Inter 1- Bari 1

By: InterMAD | August 24th, 2009

First game of the season and we start slow… as usual. Impressions? We need to figure out how to shoot on target and who has to cover where, when. Inter players of the match:

Highlights after the break.

Stats:
Possession: Inter – 54%, Bari – 46%
Shots on goal: Inter – 3, Bari – 4
Shots overall: Inter 19, Bari 12
Corner kicks: Inter – 10, Bari – 1
Cautions: Inter – 3, Bari – 2
Expulsions: Inter – 0, Bari – 0
Offsides: Inter – 1, Bari – 4

Pagelle:

Cesar: Julio did okay with what he had. He wasn’t tested very much and the goal really wasn’t his fault as Kutuzov was all alone and had a free shot. 6.5

Maicon: Maicon played well going forward but not as well as we expect coming back. He was caught too far up several times. I remarked early in the game that I had figured out Bari’s tactics – 10 on defense and then scramble as many as possible to the counter attack. Maicon should have figured it out before me and played back a bit. But I will cut him some slack – he didn’t have anyone switch with him as he usually does so that Inter are covered when he does go forward. 5

Lucio: He played exactly the way Mouinho wanted him to when he came to us. He pushed up and he often made the first pass to start the attack. On the goal he was too far forward and no one covered for him. This is something that the team is going to have to figure out without Cuchu. 6

Materazzi: I thought that Marco was more or less invisible the first half. He was booked for a two footed challenge that he actually won the ball on and got very little player. On Saturday, Nesta wasn’t even whistled for a free kick when he did the same thing and knocked the player into next year. This doesn’t bode well for us next week. I also think that against a team that we all knew was going to try to counter us, we could have used Cordoba’s speed from the beginning. 4.5

Zanetti: Javier was burned early from Alvarez. In the second half he played a little smarter. I give him high marks for adapting, but I think I would have played him in front of Maicon, myself. Some might have wanted to see Santon here, but I would have been just as happy to see Chivu. 5.5

Muntari: Invisible until he was subbed out. He can sulk about it if he wants to, but he wasn’t running and he wasn’t passing very well either. 4.5

Vieira: I thought that Vieira played ok until he did his best Rivas impersonation. He was okay after that until he was subbed out at the half. 5

Motta: I thought that Motta had a very good 1st half, missed excellent chance for a goal notwithstanding. He was active and he was passing well. In the 2nd half he played ok, but he was just passing the ball from the back really. I think that I am getting the feeling that Motta is the kind of player that needs to be around the ball otherwise he falls to sleep a little. 5.5

Stankovic: This one is hard for me to rate. I thought that he played ok, overall. Once he tried to drop back, I think he was a little lost. He’s not really a defensive player, nor a central player, really. I think that he’s about ½ to blame for the goal, but I am more interested in sorting out the defensive responsibilities than blame someone. 5

Milito: I think that Milito played a good game. He was always in the opponent’s box and sooner or later he was going to get fouled. I thought that he was fouled – he was kicked in the boot with no attempt made on the ball – but I think that most refs would have let it go. Milito also forced the ref to make a decision one way or another. The rest of the game, he worked his ass off and he missed one of the 3 sure goals that I thought we had today. 7

Eto’o: This is a hard one for me. He worked hard and he took his shots, but he missed two excellent chances that he probably should have put away. On the other hand, that was a great penalty that he took. P.S. I can’t get over how short he is in photos. He looks so much taller when he’s playing. 6.5

Cordoba: I thought that he came on too late. I would have started him – like I would against Chievo, for example, since they also play a 10-1 formation. He wasn’t at fault of the goal; in fact he’s the one that angled the first guy to the side, covering for Maicon who was caught too far up. On the other hand, he didn’t exactly set the world on fire either. 5

Quaresma: I thought that Ricky played well. He received the ball and either pushed forward or distributed… which is his job. He missed a couple of crosses, but then he made a few passes that I thought were pretty good too. Towards the end of the game he almost fed Eto’o a beaut. He even took a shot with a header. A decent effort, I thought. 5.5

Balotelli: Here’s the thing. I thought that when he went in, our play got incredibly positive. I would have stated him in place of Deki. Despite not covering for Maicon when he went forward, Mario had a good game and was a shove in the box away from having a chance at a header (5:08 on the highlights). 7

Overall

Overall I thought that we played better than Bari did, but not nearly as well as we can. When teams play the ol’ 10-1 formation and try to catch us on the counter, like Chievo did last season, it makes everything compact and hard to maneuver. You might recall that we had some difficulty in games that we should have won easily at home last season because teams like to use this tactic against us. It’s damned annoying but it’s the way these things are done.

