What: Inter v Roma, Matchday 12
Where: San Siro, Milan
When: Sunday, November 8th, 8:45 local time (11:45 pacific, 2:45 eastern)
How to Watch: Live on FSC (hooray) or find a stream (MyP2P, Rojadirecta, Ustream, and ATDHE.net).

For the last couple of years, this tie has ended in draws. Last year’s 3-all was epic. Twice, Inter went down 2 goals, and, in the end, we managed to claw our way back. I tell you, a draw never felt so much like a win. Well, that is except the for the same tie two years ago. That game saw our fearless captain snatch a point with a rare but wonderful goal that helped seal our scudetto.

Last year’s game:

And the year before:

As you can see, it is always a heart-stopping nail-biter. In fact, we haven’t really put one over on Roma at the San Siro in the Serie A since a 2-0 win in 2005 (both goals were from Mihajlovic). Overall, though, Inter have a pretty decent home record against Roma: of the 78 Serie A games, Inter have won 42, drawn 24, and only lost 12. Not bad.

Another bit of interest is all the business the two clubs have done over the years. Moratti and Sensi were friends, and players have moved between Inter and Roma without much fuss. Right now, our good friend Nico Burdisso is on loan to the Giallorossi (and they seem to like him just fine), while Pizarro also was a Nerrazzuri not all that long ago. Andreolli is an Inter youth product, and until last year, was co-owned by the clubs*. In our ranks, Chivu and Mancini came directly from i Lupi, while Samuel took a brief detour to Real Madrid before finding his way from Rome to Milan. In other words, we are almost family. Almost.

*Rumor is that Andreolli will come back to Inter this winter in exchange for Burdisso. Go figure.

THEM

Our four-legged friends have not gotten off to the best of starts this season – between money woes and the never ending injuries, they haven’t had a whole lot to work with. Still, they have won their last two games and may just be starting to figure out what Ranieri wants from them. Unfortunately, they have dug themselves into a bit of a hole and have a lot of work to do if they want to see the sun again.

Roma sit at 14 points (exactly half Inter’s points), and have lost more games than they have won. They dont seem to have any trouble scoring goals – Roma’s 18 goals puts them in the top four offensively – but have real difficulty stopping the other team from scoring. With 19 goals conceded, they have the second worst defensive record in the league (Genoa is the worst with 20). Clearly, they have strengths to respect and weaknesses to exploit.

Right now, probably their greatest weakness is their medical staff. For some reason, Roma always seem to have half their starters out with some injury of another. Today is no different: Totti, Doni, Juan, and Burdisso are all out. Taddei will also be sitting one this out due to suspension. It could be (and has been) worse, though. At least today when I look at their projected line-up I know who everyone is. They have not had to dip into their youth team for this match.

Happy is good, focused is better.

US

We are finally starting to clear out our injury ward – and none too soon, either. Everyone is fit (although Eto’o is not quite 100%) and we have no suspensions. There has been some talk of a bit of a rotation squad, and for the first time in a couple years that doesn’t immediately make my stomach start to churn. It sure is nice to have options! Cambiasso may start from the bench as he is still nursing his knee. He has finally won his first call-up to the Argentine National team and everyone wants him to do well and earn a returning role. Every player worth his boots is dreaming of the World Cup – I am sure Cuchu is no different.

Mourinho has called-up 19 players:
Portieri: Toldo, Julio Cesar, Orlandoni;
Difensori: Cordoba, Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Samuel, Chivu;
Centrocampisti: Stankovic, Thiago Motta, Sneijder, Muntari, Vieira, Cambiasso, Mancini;
Attaccanti: Eto’o, Milito, Balotelli.

Mourinho was all humble and wary during his press conference today. He didn’t drop any hints about line-ups or formations or anything.

I repeat what I said before the last two games: if I have no idea how to play my opponent, it doesn’t make life easy. It is not easy to prepare a game where no one knows how to play the adversary: Claudio Ranieri is a coach who usually uses a 4-4-2, but in these days has spoken of the possibility to deploy the diamond in midfield and I also thought that he uses the 4-4-1-1. I’m thinking and working hard in this sense, then I will not say which team I will play with now. There are no injured players at this time, I believe that it is not news to those who are part of our environment, Rui Faria is a phenomenon, however, we are all working well to build the best team possible to meet Roma, a team that right now does not find the justice of its quality in its current position in the standings.

The 14-point difference between Inter and Roma are not a true testament of the situation of these two teams: we have done very well since the beginning of the season, they have had some problems and lost some points unnecessarily, but what counts in a team is the quality and level of quality, I always said that I like Roma and there are some Roma players I like very much. For these reasons, I see the game tomorrow night as a big game, a game between two teams fighting for the Scudetto. They are quite far behind, it’s true, but the reality of the situation is that they too are a team that can fight for the Scudetto.

Mourinho is also worried about the team’s mentality after the euphoria of the win in Kiev.

Character is very important and this team has already shown theirs many times, but it is also character to win and stay calm after an important win. History is full of bad games after a great battle and that of Inter against Dynamo was truly a great match on every level: psychologically, physically, tactically and the level of risk. … Right now, for for me it is … important that players understand that we have not done anything, or at least, that we have done something that has an ephemeral significance. We need to stay calm, the race tomorrow will be served to the team who understands that there is a need to begin every future match with the same mentality and the same concentration. This is the mentality of the big teams, teams that never tire of doing good to win, who do not need to recover psychologically and physically after a great game. A great team is always prepared to play a great match after great match, this is the mentality that I want.

Tomorrow I dont want to have a disappointment and a team that takes the field playing with the victory of Kiev in its pocket. I do not want to have in our pocket the victory won in the Champions League, that is the past. The only difference is that we are in a better position and, now, instead of the press writing that Inter has not won in 7 games they will write that inter has not lost in 4, but there is nothing more.

Then, when asked if Mourinho was confident of winning tomorrow, he said no and that “it depends on us.”

And really, what more can be said? More than anything, tomorrow “Dipende da noi“.

We have a great squad who are determined and used to playing under this sort of pressure. We have the tranquility of knowing that no matter how terribly Juventus beats Atalanta, we will still be top of the table. Couple that with the drive for success and I think we have a pretty good shot of coming out of this with three points. That is, if we can concentrate on the task at hand. In many ways, a win is far more important for Roma than it is for Inter and that is a dangerous situation. I dont think that Roma has it in them to beat us, but I think we can most certainly beat ourselves. Inter must be focused and hungry – anything less just will not do.

FORZA INTER

What: Inter v Dynamo Kiev (Group F – Matchday 3; Uefa Champions League)
When: Tuesday, October 20, 8:45pm local time (11:45am pacific; 2:45pm eastern)
Where: Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, San Siro, Milan
How to Watch: Fox is showing it live (what a shock!), you can find a stream (MyP2P, Rojadirecta, Ustream, and ATDHE.net), or for $9.99 you can watch it live through UEFA (it is only $1.99 to watch it after the fact).

Bobo got the winner last time – who will it be tomorrow?

This is actually the third meeting between these two teams in Champions League. Inter met Dynamo in the group stages of the CL during the 2003/4 season. We drew the away game while a late goal from Bobo Vieri allowed us to take all three points at home. For those interested in trivia, UEFA has kindly assembled a whole list of interesting Inter v Dynamo fun facts (for instance: did you know that Dynamo’s coach Gazzaev was the coach of CSKA when Inter beat them both at home and away in the 2007/08 group stage? I didn’t!). Anyway, there are too many for me to go into here so follow the link if you are interested.

Shevchenko scored 14 times in all competitions for Milan against Inter. I hate him.

