Inter Info: 1/22/08
By: robert | January 22nd, 2008Here ya’ go:
—-> A day after Roma coach Luciano Spalletti questioned the validity of Inter’s win, both Milan and Juventus managers, Carlo Ancelotti and Claudio Ranieri, insisted that Inter’s win was the result of an honest effort and not the referees decisions. Obviously Spalletti would be angry, his team won and was 5 minutes away from gaining ground on Inter. However, Ancelotti’s and Ranieri’s comments back up my thoughts. There was no handball, and Inter won honestly.
—-> Both goal.com and Tuttosport are proclaiming that the Nerazzuri may steal Diego right from under Juve’s nose. If this was just another goal.com transfer rumor article, (What are there, about 58 a day? Yea, 58 sounds about right.) I would of passed over it. However, now that I see that even Tuttosport is reporting this as well, who knows. Earlier this week it was reported that Juve were close to signing the 22 year-old, but were only willing to pay the 20 million Euro out of the 25 that Werder Bremen had asked for. But, with Inter coach Roberto Mancini calling for a few signings due to Inter’s long injury list, it might be more than a rumor. Unlike my comments on Ronaldinho yesterday, I feel like Diego would make a nice fit. There are no reports that he is trouble in the locker room, and at 22 years-old he could be a terrific play-maker in our midfield for a long time. We’ll just have to wait and watch how this story develops.
—-> Some idiot, Carlo Garganese, wrote a goal.com article saying Inter was “given” points. Here are the facts (There actually more opinion than facts. How my man Carlo rounds to 5 or 8 points is beyond me.) :
“The bigger picture it seems is that referees are looking for any excuse to give Inter a penalty. You can bet your bottom dollar that any 50/50 decision (even 40/60 or 30/70 for that matter) in the opposition box is going to result in a spot-kick.
(Hmm, spot kick. Let me check. Nope, nothing on spot kick. But I did manage to find something on penalty kick. Idiot.)
The week before Inter were awarded a quite ludicrous penalty against Siena after a harmless coming together in the box between Julio Cruz and Paul Codrea. The score at the time of the incident was 0-0.
Nobody can doubt that Inter, domestically, are the strongest team in Italy – that is self-explanatory. However the truth is that Inter have probably obtained 5 to 8 points more this season due to poor officiating.“
No comment.
—-> Once again, goal.com blows something out of proportion. When is it going to stop?
—-> Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri has finally given up. “There is real gap now and it could not be closed in six months or even a year. We just need to focus internally and build a base for next year.” This “increases the stakes” for Juve when they take on Inter Wednesday in the Coppa Italia. As Claudio said, if they can’t get some hardware in the Coppa Italia, it looks as if their trophy case will be empty this year.
—-> Speaking of Wednesday, Juve will have to beat Inter without the services of Gigi Buffon, Pavel Nedved and Hasan Salihamidzic. Gigi has a back strain, Nedved has a sore throat (bitch), and Hasan has fatigue in his right thigh (Um, what?).
—-> I’ll have the Coppa Italia match preview verses Juve up later today.
—->Funny/crazy soccer picture of the day.
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Tags: Ancelotti, Buffon, Diego, Inter, Juventus, Milan, Players, Ranieri, Roma, Spalletti, Team News, Werder BermenSubscribe
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welcome to the offside blog, Roberto! I am a Roma fan…
Spal is one of the most diplomatic guy and he only said that Roma needs to concentrate on our game and the guys were disappointed about the Parma result only because Inter were close to lose points that meant we would have caught up with you a bit. He also said that this given us new confidence because now it seems that Inter are indeed beatable… just one suggestion: do not use goal.com as a reliable source. It is good fun (sometimes) and most just annoying. I think you’ll soon see that for yourself.
Posted from
United States
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Hahaha, spot kick. It was pretty controversial, but life goes on. It’s not a surprise that Spal is so upset; after tall, they’re the closest to the Scudetto after Inter. The huge Ronaldinho fuzz is amazing and blown too out of proportion. Srsly, is he even ~that~ good anymore?
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United States -
Hey Robbie, convenient as it is to quote the only 2 or 3 guys who aren’t proclaiming that Inter robbed Parma at referee-point, you should realize that these guys have already given up scudetto dreams.
Any Italian soccer news source (and mind you, many of these are based in Milan), is not talking about whether the goal was valid, but rather why refs are making so many mistakes (taking the one on Sunday as a shining example), and more specifically, why so many of these mistakes seem to favor Inter. 7 penalties per, 1 against.