However, not all is doom and gloom. I honestly think that one of the improvements from last season was our passing in the midfield. When Eto’o arrived there was some concern that we wouldn’t be able to make chances for him because our midfield had too many clod footed defensemen. But today the team was able to pass the ball through the midfield left, right and center to create pressure.

Speaking of pressure, there were times that the Bari defense weren’t able to get out of their own end, because of the pressure of our forwards. We created some chances from that pressure.

Bari had two real chances to score. Unfortunately, one of the pluses to the counter is making high percentage chances. Our downfall on these two exceptions to an otherwise pretty good defensive day was that we were attacking too much. We were caught forward with too many players and not enough people rotating back to help out. It’s an organizational problem and not a talent problem so there is hope that it can be worked out sooner rather than later, I hope. Of course one would wonder why it wasn’t already worked out. It seems that Cuchu’s injury really threw the management for a loop.

Look it was a draw, which around these parts lately means that we get disappointed, but it could have been worse, I guess. I just wish I felt more confident in the squad. There are too many new people and I am just unfamiliar with some of them.

Speaking of next week:

I don’t have high hopes since we are Cuchu – less. Kind of like last season when we had all those injuries to the back line.

Some Related Inter Posts:

Category: Christian Chivu, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Douglas Maicon, Esteban Cambiasso, Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Julio Cesar, Lucio, Players, Serie A, Team News, Thiago Motta

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Paolo

Among all this chaos we have a Derby to play this weekend!!

Though it's very early I still have the same feeling I have every time this fixture is played, which is not easy to explain, and I hope we can give them a nice Smack on Saturday.

Perhaps the 1-1 draw to Bari was a good thing. Hopefully the team comes out wanting it more.
Paolo

Who you draw in the group stage is neither here nor there.

I agree with Mickey wholeheartedly. This team needs confidence, will and the voglia to win. You have to want it more than your opponent. You have to believe in the cause more than your opponent. You be convinced you will win and not accept it any other way.

I am anxious to see the draw for all teams involved. As far as who Inter draw? I do not care. I feel if you are good enough to win the competition then it shouldn't matter who you play, when you play them, or where you play them.

We have quality finishers and players who will be playing in the right positions on the pitch. If there is one thing that this Sneijder signing did is ensure that we will not have to rely on players to fill gaps that they are not able to. We have some depth and all the technical aspects covered. The team has to want it. They have to be convinced they can do it and they need to focus.

Barca would be a nice draw in my opinion for the group. Their team is basically the same. Eto'o should know how Pep likes to work. As for Ibra, the team is completely different now and he might not any have secrets to offer.

I still value the league very, very much and do not want to see us dropping points in the 1st half of the Campionato because the focus is completely on the CL. A tough group and an easy group both have their pros and cons but I am still a firm believer that if you are technical enough and have the right mentality it could all go well.

It's up the management of the squad and players to determine what course this team takes.

I do still think we need another attacking midfielder. If Sneijder goes down we are back to square one... if the deal ever becomes official of course. I 'm not sure if it is is the cards to land one more offensive reinforcement.
mickey

hey jo or mad, whichever one of you is doing the derby preview write up I have a suggestion for the title of the write up. Its a famous quote that you probably recognize. "Although I walk through the valley of shadow, I shall fear no evil". Lol the valley of shadow being the san siro because it will be teeming with a legion of bilanisti and we shall not fear them or milan as we have nothing to fear but fear itself. We are the italian champions FORZA RAGAZZI!!! The first 3 points of the season would be great if we snatched them from the belly of the beast itself.
mickey

