Match Facts:
Date: Saturday, April 11, 2015
Time: 2.45pm ET/ 20.45 CET
Venue: Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi; Verona, Italy
There is no need to remind how bad we have been lately, in particular after drawing against a team that not only has been by far the worst of the entire Serie A, but they also have an awful economical situation that surely doesn't help the players' mental approach to matches.
Today Inter will face a more solid and organized side in Verona than the one they encountered last week. The Scaligeri scraped together 33 points this season - 5 less than Inter - and they currently occupy the 15th place in the Serie A. Verona have a threatening weapon in Luca Toni: the veteran Italian striker has scored nine goals in the last eight games and he is tied with Mauro Icardi with 15 goals this season (29 appearances for Toni, 27 for Maurito).
Historically Inter has been very successful against them, winning 28 times and losing only in 4 occasions (all of them came at the Bentegodi) and even their coach, Andrea Mandorlini, has a bad record against the Nerazzurri since he has yet to win a match against the Milanese team - of which he is a known supporter and former player.
All the rumors of an imminent and inescapable revolution are not doing any good to the players, in my opinion, and seeing their place in the club in continuous jeopardy could make them think the management and/or even Mancini don't believe in them. I'd prefer Inter to focus more on what the team is doing on the field rather than what they would do this summer in the transfer market, in particular in such a delicate period.
Inter last league win is dated February, 23 when they won 2-1 against Cagliari, since then they lost two and drawn 3 matches, conceding at least a goal every week and scoring only 4 times. Defensively it would be crucial not to concede goals and to avoid silly mistake, a trend that costed us too many points this season, while on the attacking side we should try to pass the ball vertically rather than making useless ball possession, allowing Icardi to be more involved in the game.
Nagatomo should have played as left-back in place of the injured Santon, but he will be forced at least to sit on the bench because of flu. He played his last league match on February 8, against Palermo.
Projected Starting XIs:
Verona
Benussi
Sala - Marquez - Moras - Pisano
Obbadi - Tachtsidis - Hallfredsson
Jankovic - Toni - Gomez
-------------------------------------------------------
Palacio - Icardi
Shaqiri
Brozovic - Medel - Guarin
Juan Jesus - Vidic - Ranocchia - D'Ambrosio
Handanovic
Inter