at the finish because sport's "cruel clarity" revealed that he didn't have quite enough of what it takes to succeed. That certainly was not the case with Beppe Baresi but it must be difficult even for a top-class player to be outshone by a world-class one who happens to be his kid brother. Probably, like Jack Charlton, he cherishes his brother's talent while still taking comfort from becoming the better coach. I hope he enjoys his days in the sun with Mourinho but if the Portuguese persists in calling himself the Special One in Milan, perhaps Beppe could offer him some perspective by introducing him to "our kid".

[RomaShield27]

The Liver'fuckingwankingscum also want him bad, I have heard. He would be a great signing.

[Dejan-Stankovic]

From the noise being made in the press, it doesn't appear that Liverfekkin'wankscum have such a large budget for transfers this season. They'reo n the verge of signing Dossena and Degen arrived on a free transfer, but they could be selling Alonso to fund the deal. If those wankers get him, I'll fucking cry.

Personally, I think the chances are Inter - 50%, Real Madrid 30% and Liverwank - 20%.

[Messinterista]

hmm, dejan really? surely there are othas we can remove. even though he may want frankie, dejan will be a gr8 sub for him. i also disagree with the adriano sale.

[Messinterista]

ricardo is ours. shouldnt have to worry about anything. its the portugese the connection.

[Totally FRANK]