in fact you guys I am hoping that we get a difficult group if not very difficult because then it will force us to push ourselves mentally and gain valuable playing experience against the big teams in europe because if we can perform well against some quality sides (and I mean real quality not fenerbahce or psv) then who knows what we could be capable of next. I am looking for us to either get an english team or barcelona. When I watched us play against chelsea I was angry because I knew this was not even close to how well we could play, we looked a shadow to our former selves and did no favors to ourselves. We need to play exactly the opposite to that. We dont need to be nervous or scared but go forward with hope in our hearts and courage. Not be timid or shy because that will only invite the opponent. Playing well wouldnt hurt every once and a while ragazzi. As we all learned last season in the group stage, if you dont have the motivation or the will to truly excel yourself in the champions league matches then you are going to suffer and you will make yourself look bad. So here is the group I hope we get and a lot of you might think I am crazy but I say impossible is nothing.

Barcelona
Inter
Bordeaux
Wolfsburg

or

Chelsea/Arsenal
Inter
Athletico
Wolfsburg

Each game would offer us a massive challenge and make us realize how important each game is, I want us to approach the game in a way that was the exact opposite of how we approached them last year. I want us to truly believe in ourselves, to not be afraid, to play with confidence, and be calm and faithful in our abilities. I want us to have a fire in our hearts that never goes out I want us to truly strive to be our best in this group stage and then use that confidence we gain from the group stage in the knockout rounds, the confidence will only propel the team forward mentally.
mickey

no I wish darjan. Many juventini and milanisti have constantly written us off and time and time again we have proven them otherwise. And they have said that "it is written" that they will win and then unsurprisingly to me they dont. Make no mistake I have a feeling that this campionato for us might be a bigger challenge then Europe. Simply because the teams are more difficult this year and there will be an even bigger motivation for our rivals to knock us off our perch. But I say we should have faith, faith in the players, in mourinho, and in our President Moratti. This team has gone through a lot together and although we will miss some of our former greats (figo, crespo, ibra, dacourt, maxwell) I think the youngsters like Krhin, Obi, Santon, Destro, Balotelli, and Arnautovic are more then capable of stepping up their game. I am amazed at how we were not the overwhelming favorites to win the title again this year. I dont give a flying shit about what players juve has brought in. Like I said about us its the approach to the game that makes the difference. The mental attitude has to be there and we have that winning mentality because of all the scudetti we have won. When we are under pressure we are calm and relaxed because many experienced campaigns have taught us to not be nervous and keep the faith. Juve dont have that mentality. It cannot be bought or sold. It has to run in your team's blood like our team. I think we are the overwhelming favorites not because of the new players we brought in but because this team is an experienced scudetto winning team and the experience has taught them well and they have a certain mentality now which in my opinion puts them above every other team in italy. We were built to win scudetti this team and now that we have proven to everyone that we can do that its time that we realize our true potential in the champions league the potential that most people dont know we have inside of us and the potential that our rivals keep forgetting that we have until they are reminded by it when we outclass them in our victories over them.
ScudettoStarved

Francesco, I totally agree w/ u about Jimenez. Last season he didn't play b/c he didn't fit into Mou's system. Now we have a AM position and loan out a really promising 24 yr old AM. Makes no sense to me.

I'm officially holding my breath until I read about Sneijder on Inter's website. Starting....Now!
Inter Forever

He did an exclusive interview with the Telegraaf and here are some of the quotes.

"It is sad leaving Real Madrid, but Inter are one of the biggest clubs in thew orld and they have been the Italian Champions for the last four years and I'm proud to wear the Nerazzurri shirt." Then, "In recent weeks, Mourinho sent me numerous of text messages in which he took that opportunities to tell me that he wanted me at Inter. It will be a pleasure working with him. The derby? The coach will decide. I am ready to play immediately. I'm in great condition." Some words about Real, "they removed my shirt and kept me on the sidelines and that was no fun. Without wishing them the best seems immodest. I think I need more than staying on the bench, even at Real. This is the year of the World Cup and I really want to be a leader / a protagonist."
Darjan

mickey i love your style -- do you have your own blog perhaps? i'd be a joy to read what you have to say more often.
mickey