THEM

First, let me say it is really difficult to find info on the Ukrainian League. ESPN doesn’t have any coverage so I have really had to dig for what little tidbits I could find. In other words, dont expect much here.

Valeri Gazzaev has brought 19 players I have never heard of and Sheva to Milan:

Goalkeepers: Bogush, Rybka;
Defenders: Betão, Yussuf, Almeida, Khacheridi, Magrão;
Midfielders: Vukojević, Aliyev, Eremenko, Mykhalyk, Husyev, Ninković, Kravchenko, Harmash;
Forwards: Shevchenko, Milevskyy, Kravets, Yarmolenko, Zozulya;

They left two starters home with injury: goalkeeper Shovkovskiy and defender Ghioane.

FC Dynamo Kyiv are currently at the top of the Ukrainian table with 28 points after 10 games. They are unbeaten, having won all but one of their games. In fact, a quick look at the results table on their web page shows the only loss they have suffered this season in all competitions is the game they played against Barcelona. It is also the only game they failed to score in. As for goals, Dynamo have scored 28 goals and only conceded 6 (in 10 games) so they definitely know how to hit the back of the net (interestingly, the Kiev fans have predicted the game will end 1-2 in their favor).

[insert theme from Rocky here]

US

Mourinho has called up 22 players:

Portieri: Toldo, Julio Cesar, Orlandoni;
Difensori: Cordoba, Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Materazzi, Samuel, Chivu, Santon;
Centrocampisti: Stankovic, Quaresma, Sneijder, Muntari, Vieira, Krhin, Cambiasso, Mancini;
Attaccanti: Eto’o, Suazo, Milito.

Saturday Mourinho said that both Milito and Motta would be unavailable for this game. Today Mou said that there is a “small chance” that Milito will be available – Motta is still a no (although he will be back for Catania). As for Eto’o, he is on the list and he trained with the team – I think he is more likely to start over Milito. Plus, there is always Suazo.

He looks ok to me.

Both Samuel and Cambiasso came off during the Genoa game as a precaution. Both are on the list (and in the training photos) which makes me super happy. Marco is also on the list, and although I highly doubt he will see the pitch, the thought of him against Sheva makes me all kinds of nostalgic for those derbies days of old. Well not the losing, but… well, I am sure you all know what I mean.

For the record, MAD has predicted we will play the same line-up as on Saturday with Eto’o playing in place of Balotelli (it is official now!). For those of you who did not see the game, that means the lineup will be:

Julio Cesar
Maicon Lucio Samuel (Cordoba) Chivu
Zanetti Cambiasso (Vieira) Muntari
Stankovic Sneijder
Eto’o (Suazo?)

Mou gave very little away at the press conference today. When asked if Inter’s approach would change at all from the last CL game, he said no: [my translation]

“I will leave things to go naturally, the victory will come. I think it will come tomorrow, if it doesn’t come tomorrow, it will come in Kiev, if it doesn’t come with Kiev, it will come in Barcelona, if not in Barcelona, it will arrive at the house of Kazan, if it still doesn’t arrive with Kazan, we will go to the Europa League and win there, if we don’t go to the Europa League, we will all come home. [smiling] But joking aside, we will go forward with ease: the team has a great mentality, they are aware that tomorrow’s game will not be decisive, but it is important to me. With peace we can do anything, anything is possible, with the understanding that in football, it takes two minutes to go from paradise to hell and from hell to heaven. Like I tell my players, don’t read the papers too much when they write negative things about Inter, similarly, I advise them not to read the papers when they describe Inter as the best team in the world.”

As for if Inter’s 0-5 thumping of Genoa will inform on the coming game, he also said no: [my translation]

“It’s the same thing I said to the players Saturday night before going out and that is that the best way to prepare for the Champions was not resting, playing at 50 percent or to leave the important players on the bench, but to exit the stadium in Genoa with joy. The joy comes when you win and play well, obviously after that race the team was very happy and confident, every player did his job very well and I think that in these hours before the game against Dynamo the team is happy and, I repeat, in my opinion the best way to prepare for an important match is to be happy.”

Still, he thinks that Inter can give Dynamo problems and vice-versa, saying: “The match tomorrow will be difficult for us but not easy for Dynamo.”

“I came on the pitch against Udinese with a strange face? That is my face.”

Muntari (strange face and all) was much more decisive saying:

“We’re in good condition. We will play a good game and we will win,” he told journalists in the pre-match press conference. It’s true that Inter have had more difficulties in Europe than in league games, but we want to win at all costs tomorrow. These are three important points for us. We have the potential to do well. We haven’t won in Europe in seven games but we will start winning from tomorrow.”

So, where does that leave us? Well, I think in a much better position that against Kazan. We have recovered Sneijder and will be playing at home (always easier). Plus, I can’t believe the Ukrainian League is that much more difficult than the Russian one, so I suspect that Dynamo is about at the same level talent-wise as Kazan. Both are at the top of their respective leagues with a bit of a cushion. I think with Sneijder and without Balotelli sending off, we could have beaten Kazan and therefore I am cautiously optimistic about tomorrow. I know we are in a bit of a crunch up front, but I swear I read somewhere that Eto’o said he is feeling much better and will be ready to play (I just can’t remember where). Of course, that could be my subconscious planting false memories to stop me from worrying, but right about now, I will take any little hint of good news and run with it.

And since it had such a great result last time: Everyone think positive thoughts.

FORZA INTER

No nekid Samu this time, but how about fun with Matrix and Deki?

Overview

The last time Parma came to the San Siro to play Inter was way back in January of 2008. That game was a real nail-biter, with Parma leading us until the last few minutes of the game. The winning goal only came in injury time (from you know who). It shows that now, just as then, Parma are not an easy team. They have a team populated with youth players on loan, hungry to show they are ready to “come home.” Parma will be scrappy and attacking, and fast. They will bring the game to us and I hope we are ready for them because these three points are necessary.

Here are the highlights from that January game. Hopefully it wont be quite so foggy this Sunday:

Us

We had as many as 15 players go away for the international break. The squad should return pretty confident – minus Javier who had to suffer defeat this past week – if a little worn out. Mario, Lucio, Cesar, Maicon, Muntari and Eto’o in particular had a pretty good break.

Mourinho earlier today talked about our injury situation. Cambiasso starts working with the squad on Monday, Arnautovic is close to top condition and there is nothing seriously wrong with Materazzi.

Very good.

Mourinho had nothing but good things to say about Parma. He talked about their experience from the coach to the players and how they will play their game. This match, says Mourinho, is the most important one and the game against Barcelona coming up will not influence his choices. In fact, he says that he’s not of a mind to rest anyone.

20 players will be called up:
Goalkeepers: 1 Francesco Toldo, 12 Julio Cesar, 21 Paolo Orlandoni.
Defenders: 2 Ivan Ramiro Cordoba, 4 Javier Zanetti, 6 Lucio, 13 Maicon, 25 Walter Samuel, 26 Cristian Chivu, 39 Davide Santon.
Midfielders: 7 Ricardo Quaresma, 8 Thiago Motta, 10 Wesley Sneijder, 11 Sulley Muntari, 14 Patrick Vieira, 15 René Krhin.
Strikers: 9 Samuel Eto’o, 18 David Suazo, 22 Diego Milito, 45 Mario Balotelli.