Roma: 5 per, 5 against, and when you consider that a large portion of Roma’s play occurs in the area, these numbers just don’t add up.The missed call for Kaka’ in the derby was bullshit, The Siena penalty was atrocious, Parma didn’t get a clear penalty in the first half, still found a way to beat your asses, but you Perdazzurri had to be saved by Moratti’s checkbook once again.
There was hand contact, but based on the fact that the ball was being headed away, any hand contact can be deemed involuntary. Rule 12 of the rulebook.
Enjoy your cardboard scudetto.
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United States -
A few things…
1. In the Parma Game if the ball had not hit Couto’s arm was it going wide? It was a piss poor clearing header on the ball. His arm barely stopped it from going in, but it did. And then explain when a defender has his arm so dangerously high, how any ref is supposed to distinguish Voluntary vs. Involuntary. You want to see a text book clear off the line? Watch how Cesar did it earlier in the half at the other end… Hands nowhere near the ball. If he were to screw up the 1st touch he would not have found himself in question of handling the ball. A poor play by Couto is no one’s fault but his own.
On the flip side, with the “non call” for Parma in the first half… Julio Cesar made terrible play. I do think he managed to recover & get to the ball first as the ball clearly headed toward a direction that made it seem so, which was out of the area. Also the striker lunged for it at the same time and then toppled over the keeper, another tell that there was no foul. The srtiker did not have possession, nor was he making a go at goal, he lunged at a 50/50 ball at the same time as the keeper. Either way the ref was not in a good postition to make any call, IMO.
2. In the Siena game, with reagrds to the penalty, can some one please point the exact instance where the defender made an attempt to play the ball. If you can find it, then maybe you can point out exactly when he WASN’T leading with one leg stretched out and all of his cleats showing during the challenge. Then maybe you could tell us there was no contact and Cruz went to ground on his own. Sorry, but that was a careless, ill timed challenge that had penalty written all over it.
Now The Derby: Yeah, you might have a case with the Kaka incident. In the same game though, Pirlo should never have had the chance to strike that Free Kick. You know, the one he scored on. It was a gorgeous strike, perfect actually, but Inzaghi DOVE when he realized he had no play on the ball. That DIVE won the chance in the perfect spot. No one seems to ever want to mention that. Why?
Also in the Derby, if you want to see a clear case of when this “Voluntary vs. Involuntary” arguement holds substance (which it doesn’t in Parma’s case)… Watch when Kaladze poorly plays a ball off his foot which sent it up and hit him sqaure in the hand while he was in the area. That’s where it applies. No one was near him and he was not very close to goal. Had that been awarded people might have a case as to why the numbers don’t add up.
Yes I am an Inter fan, but I think people are going too far with the story making. Take the blinders off.
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United States -
Robert, excellent work… it’s a joy to read your articles.
I’ve been reading everything about the “controversy”, and I’ve been thinking about it as well…
How about this, and I haven’t seen this argument mentioned yet: Refs always make mistakes. In any game, in every game. In Serie A, if you go back and review every single game this season, you will find hundreds of mistakes and dozens of false penalties, in favor of any team.
So the question is, why is it a “controversy” only when Inter win? Easy, because they’ve always been the easy targets for the media, and they’re the team everyone loves to hate and hates to love.
Let’s just for a second assume that the penalty was “given unjustly”… well Roma have been “given” lots of things this season, and their opponents have been “robbed” as well… no controversy there? The Kaladze example above is perfect… it was a DERBY game, but nobody made a big deal out of it… not a single player said anything, and the fans were respectful.
Yes, please take the blinders off.
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United Arab Emirates -
Gabriella- Thanks for the warm welcome.I understand your comment on goal.com. I use it, much like you said, for entertainment purposes.
Jennifer- No, from what I can see, he isn’t that good anymore.That’s why I would rather have Diego.
Vlad- A cardboard scudetto is better than no scudetto at all.
Paolo- Terrific points all around.I especially agree with your “voluntary vs. involuntary” arguments. In the “heat” of the game, is the ref supposed to stop the game, run over to a replay booth, then tell if the player meant to hit it with his hand. This is the real football, 45 and 45. Nothing in-between.
Ehsan- Thank you for your compliment. I have thought about your “referees are human” point, but never posted on it. I completely agree, mistakes happen. They happen in every game, in every league, to every team. But why when it happens to Inter, the sky seems to be falling? I think it’s because we are one of, if not the, most successful club in Europe right now. So, people are looking for any reason to stick us in the mud.
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United States -
Keep hating on Inter….and all we will do is keep on winning.
Posted from
United States -
They should be happy for us. Except for last year, we never win anything! The last time we had a solid winning streak it was the 1960s! C’mon, if you want to hate someone for always winning, hate Juve or Milan. We totally deserve this! Now I am going to go knock on some wood.
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United States
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