thanks for the complements guys. I just hope mourinho knows this as well because if he doesnt then us fans had better be prepared for a repeat of last season. But I wont accept that, I believe in this team and thankfully I think mourinho knows what needs to be done. He has seen us play with heart like how we played against juventus and how we played until pato's goal against milan. He knows we can do it, our performance against man united in the second leg was a testimony to that. However we need to build on that and what I think we really need to improve on is stabilizing mentally and calming down and not being so nervous on the ball when we go to intimidating places like old trafford or anfield. We can even play nervously in our own stadium because of the pressure we feel from our fans like in the first leg but I hope mourinho is working on changing that. Great teams are able to be calm and relaxed when the pressure is on and they are playing away from home and in an intimidating atmosphere. We need to be mentally calm and not get jittery. That happened a bit at old trafford and happened way to much at san siro in the first leg. And it definitely happened when we played liverpool a year and a half ago. We simply need to find the right mental state that allows us to play at our best like we do in the league. Look at teams like chelsea, man united, and barcelona. They are calm and relaxed when they play in the champions league. As Johonna, Mourinho, and many other interistas along with my self have pointed out we are our worst enemy. I remember we used to get quite jittery when we played matches in Serie A, this was of course before we were italian champions. We used to do the same thing in the league that we now do in the champions league. Truth be told we didnt play all that badly in the CL before the 2006 turning point. True we did lose to villareal but at least it was the quarterfinals. And honestly we deserved to go through in that tie because we could have won 5-1 in the first leg and only won 2-1 instead. And that stupid away goal rule came back to slap us in the face for the billionth time. In 2005 we had gotten to the quarters and lost unjustly to Bilan based on the fact that we should have had a hat trick of goals in the second leg but thanks to of our own fans we shot ourselves in the foot and got a stadium ban along with a 3-0 loss to milan given to us by uefa. It is very ironic how now as a stronger team we are unable to play with that same kind of tranquility that we had previously. As Mourinho said the CL is about details but not just details on the skills of the players or how the team plays overall but mental details like how you approach the game. If you approach it in the right manner you reap the fruits of your labor but as we have come to learn about our team if you approach it with the wrong kind of mentality the consequences are quite dire and severe.
Vinod

Ouch, mickey! That has to be one of the biggest paragraphs ever written, and I say this with love. I know you're not a fan of punctuation and stuff, but do split into a new para every 2-3 sentences, and you'd really be doing us a favour.
shingai

damn mickey...I stuck with you on that one, not sure everyone else will though...

But I agree with you. Certainly, having a clutch striker like Eto'o this year will give them a bit more confidence up front.
mickey

you know what guys? I would be glad if we got a difficult group because last season we got one of the easiest groups in the whole group stage with only barcelona having an easier group then us. This year I want the team to really really make sure that they learn last year's lesson, which was that there are no easy 3 point matches in the champions league. Hell we could have won all of those games if we wanted to but the squad just did not have the proper mental concentration and motivation to win. And a perfect example of that was our match against panathinaikos because we had just beaten Juve and we were full of confidence and then we lost that game and all the sudden everything changed. If we were capable of beating juve then we sure as hell were capable of beating panathinaikos and we had done it before away from home. The reason for our loss was because we were not motivated and did not care enough to win. Think about it we didnt play badly in last year's CL because we didnt have a trequartista we played badly because we just didnt have the right kind of winning mentality that a squad needs to have in the champions league. Look at porto look at villareal. Those teams got further in the competition then us and they definitely are not as strong as us. You know how they did it? The right mentality. They did it the same way that Panathinaikos did it. To win the champions league you dont need to have the best players in the world or anything like that or otherwise porto and as monaco would never have reached the 2004 final. You have to have a good squad but it doesnt have to be the best. What you need is heart and that was what those teams that beat the likes of arsenal and tied with the likes of man united brought onto the field when they played those teams. I havent seen us play with heart for a while. To further support my claim look at the US national team. I think everyone can agree that they are not the best team in the world and that there are at least 8 or 9 teams that are superior to them. But did that stop them from beating the number 1 ranked team in the world 2-0???? No, did that stop them from reaching the semi finals when in all logic and reason it seemed impossible to??? No, did it stop them from scoring two goals against brazil in the first half??? As you've probably all seen from watching this team, impossible is nothing. How else would we have come back against roma from 1-3 down or from 0-3 down?? How else would we have come from 0-2 down to 3-2 in the last 6 minutes of the match against sampdoria??? Its not like we will get this trequartista and all will be well. The trequartista is a mere facilitator of the process to winning games but there is no guarantee that he will do that every time. You cant just expect to get a result against a great team, you have to want it more then anything you have to want it so much that you go out and attack the game like there is no tomorrow and put your heart and soul into winning that match. That is something that I have seen this team do in the league but I have not even seen enough of in the champions league. If we are to beat one of those English teams or Barcelona then we have to believe we can and go out there and play with heart and play with real courage and not be afraid or scared. That was what I saw us do in the first leg against man united and that is not the way a team should play against man united. You have to be like Burnely you have to have hope you have to have courage and you have to play without fear. That is what we kind of did in the second leg only sometimes we got a bit jittery in the back, but it was certainly a more commendable effort that our effort in the first leg. If we could just improve on how we played against man united in the second leg then we could go very far in Europe and I believe in this team regardless of whether or not we get a trequartista.
Johonna