La Gazzetta dello Sport sees the formation:

4-3-1-2

12 Julio Cesar
13 Maicon 6 Lucio 25 Samuel 4 J. Zanetti
14 Vieira 5 Stankovic 8 Thiago Motta
11 Muntari
45 Balotelli 9 Eto’o

I think it’ll be:

12 Julio Cesar
13 Maicon 6 Lucio 25 Samuel 4 Santon
4 J. Zanetti 5 Stankovic 8 Thiago Motta
10 Schmujcko
45 Balotelli 9 Eto’o

Mourinho already said that he wasn’t going to rest anyone. Deki appears to have an 11th hour flu and who really knows how injured Schmujcko was last weekend. He did play midweek, if I remember correctly – he scored, didn’t he? But this would be the guy who gets rested if anyone does.

Them

I had thought that the Parma Offsides was up and running but a second look shows that it stopped posting in July. Fair enough then…

Although Parma is a team with prestigious past (2 UEFA Cups, 1 Supper Cup, 3 Coppa Italias), it has also been checkered and Parma has spent many years yo-yo-ing between the divisions. As such, Inter and Parma have only met 18 times at the San Siro. Of those, Inter have won 11, drawn 6 and only lost 1. So far, Parma have had a pretty good start, drawing Udinese on opening day, then beating Catania on matchday 2. In both cases, Parma opened the scoring, and with young talents like Daniele Galloppa and Alberto Paloschi on their roster, they will be dangerous.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport this is the Parma probable formation:

4-4-2

83 Mirante
5 Zaccardo 2 Panucci 24 Paci 6 Lucarelli
15 Dellafiore 17 Morrone4 Mariga 14 Galloppa
20 Biabiany 43 Paloschi

Some names here might seem familiar. We had a quick meet-n-greet with Biabiany earlier this week and found that he is a youth product of ours. Dellafiore was an Inter youth player as well, before we sent him out to Palermo with cash for Fabio Grosso in 2006. We sold Grosso to Lyon the very next year and Palermo has sent Dellafiore out on loan every year they had him except the first season. It’s hard to find a winner in that deal. Panucci was a player here for a year and was relatively anonymous.

As a newly promoted team, Parma has nothing to play for other than 17th place. I expect that they will try to beat us on the run, like Bari tried to do.

Where to watch:

FSC 9:00am EST (6:00am PST)
Myp2p.eu
ATDHE.net click live sports. Scroll down to find the game.

This will be a good test of the team and just the thing we need to get us ready for Barcelona on Wednesday. Hopefully, the boys will be able to concentrate on the game at hand and not the one coming up.

In case some of you don’t remember, Johonna is out of town this week. This is the first of her mini-posts. Let’s make sure that we keep her and her family in our thoughts or prayers.

FORZA INTER

Roster rotation.

No matter what anyone says or how down Milan look, The Derby is a big game. Barcelona, even in a group stage game, is a big game. Sandwiched in between is Parma… not really a big game – all due respect to Parma. They aren’t a rival and a newly promoted team just might provide us the opportunity we need to rest and recuperate.

Let’s face it; one could almost understand the big stars to take a break on this one. And with a big game right after and in some cases long flights just before, the “B” team could get a run out.

So first I want to talk about the advantages and the disadvantages to rotating the roster and then I want to talk about whom goes where in the rotated squad.

There are some advantages to rotating the roster. We get to rest some guys from long flights and 2 games in a week international break. Granted we are only talking about resting those that might actually see action against Barcelona, so some guys who played 2 games this week are going to add a 3rd.

There is also a quantity of focus. A weeks worth of concentrating and studying up on Barca against 3 or 4 days may matter in the final equation. Plus there is a question of motivation. Milito may be focused for any game, any time, but can we say the same thing about others? How about guys like Santon, Quaresma or Mancini, who are desperate to prove that they deserve first team spots. Think that they might be motivated more than someone who sees Parma as an annoyance before the real game midweek?

The downside to roster rotation is that the “B” team is the “B” team for a reason. They aren’t as good as the “A” team – but then who is, especially when you have a leader named Hannibal, the goofball from Star Trek and Mr. T around. A team like Parma isn’t a pushover, even though they are just promoted. It may also be extra motivation for them since we were the ones that sent them down 2 seasons ago. Like Bari two weeks ago, this is their Champions League final. This is about as big as it gets for them for the whole season and they are going to be up for it. Even if they don’t think that they are going to win, they are definitely going to make sure that they aren’t embarrassed.

This isn’t England or Spain. Teams ranked 10-20 aren’t pushovers. Unlike teams in those leagues, Parma will have a good solid strategy and tactics to try and exploit mistakes – the best teams make them – or to help stay alive for as long as possible.

Like Bari did.

Personally, I see squad rotation as a relatively good thing, if one can say something good about fielding a lower talent squad on purpose. If we can pull it off, we need to get some playing time to the young guys sometime and I personally would like us to compete for the Coppa Italia, no matter how insignificant a trophy it is. Plus, look at what some self serving scum is already trying to put in our young players’ heads – and it’s only the second game of the season that has just gone. Players have to play, even Vieira. Well, sometimes, for very small amounts of time, anyway.

If we decide that squad rotation is a good idea, the next thing we have to do is figure out who the “A” team is (Okay, no more ‘80s jokes, this one is too easy to put forth much effort).

In my mind this is the best team we can field (right to left):

Goalkeepr: Julio Cesar

Center Backs: Lucio, Samuel

Fullbacks: Maicon, Chivu

Center Midfielders: Zanetti, Cambiasso, Motta

Attacking Midfielder: Schmujcko

Forwards: Eto’o, Milito

That leaves Toldo, Cordoba, Materazzi, Santon, Deki, Quaresma, Mancini, Muntari, Vieira, Krhin, Obi, Suazo and Balotelli on the second team. Orlandoni, as the 3rd team goal keeper, is an emergency player.

Before we continue let’s discuss the “B” squad for a moment. Many of these players are not exactly “B”. Muntari, Santon, (god help me) Vieira, Deki and Balotelli are really more “B+” or “A-“squad. They play significant minutes with the “A” squad and in many cases they will start.

On a personal note, I pray that we can get rid of Vieira next summer because the thought of another season after this one with him playing significant minutes will just make my hair turn grey, fall out and grow funky eyebrows. Jeez, he bothers me.

Now just to be clear, I don’t expect there to be 100% turnover from the Parma game to the Barcelona game if we rotate the squad. Let’s be realistic, here. Some players are just going to have to play more than others. Having said that, I think that there might be significant changes between the two games.

Here’s how I think the “B” squad might look if we keep the same formation (right to left):

Goalkeeper: Julio Cesar

Center Back: Cordoba, Chivu

Fullback: Maicon, Santon

Center Midfield: Zanetti, Vieira, Muntari

Attacking Midfield: Deki

Forwards: Balotelli, Milito

According to my complete speculation and assumption regarding the rotation of the squad, six different players may come in and play significant roles. Cambiasso and Motta, assuming they’re healthy, will need rest for the same reasons: they are both proven to be injury prone. We know from last season that Mourinho likes to rotate his Center Backs from game to game depending on importance – if he didn’t we wouldn’t have had those wonderful games against Sampdoria or Werder Bremen.

If we were to change the formation, into something more in accordance to what we saw (or didn’t see, but read about) with our friendly this past weekend, like the 433, I think that we might see a personnel shift this way (right to left):

Goalkeeper: Julio Cesar

Center Backs: Cordoba, Chivu

Fullbacks: Maicon, Santon

Center Midfielders: Zanetti, Vieira, Muntari

Forwards: Quaresma, Milito, Balotelli

We still see a shift of 6 players but the formation change is significant. I don’t see any way that Julio Cesar isn’t the goalkeeper, nor do I see any chance that Zanetti or Maicon don’t see the field. Everyone else is negotiable, as I see it.

