Internazionale Main Thread III

[Lombardiamia]

Hold on. With Benitez's players (Mascherano & Kuyt), this team would have been much better, but those 2 are honestly off budget, especially wage-wise. Probably we should have done more about Mascherano since he is still relatively young, but Kuyt was expensive, has a high wage and is over 30 years of age I beleive.
M_I dont blindly believe what Benitez is saying in that interview. He wanted Sanchez in january?? We've been after him for more than a year, but Pozzo beleived blindly that his cost would have been much higher if he played all last season with Udinese and he was damn right. Sure Sanchez's cost was lower, but there was no way anyone could get him back then. Benitez is playing a silly game here. I had been contrary to sending Benitez away, but to be honest...I havent seen him once saying he's done a mistake about something...Jesus Christ blame the mercato all you want, but don't tell me he's never done one single mistake in those 6 months?
Maro, I believe saturday's match pointed directly at our near future with regards to formation. 3-5-2. Pazzini & Milito can play together, but then again, Gasp is using a rotation system so Milito one day, Pazzini the next. Can't complain about that having a match every 3 days..

[maro]

I was thinking in more general terms, to be honest, Lomba: almost all of Sphincter's struggles in the past 15 months, in my opinion, have stemmed directly from Moratti's bizarre refusal to freshen up the squad last summer. In addition to fresh legs, it would have brought new enthusiasm to the squad and allowed the new coach to build his team. I suspect Moratti naively imagined the squad was good enough simply to go on winning. So instead you've had a squad that's been getting older, has lost a little mental sharpness, and has become increasingly convinced that it is more powerful than any coach that is brought in: a recipe for disaster in every way and pretty easily predicted.

Benitez's attempts to rehabilitate his reputation via the media are understandable but also pretty pathetic - but that's a different point.

[Lombardiamia]

I agree with you on all accounts. We needed fresh legs, especially in the middle of the park, considering our main midfielders are all well above their 30's. We've been saying this for 2-3 years now. I'm not fully sure as to why Moratti has been this reluctant to spend, though one understands that we're spending just as much as we're getting in. So it seems that the real issue here is not being able to sell or not having enough good material to actually sell. Having said that, we are simply increasing our problems by getting in a coach every 6 months...

[Marco_Italia]

[red]

I think Gasperini said that he brought on Muntari to try and put more pressure on De Rossi, so Roma couldn't play out from the back so easily.

Not an obvious change to make, but not a completely unreasonable one.

[kros]

[Bagg10]

Although I bursted out in laughter when I saw muntari coming off the bench, partly because I didn't realize he still played for inter, I must admit inter looked more dangerous after he came on. The reason for that is because it freed up sneijder a bit and pushed him up the field. What I don't understand is why pazzini isn't playing. Imo he's your best finisher. And if you're having a problem with pace and stamina in the midfield, maybe its time to throw poli out there. It's not like the kid is inexperienced, he's been a starter in serie a for damp for two years now.

[Totally FRANK]

Poli is still out injured along with Stankovic and Motta. Cambiasso, Zanetti and Muntari are all we have right now.

[Messinterista]

[Messinterista]

Inter without Stankovic in Novara

Dejan Stankovic, Ivan Cordoba and Thiago Motta have not recovered for tonight’s Novara-Inter, but Cristian Chivu returns.

Gian Piero Gasperini named a 22-man squad for this evening’s Serie A Week 4 trip to the Stadio Piola, which kicks off at 19.45 UK time.

Chivu is back in the side after missing out on the 0-0 draw with Roma, but Stankovic, Cordoba, Thiago Motta, Andrea Poli, Douglas Maicon and Emiliano Viviano are still unavailable.

There had also been some doubts over the fitness of Wesley Sneijder, but he took part in the full training session before travelling to Novara.

Inter squad: Julio Cesar, Castellazzi, Orlandoni; Zanetti, Lucio, Ranocchia, Samuel, Chivu, Faraoni, Jonathan, Nagatomo; Sneijder, Alvarez, Cambiasso, Obi, Coutinho, Muntari; Pazzini, Forlan, Milito, Zarate, Castaignos

Source: http://www.football-italia.net/sep20a.html

[Messinterista]

Reja apparently attempted to resign from Lazio but the move was blocked. Any chance Moratti has been in his ear?

[Bagg10]

Chi non salta interista è, è!!

[Messinterista]

Great news is that Gasperini should be gone in the next 24 hours. Bad news is that there is no WC Manager to replace him. We cannot go for another local coach with no experience managing WC players. I hope Moratti throws mountains of cash at Ancelotti even if there is a slight chance that he'd consider us, but I think he is waiting out for Roma to remove Enrique.

[Bagg10]

You're best bet is Ranieri on a one year contract, then assess the situation from there.

[Messinterista]

I can see him being sacked another 3 matches in if he doesn't win, but realistically is our only available option.

[Bagg10]

There's also Donadoni... :/

[Lombardiamia]

[Messinterista]

The fact that he was able to get Juve to 3rd and 2nd so soon after their promotion to Serie A as well as a 2nd for Roma in the year we won the treble shows he has it in him. What about Van Gaal as an alternative? We know what he is capable of in Europe.

[RomaShield27]

So Gasperini is gone huh. I still think he's a good manager, but just not the right club for him. The thought of Ranieri at Inter is just weird. What about Zoff, is he still knocking around? There's also Lothar Matthaus, he's been in the news lately and is available for some new work, I believe.

[Lombardiamia]

We are only interested in short term appointments. We cannot hire managers with new projects and ideas at this point in time. Ranieri seems an ideal fit.