We played a pretty good game against Panathinaikos in Greece.
khalid

I hope we draw Barca/Chelsea from Pot1 and weaker teams from Pot3 and Pot4. This way we are sure that we will ATLEAST be 2nd in group (considering worst case that we loose to Barca/Chelsea), but we would be in a position to guage our strengths and weakness during the two matches we play against Barca/Chelsea.

I think it would be better this way and we can improve based on our performance against the best teams in Europe this season.
buckets

I guess I didnt word that very well. What I was trying to say is that Inter played some weak sides in group play last year. Instead of being the champions they are and dominating, they played down to those teams levels and were terrible. This year with the potential of top tier teams in their group, Inter has to play to a higher level, if not that poor performance last year was not a fluke and instead the product of a much larger problem.
Vinod

Laugh if you want to, Jovan, but our best game in Europe last season (in terms of quality of play) was the 2-0 loss to Man Utd.
Vinod

Actually, he'd want 18, but Suazo's already got it.

And about Sneijder, I hate to be the party pooper, but nothing's officially announced. Until then, we remain on the edge, we've been burned too many times this summer already to get excited about this. But I think all this will end today or tomorrow, we wouldn't go to the derby with this hanging over our heads. Also, remember how the team was before and after the other big saga this summer. That time too, we played Milan just after the dust settled, and we did ok, I think? :)
buckets

Cassano would do something crazy like wear 73 or something.
Johonna

ajay, it could still happen, but just not until this winter.
bianconeri

I hope its Chelsea, Inter, Atletico Madrid.

That way you can face Roma in the Europa League!
ajay

well if its true or not(fcinternews says it is) sneijder is our trequista. not my first option(or his), certainly better than baptista, something is better than nothing. our set-pieces are sure to improve. he is gonna wear #10. looks like cassano is ganna have to wear another number for us :)
(happy we got a good player, silently weeping 'cause its not cassano)
buckets

Any one want to talk Champions league draw?
I'm excited about Inter's potential opponets for the next few months. The fact Inter is drawing as a 2 seed is great. Last year, Inter's group was composed of lesser quality teams. This, inturn, brought their level of play down and Inter basically sucked.

All the 1 seeded teams Inter could draw - with the exception of Sevilla - are as big, if not bigger names than Inter Milan. This is great. I think it would really get the team going to know they have to play at Anfield or in Barcelona, etc.

Heres the worst draw I think Inter could suffer:
-Chelsea/Barca
-Inter
-Atletico/Marseille
-Wolfsburg

While the easiest group:
-Sevilla
-inter
-Besiktias
-the Cypriot team

Obviously it should wind up somewhere in the middle. Who would you guys like to see Inter face?
Kabir

Fear not For Real - i was not being serious about wiki's legitimacy.

I hope sneijder works out.
buckets

So this Sneijder thing is over? Yes!!! Glad to see him coming to Inter. He brings that element the team needed and adds depth for the European season. And I'm all for Baptista as well. Especially if Mancini is moved out. Baptista can backup the wings and play some striker also. Adding depth there, with Suazo looking all but gone. Good moves. Now lets see if Mou can integrate them into the team.
kirby

baggio?
Paolo

Fiorentina is through to the group stage of the CL after drawing 1-1 @ home, 3-3 on agg and advancing on scoring more away goals.