I would love to see a discussion regarding whether rotation is a good idea here, or who would be rotated in/out or what formation we might use. Would this be the same against all the teams that we would consider in the bottom half of the table?

I think that we are missing the forest for the trees at the moment. Yes, these individual trees are fabulous as I have said, but Inter Forest isn’t made up of only one tree, no matter what tripe the Juve, Roma and Milan idiots try to salve their own wounded egos with.

So, I wanted to take a moment in all the preseason prediction hysteria to focus on the players that will actually have a say in how many spaces we fill in our trophy cabinets next spring. I don’t think that I am out of line in expecting at least 1 piece of silverware.

This past Saturday, my wife and I watched Inter and Milan practice. Ibra wasn’t there of course, which highlighted how many gifted players there are for this team. It also gave a lot of insight on what people mean when they say that Mourinho trains differently than other coaches. It also showed me how hard some players work and how hard some don’t.

A quick overview and then a quick look at whom I noticed working hard.

First of all, the only part of practice when the players weren’t using the ball was the stretching. In complete contrast to the Milan practice, the stretching was organized, supervised and at the coaches command. This means that the single most important part of the practice was treated as such by the training staff, and I can’t tell people how happy that made me. As a former coach – at a much lower level – stretching properly and with the correct technique is the best way to keep players on the pitch. There’s nothing you can really do about knee ligaments or broken bones or freak accidents, but pulls, sprains, tears and overall fitness can be improved.

The second part of practice was a game of foot and hand passing with 4 teams in a confined area. It was a warm up and it looked like the players were all having a good time. More importantly, whatever the goal of the game was, they were working intensely at it. The coaches hovered around giving directions and restarting play whenever the ball crossed a line. Again, in contrast to the Milan practice where the players just ran back and forth a bunch of times. They did it on their own and without a whole lot of direction. Btw, after the game was over on Sunday, the young players on Milan had to run extra too, a lot. Even those who played had to run. It looked like it sucked big time – and it also looked like they weren’t too happy with it.

The goalkeepers were on the other side of the pitch than I was on so I couldn’t see really great but it was easy to see how they were training and who the best keeper was. The goalkeepers were using short bursts of activity to build explosiveness while slowly gearing up the difficulty. For example, the first goalkeeper up in the first drill had to move across the goal mouth while catching underhand throws. He had to move quickly in a short area but although intense, it was over quick for him. After the other 3 keepers had gone through the same drill he was up again, this time the ball is volleyed instead of thrown but it’s still right to him. The next time it’s volleyed harder. The next time it’s thrown to the side. Eventually, he has to stretch out in a full dive just to get a hand on it – all while moving across the line quickly getting up quickly in time to dive again.

When the senior goalkeepers rejoined the squad Belec and who I can only guess was Orlandoni moved to the other end of the pitch and continued training. I got a much better look at Belec. The kid is young by player standards, but by goalkeeping standards, he’s a fetus. He also lacks a lot of explosiveness at this point and he has poor technique. His feet rarely make it off the ground on the full out diving saves and he has a short range of effectiveness. He didn’t look incredibly instinctive or crazy either. A little crazy goes a long way for a keeper. I should also point out that both keepers got rounds of applause by the fans after their drills. It was obvious how hard they were working and they had the attention of everyone sitting behind the endzone and on that half of the field where we were sitting.

While the keepers were going at it, the team had some Monkey in the Middle drills right in front of the stands. It was obviously placed so that the fans that paid the extra fee for the tickets could get long extended looks at the team. There was some heckling and calling out that happened but it wasn’t real bad. There were a lot of Milan supporters but they weren’t the ones making remarks, I’m sad to say. Zanetti, Cambiasso, Chivu, Lucio, Santon, and Cordoba were amongst those who were right in front of me. The other two or three other groups were all to my right down the endline. The group immediately to my right looked like it had a lot of the younger guys. I remember seeing Obi Wan and Quaresma over there, I think.

The last part of practice was a scrimmage. I remember four things about this part of practice: 1. Quaresma was working his ass off 2. Mancini hit the ground about 4 times – once he needed the medicos 3. Marco left practice early – like really early 4. It was short but pretty intense. Practice ended about a half hour earlier than it was supposed to and then Mourinho and some players came to there stands area to sign stuff. I’m not really into that stuff so I hung back to try and get some photos. But the press of bodies to get stuff signed was like a horror movie doing a piranha scene. People had begun to line up on the fences way before practice ended to get good signing spots. I couldn’t get any photos of players or coaches – I tried to get Baresi but he was swarmed too – really super close up. But I had a good time regardless.

Okay, players who caught my attention:

Zanetti – Practiced hard and was always in the thick of things. He just looked like he was in control of things. Confident and in control – like during a game – that’s just how he is, I guess. And he just didn’t stop working…

Cesar – All the goalkeepers looked good in drills but there is just a quality that Cesar has that is hard to define. He has more range, more explosion and less extra movement. Physically, I don’t think that there is a better goalkeeper in the world. He needs to work on decision making, such as when to leave his line, and catching. Otherwise he’s great. But he could be better… and that’s a little scary.

Cambiasso – Three words describe Cambiasso: tireless, tireless and tireless. It was a minor miracle that he wasn’t injured last season, as he has been in every other year since he came to the team. If he goes down… we lose a lot.

Maicon – Maicon was notable for his appearance and lack of response that I heard for him. People went crazy when Cesar did anything. I heard people talking about him, but it wasn’t really happy talk. It was more of, “Oh, he bothered to show up?” I am happy he is on the team- and as a player he’s the best in the world at what he does – but at this point do I say that he’s a legend in the making? Or am I just marking time until he’s “no longer happy”?

Balotelli – I don’t think I can express how poorly I thought he trained. I think he walked through most of it, and I think he was just there until he was able to leave. Like several others, he was spotted watching Milan practice. I am now going on record and saying that as much native ability as he has, I can see Mario turning into Adriano in 5 years. I don’t think it was possible for him to look less interested in playing.

Quaresma – He worked hard, I have to give him that. I think he also wiped out Mancini once during the scrimmage. Quaresma has talent, confidence, ability, quickness and a certain amount of speed… he just lacks… something… I can’t even put it into words. A certain strength of will to dominate, perhaps?

The Coaches – I wouldn’t have thought that the coaches would spend so much time actually coaching. At this point you have to figure that they know the game, but the coaches were there instructing and talking to players about the game/stretching/warm down everything, including Mourinho.

Contrast this to the Milan practice, and the coaches mostly talked to each other. Leonardo spent the first part of the practice talking with Ronaldinho, who just came out for a half assed stretch and Maicon, who was finished practicing. The coached talked to each other and there were long stretches when the players where done with an activity and the coaches looked like they were still talking to each other.

Inter went from activity to activity. The only breaks were for water and then it was off to the next thing – which is what I expected from a professional team. I was, frankly, shocked at the Milan practice.

More Photos!

There was a lot of speculation on who these shadowy figures were. Some thought it was Moratti and crew. Some thought it was the Krafts. Some thought it was Uncle Fester.

Someone got a good line off on Mourinho and he acknowledges the touche with a wave

Chivu, Cambiasso, Santon, Belec and the guy who is cropped a bit to the right is Lucio

Got to love this group that was in front of me for a good 20 – 30 minutes.

I keep reading about how Juve are getting closer to us and I look at these guys and I just don’t see it…

The next group over to the right from where we were sitting. Obi Wan, Toldo, Cesar and Deki

The reason I don’t have more Zanetti photos? It wasn’t for lacking of trying, but the bastard just won’t sit still!

A rare moment…

The captain at work

Last one I’ll post, hopefully these weren’t too boring. The first thing that flew into my mind when I saw this picture was, “My god, they look like they could be brothers!” The second thing that came into my mind was, “NOOOOOOOO!”