Congrats!
Johonna

Yep. Well, we knew that would happen. At least now we have one.
MAD

Oooooh everyone is going to loooooove this one...

Schmujcko is rumored to have taken the #10 jersey.

3 guesses who used to wear that number? The first 2 don't count...

P.S. The rumor mill is now saying that Suazo stays, but that Mancini shouldn't buy any green bannanas
alessio

I don’t think that we’ll ever get that money back. The best we can hope for is to not pay his wage this year.

Haha a loan-until-the-contract-expires situation...we've got one or two of those ourselves.
Kabir

wikipedia, source of all knowledge, notes Sneijder as an Inter player.
MAD

So basically if Genoa hang on to a 3-1 lead in the second leg of their tie tomorrow.

That guy is ours until 2012 just to remind people. We paid something like 13 mil Euros + 1/2 of Andreolli (which is close to saying 1/4 of a player...).

I don't think that we'll ever get that money back. The best we can hope for is to not pay his wage this year.
Johonna

Oh, and Mancini's future hangs in the balance. Word is, if Genoa make it through to the Europa Cup, Mancini will consent to a loan. If not, no go.
Johonna

So does this mean Roma Reject is out? 'Cause I would just as soon keep Suazo and save the 8 million euro.
Darjan

alessio and that player is Cassano :)
alessio

Wow, Inter making some great moves towards the end of the mercato.

Pandev would be a mistake, a good player, but nothing that Eto'o or Milito doesn't already have. You need a player who drops deep, not a striker.
MAD

Thanks Darjan, I updated the comment.
Darjan

MAD Obinna to Malaga is a done (loan) deal too

http://www.skysports.com/story...
barindera

im pretty sure Obinna is gone.
MAD

Updated again

This is a recap/updated version of my post from here: http://inter.theoffside.com/te...

In millions of Euros, all figures guesstimated:

Est. transfer money out: 16+4+20+15= 55 (Milito/Motta, Lucio, Eto’o, Schmujcko)
Est. transfer money in: 4+66= 70 (Maxwell, Ibra, Burdisso, Rivas, Obinna)
Difference = +15

Est. wages outgoing: 8+3+3+3+1+12+3+.5+.5= 34 (Adriano, Cruz, Crespo, Figo, Jimenez, Ibra, Maxwell, Burdisso, Rivas)
Est. wages incoming: 10+3+3+3+4= 23 (Eto’o, Milito, Motta, Lucio, Schmucko)
Difference = +11

Total Mercato: +26 million Euros

Notice:

We are still on the plus side of the transfer fee budget even though we got nothing for Burdisso and Rivas and paid out for Schmujcko.

I am not really sure if we are paying Burdisso's and Obinna's wages at Roma or not, but I an reasonably sure that we are not paying Rivas anymore. And the wage bill notes that still have saved over 10 million.

Plus there is still Mancini and Suazo rumors to consider for the last 6 days or so of the Mercato.
MarcoL

If this does finally go threw, we will be witness to one of the most balanced Inter teams in a long, long time. Heres hoping.
Paolo

The Team is F.C. Internazionale Milano.

Goes by Internazionale or Inter. Simple! I like that is says Internazionale now!

Sneijder: 15 million for the transfer fee. Contract is 5 years @ 4 million per year from what I understand. All figures in Euros.

Time to get on with the season and win Scudetto # 18! Dai Ragazzi! FORZA INTER!!!!
jordi

Not to forget Inter in Brazil too
Darjan

i dont think we can ask for a better mercato this summer....

burdisso / rivas / obinna out this week and in comes sneijder

but i still want cassano :)....greeeedy
MAD

...and I believe Real got 15 million Euros.
Darjan

Barindera: http://www.goal.com/en/news/11...

Inter have signed Real Madrid star Wesley Sneijder for a fee of between €15 and 16 million, according to Sky Sport 24.
MAD

The point is that this team is Internazionale Milano and the other team is AC Milan.

Just by adding an "o" at the end there is a difference between the two, one has actually used the correct wording and one can tell which Inter - if the other Internacional use the same familiar name - one is talking about.

Okay, onward to Schmujcko.

5 years, 4 million is what I am hearing.
barindera

Can anyone confirm anything on Wesley? If its true, I wonder how much we gave Madrid? 15mil?
Darjan

Yeah I believe there is a Finnish team called Inter as well and one in Mexico
Jovan

people call it Inter Milan because there are ten other Inters around Europe.
Sandro

Watch Sneijder come out in the press conference and kiss the black and blue jersey and say he's been a fan since he was a kid haha. But seriously, I'm happy with this. Hopefully he gives his all for us. And I'm also happy Burdisso went to Roma and Rivas is at Livorno. There's two games already in the bag!
Johonna

Baby steps, Kirby. The issue was originally brought up to Daryl at the beginning of last season. We got one thing fixed, lets just celebrate that!
kirby

i felt now was the time to ask since you officially took us off topic
kirby

you know what sorta annoys me also. the main inter banner on this page has not been updated in a while. you still see the old crest, while the thumb nail short cut his been updated and uses teh new crest. can you do anything about that on joey? or is that me just be a bit ocd...
MAD

I just wanted to make a point off topic here.

On the offside home page there was a thread that talked about how people sometimes get the name of a team wrong, for example, "Inter Milan" instead of Inter.

I pointed out to Daryl that this page is described as the admitted wrong "Internazionale Milan" with Milan in giant letters.

A quick look up at the top of this page shows that it has been changed. A quick thanks to Daryl for this change would be appropriate I think.

This is the thread that all this happened on: http://www.theoffside.com/worl...
barindera

I hope this rumor is true about Sneijder, more so for the sake of the club getting on with its season and focus on getting its chemistry right. No more of these distractions!
Paolo

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com...

there is a link to the report.

Why do I feel there is still another twist?

Not my 1st choice but definitely better than nothing and 2645 times better than having to have the disaster that is Baptista on this squad.
MAD

Schmujcko to Inter.

Write it down. The rumor is that it's done.
ScudettoStarved

V, you beat me to a post about Anderson.

Originally, I wanted to hate him but he has shown he can be class when he's on. He's still very young (21) and not every player who doesn't make it at ManU is crap. Forlan anyone?

He might not be the answer to our TQ problems but he's a hell of a lot better than Baptista.
Vinod

Oh happy day! Rivas is finally gone! And not on a loan - totally completely gone! I really hope Livorno don't get relegated because of him, poor things.

Livorno president Aldo Spinelli quotes, “Rivas is official, as he has already signed the contract and now we are just waiting for [Inter director Marco] Branca to file the paperwork.

“Rivas is very good and I can guarantee he is not the player we have seen at Inter in recent months. He’ll forge a great centre-back partnership with Diniz.”

Also, Darjan, I don't think Anderson is anything like Muntari. He has a tremendous work rate, true, but he only plays Muntari's role because Fergie forces him to. Fergie's ideology has always been that creativity comes from the wings, not the centre. The centre is a place for battling midfielders. All his sides over the last couple of decades have been that way. But you can look it up if you want - Anderson used to be a trequartista.
Jovan

Sneijder should have just went to Liverpool or Aston Villa or whatever English club it was that wanted him.
Johonna

Well, even after all of this, if I have to choose between Mr. Unnecessary J and Roma Reject, I choose the J.
Darjan

anon in the eyes of a spurs supporter, that is like trading gold for dirt -- it would never happen :/

if anything, we would maybe be able to give muntari + cash to harry redknapp for modric. but even that is a longshot.
anon

Swap Quaresma for Modric?
MarcoL

Well apparently now Sneijder has resigned to the fact he isn't wanted and is in the "final" meeting with the Real Madrid board. This is better than any soap opera on TV.

http://www.fcinternews.it/?act...
Kabir

Completely unrelated, but does anyone know of a good place to watch the Milan derby in the DC area?
Darjan

Vinod--- Anderson?!?!?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

That guy can not shoot, pass, or do anything even remotely creative. He is, in my opinion, the same type of player as Muntari -- only worse.
Johonna

Why oh why do we always end up scraping the barrel at the end of the season. Mancini didn't work... Shouldn't we have learned from that mistake?

If this Baptista thing happens, I may need a Costco-sized tub of Zoloft to get though this season.
Vinod

Its only tabloid talk, but we may have another potential target - Anderson of Man Utd. He's reportedly unhappy there, and has been left out on a couple of occasions now. Plus, I remember last season that he mentioned in an interview that if he moved away from Utd, he would prefer to come to Inter.