With the rise in player prices and club spending, a couple of years ago Inter decided to invest heavily in youth players during the ensuing transfer windows to stock the youth teams in the hopes of developing enough talent for the senior team years down the road to help relieve the club of some of the rising costs of fielding a competitive team.

This youth policy kicked into overdrive with Mourinho’s hiring. Taking a quick look at the players he requested from the club only Lampard would have been around 30. And taking another look at who he actually brought in, only Mancini was over 25 (he was 28).

Then there are the Primavera players that were promoted: Bolzoni, Balotelli, Mei and Santon. Bozoni and Balotelli made appearances for us last season, but this season they trained with the top squad the whole season.

And from the words of Mourinho, we are going to add 3 more primavera players to the squad, and he also named a goalkeeper. We can’t forget that before the transfer season even started, Inter may have come to terms with a 20 year old forward, but not the club, already. I purposefully left that player off this preview as he isn’t actually part of the team yet. When he gets here, I got a lot of stuff on him.

This year, having caught up with Milan in the Scudetto race, is the first season that Mourinho will be expected to go deep into the Champions League, in my opinion. That means that our top veteran players might need to take more league games off to train and rest for Champions League games.

Andrea Mei
The 6 foot, 20 year old Italian central defender was only brought up this season for adherence to the Champions League rules and practice with the senior team as he spent the entire season playing for the Primavera. I am not really sure what this means for his future. I can only assume that he will be more a part of the top team this coming season. Considering that there isn’t any news of defenders leaving yet, it’s hard to gauge where his place on the team is or will be.

I hope that he can find a place as he seems to have done very well at the youth level. But he has never been called up to any of the National teams so it’s hard to call him a hot prospect. Then again, Santon nor Balotelli ever got a look on any National/Olympic teams until they actually started playing first team.

Emiliano Viviano
One of two goalkeepers that Inter will be bringing up to the senior squad, causing quite a glut at the position. I had thought that Toldo was going to retire, but I can’t find any confirmation – other than he recently signed a two year extension. Orlandoni is still, as far as I know, the #3. But Viviano who is currently on loan and Belec, the primavera goalkeeper, will be in Appiano Gentile training this summer.

My odds on favorite to win a job, if there is one to win, is Viviano. He’s older and taller (He’s 6’ 5”) than Balec and has played in Italy as a professional since 2004 as the goalkeeper for Brescia in Serie B. He’s also made several appearances for the U20 and U21 National teams and also the most recent Olympic team. Unlike Belec, he hasn’t gone through the Inter youth system since he was bought in the Winter Transfer window.

Vid Belec
19 year old goalkeeper from Maribor, Slovenia (remember this place, you’ll hear it again). Vid is the Primavera goalkeeper and has been for a few years. It’s hard getting information on the Primavera players for several reasons – teams intentionally want to limit info going out to other teams… like Manchester Poachers and frankly, not everyone in the squad is worth a write up. Near as I can tell the tall Slovenian (he’s 6’ 3”) was the Goalkeeper of the Primavera squad that won the Torneo Viareggio tournament in 2008

The Primavera team has done very well during the time that I can confirm that Belec was on the team. Belec has been training with the senior team for the past 3 months. He’s also on the Slovenian National U19 Team that qualified for the UEFA European U19 championship.

Rene Krhin
19 year old player from Maribor, Slovenia. Rene is a midfielder for the Primavera team that has been training with the senior squad for the past three months and has been named by Mourinho as one of the 3 primavera players to go with him to summer training camp, which I assume includes the U.S. tour. Rene is supposed to be – again data is hard to come by but there’s more on Rene as he’s not really a secret – a creative midfielder that is almost a forward, kind of in the Lampard mode, meaning that he will come back slightly on defense, but he earns his wage as an attacking player.

Rene came to Inter at the same time Belec did (about 3 seasons ago?), but was unable to start playing for the Primavera as he had an injury that kept him sidelined for about 6 months, so he started his Inter journey a little later. I was hoping that we would see more of Rene during the last few days of the season, but we were too busy trying to get the scoring title for Ibra. I hoped to see him on the field this summer but he will be at the U19 Euros with Vid Belec, as the captain of the Slovanian team. I have a lot of confidence in Rene keeping his head on straight if he makes it, using Adriano as a reference, he said in an interview that he wouldn’t go to night clubs in Milan as it might screw up his football career.

Joel Chukwuma Obi
18 year old midfielder from Lagos, Nigeria. He has spent 3 seasons in the Inter youth system and 1 season with the Primavera like Santon and Destro. They were all in the Allievi Nazionali (the next age group down from the Primavera) for the 2007-2008 season. I can’t find much on info on Obi, not even a picture that I can be confident is him, but I suspect that he’s a defensive midfielder as he only scored 3 goals this season. He’s one of the magic 3 that Mourinho said would be part of Summer camp this close season and he has spent the last 3 months training with the senior squad.

Mattia Destro
18 year old forward from Ascoli Piceno (from the cool coast of Italy). Destro was one of the leading scorers of a very good Primavera side that finished at the top of their table, beat Milan 3 times and came within 2 games of another Scudetto. Mattia had 10 goals this season in the Primavera season. He’s the last of the 3 that Mourinho had named as going to summer camp with the senior squad and he’s considered by some ex-Inter players – now pundits (Lo Zio and Mazzola both mentioned him in interviews) to be a top notch forward that needs to be playing in Serie A. Of the three I think that he’s got the best chance of actually making the team, since we will likely have a glut of midfielders and goalkeepers.

GRADE KEY:
4 = Horrific
5 = Ugh
5.5 = Average
6 = Slightly better than average
6.5 = Good
7 = Double Plus Good
7.5 = Excellent
8 = Great
9 = Stupendous
10 = Fan-freaking-tabulous

My comments are in blue, MAD’s are in Black.

GOALKEEPERS:

Julio Cesar

How good was Cesar this season? He is now, because of this season, in the conversation of Best Goalkeeper in the World. Unlike some others on the team, ahem ahem, he stepped up big time during the Champions League. He isn’t perfect, he still has some tendencies to deflect, rather than catch and he also tends to let up a bit when playing against lesser teams.

How can I possibly find anything wrong with the dreamiest keeper on the planet? I think we should be clear – there is no way that Inter would have won the league without him. Plus, he did all that he could to keep us in the Champions League during that home game against Manchester United. He has amazing reactions and can pull those miracolo saves out of thin air. He has fine positional sense, and, I would argue, is the best with his feet on the peninsula (among keepers, of course). Plus, he legitimately seems like a nice guy. Holy cow! and have you seen his wife and family? The whole freaking lot of them are just adorable. There is no other keeper I would rather have at Inter and if he ever leaves I will cry for a week. Ibra can go, Julio Cesar is priceless.

Overall Grade: 8, 10+

Francesco Toldo

Toldo did an admirable job as backup. He was rather disappointing against Palermo, for example, but then again he played well during the Coppa games and the group stage of the Champions League.

Toldo has shown that he still has grabby hands, but his reflexes are just not as quick as they once were. He did drop the ball a bit against Sampdoria (snicker) in the Coppa, but I still think he is a perfectly good back-up keeper. For me, his highlights were our home game against Anorthosis and the Coppa Italia game against Roma. He seems to love the team and I am more than happy to keep him on until he retires – which I think is next year.

Overall Grade: 5.5, 6

Paolo Orlandoni

MAD completely forgot about poor Paolo. True, he is our third-string keeper and only saw about 20 minutes of play this season, but he has suited up for every game and sat there on the bench with a smile on his face. That should count for something. Plus, when he was called into action, he made a beautiful save (against Siena). He trains every day, just as hard as everyone else, and he could have been called into action at any time (knock on wood, throw salt, light a candle to appease the calcio gods). He is an Inter youth product and has never wavered in his loyalty, never complained about being third-string. Plus, he just extended his contract for another year.

Overall Grade: 6, he never complains

DEFENSE:

Ivan Cordoba

Cordoba is our fastest defender and our principal defense against teams countering us to death ala Juventus. That being said, he was in the Mourinho doghouse for a while after what I am going to call: The Atalanta Affair. He was back in relatively good graces after what I am going to call: The Rivas Debacle. He a solid defender but his good speed gives him that extra oomph.

Who knew someone so short could win so many headers! For all the trouble we had in defense this last season, Cordoba was our most consistent central defender. He played 37 games for us this season, more than any other central defender, and has been the anchor in our back line. Plus, who could forget that fabulous stoppage time goal against Reggina? He had a fine season, despite Atalanta. I mean, everyone has a bad day now and then. At least he didn’t let his ruin his whole season.

Overall Grade: 6, 6.5

Maxwell

Maxwell had an up and down season which led to his being replaced by Santon. His rise this season came from very good games early in the campaign. But as games accumulated it became apparent that Maxwell was being figured out. After The Atalanta Affair he was benched in favor of Santon and Chivu for almost the rest of the season.

Poor Maxi. He began the season strongly, and for the most part, the fans consistently rated him at least 6.5. He even got that beautiful goal against Chievo. And then Atalanta happened. Mou put him in the dog house and his performances became inconsistent. He had a couple more passable games, but he was just as likely to loose his marbles as not. He went forward well, but his clearances became disastrous and he was prone to giving the ball away right in front of our own goal. I think he personally set up at least two goals for the opposing team in the last few games he played. Still, I like him. I would be sad to see him go this summer – that is, so long as he does not mind providing depth instead of starting every game. I dont know if he is willing to take a less active role, though. In fact, I would have given him a slightly higher score if it wasn’t for his mid-season winging. I dont know if he will make it through the summer but the club has reportedly already turned down two offers for him (one from Barca, the other from Juve).

Overall Grade: 5.5, 5

Maicon

Maicon was a good player last season. This season he was bordering on greatness. He defended, he attacked, he scored, he assisted and he even took some corner kicks. He, like Julio Cesar, is in the conversation for best player at his position. The injury late in the year was particularly worrying and the increase in goals allowed at the end of the season was a result of his absence.

Maicon is phenomenal. There is nothing I dont like about him. He was great and anyone who says otherwise is a fool. He seems to be committed to the club (100%) and always has a smile on his face. As Susana Werner said in the SkySport special about this last Scudetto, Maicon is the heart of the team. I would like him to stay forever (no matter what his obnoxious agent has to say about it). I cannot think of a single bad thing to say about him.

Overall Grade: 8, 9

Nico Burdisso

Burdisso is a hard player to figure out. I don’t think I have seen him play, what I think, is a good game. He made poor choices tackling. He made poor decisions reacting to the attackers playing in front of him. His clearances from the defense are rarely on target. His lowlights can be summarized in that last game against Cagliari. But, and this is the part that I can’t figure out, other teams are willing to pay a transfer fee to get him. If only the little bugger would consent to leave. The quicker, the better.

One word: Anorthosis. Still, he is so earnest and, in the beginning of the season, he was there for the team when Samuel was still injured. He made 29 appearances for us this season, and if it wasn’t for him, we would have seen a whole lot more of Cambiasso in defense. I want to like him – I want him to do well for us – but I just dont think he can. Anyone who watched either the Atalanta game or the Anorthosis away game will agree. I think he may be on his way out this summer (of course, we said that last summer too), and I wish him well. His heart is in the right place but his head and his feet, sadly, are not. If it weren’t for his enthusiasm, he would be my worst player of the year.

Overall Grade: 5, 4.5 (cause he is not quite the worst)

Marco Materazzi

Last season I thought that Marco looked old, but serviceable. This season I thought that he looked old. He had an injury plagued year, but the few games that he played in I thought he didn’t play particularly well – Champions League games included. There was one brilliant exception – in the first Juventus game, he marked Amauri off the pitch.

I love Marco. I know he is not the player he was before he got injured, but I dont care. He bleeds black and blue (as evidenced by his recent 2-year contract renewal), and I appreciate that. I think the tries his very best every single time he takes the pitch, it is just that is best is not as good as it once was. Still, it is better than either Nico or Rivas. True, he has had an injury prone season, and has only played a few games, but hey, with that goal against Anorthosis, he equaled Ibra’s UCL scoring record this season. Plus, he played 15 minutes with a broken cheekbone against Werder Bremen! I am glad the club is giving him the opportunity to finish his career with the club. Tutti Pazzi per Materazzi!

Overall Grade: 5.5 6

Nelson Rivas

I was an advocate of Rivas getting more playing time in order to figure out if he can play. I no longer advocate his being on the team anymore, thanks to the double nightmare of Champions League vs ManUre and Coppa vs Sampdoria. Ugh.

Arrivaderci, Nelson. We tried, you played even though you were injured, it was a disaster. Because I am nice, though, I will remind everyone that he did actually have one great game: Bologna v Inter. I have included the highlights here to prove it. One game does not undue all the mental anguish and trauma he has caused me this season, though. I am sorry, but it is clearly time for him to move on. He may well be my pick for worst player of the season.

Overall Grade: 5, 3

Bologna v Inter (1-2):

Walter Samuel

Samuel, in my opinion, was our best central defender. His effectiveness helped no doubt by the “I’m going to rip your head off” look that he has when he’s in a good mood. Samuel made my favorite “tackle” of the year when he clocked CRonaldo upside the head. He’s a destroyer of epic proportions. The bad news? He’s 31.

I dont care how old he is, he is a stone-cold fox. I agree with MAD, Samuel was the best this season. His only fault is that he is a little fouly sometimes. I was a little nervous for him as it took so long for him to come back from injury, but he came back better than ever. He even got a goal! It wasn’t all moonbeams and roses, he stumbled a bit against Cagliari (at home) and Napoli (away), but also had moments of pure brilliance. He was stupendous in the Juve home game and against Lazio (away). I dont know if he can start every game next season (unless Zanetti shares some of whatever elixir he has been taking), but I think he still brings a lot to the table.

Overall Grade: 7, 8

Christian Chivu

If this review was done during January, his grade would be slightly better than Burdisso. But this last half of the season saw Chivu be both versatile and effective. He played central defense and left fullback well. I think that next year he’s going to play a big part in the defense… is he can stay healthy. Of our most effective central defenders (Cordoba and Samuel), he’s the youngest at 29.

Chivu is another player that is just such a Muppet, you have to love him. In fact, I think my rating of him may be ever so slightly influenced by the affection I feel for him as a person. Not that he doesn’t play well: He is versatile, playing effectively as a central defender or a fullback. In a pinch, he can even play in the midfield. Unfortunately, he can be a little fragile. When healthy, though, he plays well and is particularly good at clearing the ball (in comparison to Nico and Maxi, at least). He did have a problem with tackling this season, and picked up the most yellows of all our defenders (7). Also, he struggled a bit the first half of the season (which I think was largely due to injury), but managed to find his form in the spring.

Overall Grade: 6.5, 7 – cause he is such a cutie

Davide Santon

Since his debut against Roma, Santon has hardly put a foot wrong. I had read that he wasn’t used for a few games at the end of the season because of bad form, but I don’t believe it. I think it was an effort by Mourinho to make sure Santon didn’t get a big head. Santon has shown to be the anti-Burdisso. He is almost frighteningly calm under pressure and seems to make good decisions. He can play on the left or the right. He can also go forward with skill – I heard one play by play guy refer to him as elegant. He doesn’t have the grit of Bergomi, but “elegant” is what people say about Facchetti.

I think it is just too darn soon to say Santon is the next anything. He had a little problem earlier in the season with wine and women, and started to slack in training. I think that is why Mou kept him on the bent. That, and to show that not even his protege was immune to being benched. That said, he is pretty darn good. Mou threw him in the deep end and darned if he didn’t swim like a fish. There was a dip in form when he went back to the right – his positioning went all to hell and he was having trouble marking – but he managed to work it out. He is playing for the Azzurri now, and I couldn’t be happier for him. The important thing now is to take it slowly so that he doesn’t burn out or get too big for his britches. I will say this: he is promising and I look forward to watching him play for Inter for many years to come.

Overall Grade: 6.5, 7 – it would have been higher if not for the tragic eyebrow lines

Andrea Mei

Despite being on the first team list, this kid did not get a single minute of field time. He doesn’t get a score. Hopefully he will make an appearance at one of these summer friendlies so we can scope him out.

Wow. That was a lot. Now you can all see why I chose to break it up. Look for midfielders tomorrow (or the next day), which will include Zanetti. Until then…

FORZA INTER

After a very frustrating match against a surprisingly worthy adversary, Inter sit at the top of the table, 7 points ahead of Milan — Exactly where we were last week. One more draw for Inter (and both our closest rivals) means we all have to wait at least one more week to decide the outcome of this year’s championship. Still, one baby step forward is better than one giant step back. Or, as Mou said:

“I can only say that we needed six points and now we need five. I’m not happy with this result but I prefer a situation in which we need five points rather than six… There’s nothing dramatic in what happened today. We still need five points, we have two games at the Meazza to play and we have to win these points together with our fans.”

So there. The draw was unfortunate, especially as we were ahead twice and really should have closed the game down when the scoreline was 1-2, but it is no big deal. Still and all, though, I really really wanted to win this one.

Javier Zanetti is strong to the finish ’cause he eats his spinach.

As for the game itself, I would love to give you all a complete recap, but it was early (6 AM!), I was watching a crappy little stream, and I dont have a DVR here at the beach (we are roughing it). All this means that for a really good summary, you should try here or here, or even here. All I have are a few impressions and a couple thoughts… Oh, and the highlights:

THOUGHTS AND IMPRESSIONS

• Figo did not suck, not at all in fact. I dont know if he has a whole other season left in his legs, but I thought he had a good game. His crosses were spot-on and he caused Chievo’s defense all sorts of problems.
• Crespo got another goal! Who would have thought it? It will do wonders for his confidence and we may actually need him for these last three games.
• Stankovic is not the player he was a couple months ago. I think he is tired – which is understandable – but his inattention is costing us points. Inter desperately needs options in the midfield, options other than Vieira and Jiminez. Everyone cross your fingers that Daddy Moratti buys us some shiny new players this summer.
• Balotelli had a great goal. Hooray! Plus, he didn’t let the other team goad him into doing something stupid – he didn’t even get a card this match. There may be hope for him yet.
• Maxwell is a bit of conundrum for me. He wasn’t entirely terrible this game – he made some good runs and a couple pivotal stops – but there were some huge flaws with his game. First, he cannot clear a ball without conceding a corner, almost netting an own-goal, or giving up possession. Once again, his flubbed clearance cost us a goal. Still, I am of two minds about him – he has been back on the pitch recently which apparently means he is going to renew his contract but I am not sure that is the best thing for the club. But if not Maxwell, then who?
• Cruz and Jimenez are deadwood. It is very likely that Jimi will leave this summer. As for Cruz, everyone knows about the special relationship he and Moratti share, so it looks like he may be around for a couple more seasons. Or at least, that is the rumor. He has not been playing well recently, and was practically non-existent against Chievo. Well, he did manage to pick up a card which means he is disqualified for the Seina game.
• Nico goes in the same hat with Cruz and Jimenez. I know he is versatile and that is why Mou likes him, but his moments of brightness are being eclipsed by this non-existence. I think he is on the way out this summer, perhaps with some guy named Luka Modrić coming the other way (or so goes the rumor).

Ok, so enough about the Chievo game. We proved that we could score without Ibra but a fat lot of good it did us in the end. We had over 60% of the possession but Chievo had four more shots on goal than we did (according to ESPN).

OTHER STUFF

The lads were back at training today and Mou included midfielder Rene Krhin and attacking midfielder Joel Chuwuma Obi from our Primavera squad. I wonder if they will actually see the pitch this season. Maybe if we sew up the scudetto a little early.

Paolo Orlandoni has renewed for another season.

There are still tickets available for this weekend’s game against Siena. It could be the one, so, if you can, go out and support the club.

OTHER OTHER STUFF

Inter are being linked to any number of players for this summer.

From Chelsea, there are the insistent rumors about Didier Drogba (who we may get on the cheap after his post CL antics) and Obi Mikel (who we have offered 17 million Euro for).

Inter are looking at Hleb, Ribary, Cesc Fabregas, and David Silva. Sure we are, Inter and every other team.

Juve and Inter are neck in neck for Quagliarella. Apparently, it all hangs on what Juve will do with Treguzet and Inter with Acquafresca.

So, everyone, take what you want from the rumor bin and run with it.

FORZA INTER

Here is a little preview of Rene Krhin (thank you Inter_Pervs! What would I do without you?).

Maxwell tries the new “tickle therapy” on Rivas.

Cuchu shows Maxwell the more preferred method of tickling a teammate. Deki hears that Cambiasso is handing out hugs and comes a runnin’.

Suddenly, with the involvement of Cuchu and Deki, the perfectly innocent therapy turns into a full-out pig pile on poor Rivas. (Note that Orlandoni, while not interested in tickles, seems to like pig piles just fine.)

With the pile complete, Bolzoni learns about the perks of training with the first team, while we get the added bonus of a nice photo of Deki (in the blue boots). Muntari seems to be thinking that this is not how they trained at Portsmouth.

Ah, good clean fun.

I love our team.
FORZA INTER

First, I thought we would tackle whole mercato question:

Should Inter Participate in the Winter Mercato?
( polls)

The poll is open until midnight, January 2, so get voting.

Personally, I think we may see a little movement. Mourinho has said repeatedly that he thinks the squad is too large and I think it is clear to a few players that there really isn’t room for them any more. I think there are seven players that may either leave or go out on loan this winter:

Defenders: Rivas, Burdisso
Midfielders: Jimenez, Dacourt
Forwards: Adriano, Crespo, Obinna

There is some talk about Rivas going to Bologna, I think on loan. According to Calciomercato, there is already some agreement between Inter and Bologna for the deal.

There has been no specific talk of Burdisso leaving, but I think he may be on the way out. We have quite a few full backs on the squad, and he may be the worst of them.

I am a bit on the fence about Jimenez. He has only played a couple games this season but I just dont think that Mourinho is all that enamored with him. I dont necessarily think he should leave – the deeper the squad the better – but it just feels like he may be used as a bargaining chip.

Dacourt has already said he is leaving. The question now is whether he will go to Bologna (along with all the other Inter cast-offs), Genoa, Hull City, or West Brom. I dont think we will make much on him, but his contract expires in June so better to get what we can now than wait and get nothing.

Despite Moratti and Mourinho both saying that Adriano will be back at Inter come January 2, it is possible he will not play for Inter. It is clear he is still battling with addiction and the press in Italy is not helping. Moratti would like him to stay. I hope that Mourinho is able to talk some sense into him, though, as keeping him at Inter may be the worst solution for all parties. One only needs look at Recoba to see what could happen. Italy may just not be the place for Adriano. Adriano’s girlfriend thinks he will go to Chelsea in the end. He is cup-tied to Inter, though, so may go to Flamengo on loan for the rest of this season.

Crespo has been on the way out since he was left off the Champions League list at the beginning of the season. Still, he reputedly refused a move to Real Madrid so who knows. Earlier in the month he was linked to both Roma and Palermo, but they have denied interest. He has been getting more play time at Inter, maybe he has decided to stick it out. I think it is time for him to move on.

Obinna may still be going on loan. He says that he would like to stay and fight for a spot, but understands that he will get more play time at a smaller club. Everton may still want him and I think that going out on loan may be the best thing for him to get the experience he needs.

There has been a little gossip about Balotelli possibly going out on loan for the rest of the season and that Inter will recall Acquafresca from Cagliari early.

Suazo will probably stay at Benfica for the rest of the year.

As for incoming players, La Gazzetta says that Inter was interested in Milito but Genoa turned them down so now Inter may be looking at Di Vaio. Yikes.

MIDSEASON PAGELLE

Even though this is not officially the middle of the season, it is a convenient time to look back at the first four months of the season.

Last year I think we went into the break at the top of the table with something like 43 points (anyone?), 7 points ahead of Roma at number 2. This year, we are at the top of the table with 42 points and 6 ahead of Juventus at number 2. Inter have the best offensive and defensive record: 31 goals scored and only 11 allowed. We did loose that one game against Milan, but overall, our Serie A form is not too shabby.

Europe was, once again, not Inter’s place to shine. Still, we got through, and, if we actually get past ManU, we will have a pretty good shot at making it to the finals. Lets just say that it is not entirely impossible.

Now lets move on to the players:

GOALKEEPERS

Toldo: 7. I think he is the best reserve keeper in Serie A. There is talk that he will extend until 2011 and I would be thrilled were that the case. He only played one game with Inter this season, but he played it well. It is a testament to his loyalty that he stays on. Bravo Toldone!

Julio Cesar: 7. I love Julio Cesar. I cant think of a single keeper I would rather have at Inter. This season, though, he has had a couple of bobbles – nothing major, just not what we have come to expect from him. Hopefully, he was just tired and will be back to his old, exceptional self after the break.

Orlandoni Paolo: no grade. Luckily, Inter has not needed him this season (knocking furiously on wood).

DEFENDERS

Cordoba: 7. I am constantly amazed at how such a short guy can win so many headers. He has come through with the crucial goal a few times now. He can be a bit fouly (4 yellow cards already), but is fast, and with Mou’s penchant for pressing, is able to beat the oncoming strikers back to the ball.

Zanetti: 8. He really should be moved to the midfield section, but I am sticking with how Inter has him classified. What can you say about Zanetti? He is a rock. He has played every minute of every game, and done so with aplomb. What will we ever do without him?

Maxwell: 6. I really wanted to give him a higher score, but, after consideration, I just could not. He is good at intercepting passes has has great passing skills, but sometimes looses concentration when marking a specific player. At the level Inter are playing at, we cannot afford these lapses. He cost us a goal each in the last two games. He did have a beauty of a goal,though.

Maicon: 8.5. He has been the secret to our success. Maicon is one of the best right backs in the world. At 4 goals, he is Inter’s second highest scorer and is becoming a real favorite of Mourinho. He is a tireless workhorse and a squad essential. He may rate a 9.

Burdisso: 4. He tries, but that Champions League game was disastrous. I know Mou feels he is more versatile, but I just dont think he can hack it. Of all the defenders, he is the one I would like to replace the most.

Materazzi: 6. Ok, everyone knows that I have a soft spot for Marco. Still, the few games he has played, he played well. He shut down Amauri in the Juventus game, and he even scored against Anorthosis. He may not be a starter but I think he still has a lot to contribute to the team. Plus, I love him.

Rivas: no score. He only started one game and managed to pick up an injury. I think he should finish the season at another club.

Samuel: 8. The wall is back. Without a doubt, Samuel is on the list for the knock-out stage of the Champions League. He has already scored 2 goals (not too shabby for a center back), and can strip a ball from an attacker with the best of them.

Chivu: 6. As I recall, he played well in those first couple CL games. Unfortunately, he has been out for a while which makes it hard to give him a higher score. I like his versatility, though.

Mei: no score. I wonder if he will get to play in the Coppa Italia against Genoa.

Santon: no score. He really should be given a shot, too.

MIDFIELDERS

Stankovic: 9. He has been a revelation. Mou said Deki would be a special project, and whatever he has done, I hope he keeps it up. I will say, though, that his high score is due not only to his performance these last few months, but also his improvement over last season.

Figo: 5. He has not played much, but I think his last couple games have actually been pretty good. He has great vision and ball movement skills. He may not be at his best anymore, but he is not bad either.

Jimenez: 5. He really has only started 1 game and come on as a sub in two others. I dont remember thinking he was terrible, but he was not outstanding either. Really, I just think he needs play time. Still, with Juve snapping at our feet, there is not much room for trial and error.

Vieira: 5. He had a great start to the season. He played a few really good games then was injured. Again. I just dont think he can stay healthy for a long enough time to really make an impact for Inter. It is too bad, though, because when he is on, he is great.

Dacourt: no score. He is out, so why bother?

Cambiasso: 9. Inter’s unsung hero. He often does not make the press, but he is another one of Inter’s essential players. I really would like to say more about him, but I worry that once I start, I will not be able to stop. For me, I think the fact that he has yet to get carded shows how skillful he really is. Manchester City can just step off – he is not for sale!

Muntari: 7. I am very happy with Munatri. He provides much-needed muscle in the midfield, although he can be a little fouly. As ugly as it was, that goal against Juve will always endear him to me.

Mancini: 4. He started well – he had a great partnership with Ibra for a few games there in the beginning – but then we moved away from the 4-3-3 and he lost his place. I think he still has potential, but needs to find his place in the 4-3-1-2 formation.

Bolzoni: no score. Mou has got to let these kids play sooner or later!

Quaresma: 4. He did not live up to the hype, that’s for sure. Still, he is talented, he just needs to find his way at Inter. I have not given up on him – the potential still exists.

FORWARDS

Ibrahimovic: 9. I got an Ibrahimovic jersey for Christmas and I am thrilled. Some of you may remember that last year, Ibra was not one of my favorite players. Well, he has changed and so has my estimation of him. This season, when he looses the ball, he runs back to get it. He has always been a good, but now I think he is becoming great.

Cruz: 6. What can I say. The dude comes through in a pinch. I dont think he should start, though.

Adriano: 4. He has broken my heart. I thought the Emperor was back – remember the Panathinaikos game? But no, it was just the same old Adriano. How many chances does he get?

Crespo: 4. I can’t bring myself to give him a lower score even though he may deserve it. I want him to succeed, but I think his time at Inter is over. He used to be so good, though…

Obinna: 5. The kid has lots of potential but I think he may need to go out on loan to realize it.

Balotelli: 6. I expected more. I think everyone did – which may be his downfall. He is Inter’s best corner-taker, and I think he will definitely come along, but he has to learn to pass the ball and stop committing fouls when he is frustrated.

Whew. That was a lot. I am sure many of you disagree, so lets hear it.

And dont forget to vote!

FORZA INTER

Congratulations MAD on the birth of your daughter!