He started off as a trequartista, but Fergie's been trying to fit him into an all-action central midfielder mold. We haven't been linked to him in any form of press right now, but I'm just hypothesizing that he'd potentially be a good fit here. Only, Fergie will force us to pay an arm and a leg for him, especially when he spent close to 20m to buy him in the first place.
Darjan

on a separate note, even Sneijder's agent has now told him staying in Madrid might be detrimental to his career: http://74.125.47.132/translate_c?hl=EN&ie=UTF-8&sl=it&tl=en&u=http://www.fcinternews.it/%3Fa...

should we laugh or should we cry?

that is the question...
Darjan

Sadly, according to his agent, Baptista is now an inter player: http://74.125.47.132/translate_c?hl=EN&ie=UTF-8&sl=it&tl=en&u=http://www.fcinternews.it/%3Fa...
leon

cassano, that is. Goal.com suggest:

http://goal.com/en/news/1717/e...
ajay

there are a couple of websites which state cassano's release clause to be between 15-20mil, with realmadrid receiving 5mil.
http://www.goal.com/en/news/10...
http://www.imscouting.com/glob...
Kazaan

Dios mio!:) Baptista! There's gotta be something good about this sogning, but I just can't see what…even Ibagaza would be better, he is old but has pace, technique and will get along with Eto'o, they palyed together. Now, that is little but it’s something or at least more than this, 8-9 million more..
MarcoL

Where is everyone getting his buy-out fee is 18 mill?
ajay

its amazing we have not signed cassano yet. its not like sampdoria can ask for a ridiculous fee 'cause he has a buy-out clause in his contract, worth 18mil. thats definitely within our budget.
i hope moratti doesn't lose his cool and go back to buying an overpriced talentless player, like in the past. and after such a good transfer market this season, all we need is that one player who would be the icing and cherry on our inter cake. everyone knows its the icing that makes the cake.
khalid

Just came across an article, claiming that Inter are going for Baptista (8-9 Mill). Also, I guess they will be sending Suazo on loan to Roma.

In my opinion, if this deal happens then we are at loss, sending Suazo on loan is simply not acceptable, what is our dear coach has in his mind. Baptista is no where near what we need, he has not even played regularly for long time now...... Please Mr. Moratti.... don't torture the fans of your club.
skyder

I had to recover for 4 days after that Bari game to post, but here are a couple of comments:

1. Sneijder: The dude wanted to stay at RM, and was finally able to convince them. Good for him. I don't think we should criticize him for wanting to stay at Real. It may come as a shock to us, but not every player wants to join Inter. Dutch players traditionally haven't had success with us.

2. Need for a TQ: everyone recognizes it including Moratti and Mou, and I'm sure they're trying their best to get someone. Don't know if we'll get someone good before the transfer market closes in a few days, but even if we don't, I think we're ok in the group stage of CL, and the early part of Serie A when we should be able to "overpower" opponents. The real problem would come in around January. Maybe Mou/Moratti are thinking of getting a creative mid at that time if no-one comes in now.

Deco would've been my ideal choice - although he's old, he's absolute class. Did anyone see Chelsea's games recently? Even when he comes on as a sub for 5 mins he makes difference. We have NO ONE who can provide those incisive passes. We have NO ONE who can cross properly. After Ibra's gone, we don't have someone who can create chances on his own (Balo is wayyyyy to selfish and lazy in my opinion).

3. Strikers: It's good that Eto'o and Milito are gelling, but we're very short of back ups. Besides Balo and an injured Arna we will have no-one if we sell both Suazo and Obinna. Are we going to play Quaresma and/or Mancini as strikers (as we did in 1 of the pre-season games)? And what will happen when Samu leaves for African Cup of Nations for a month during the winter?

4. Ricky Quaresma: am I the only 1 to notice that he's still crap? Even kids in my block can do a couple of cute moves, but if there's no end-product what is the point? No wonder (large) chunk of the tifosi still boo him during every home game.

5. Tactics: Everyone already knew teams like Bari would come and defend for their lives, but we still didn't have a plan on how to break it down. I don't blame Eto'o for missing those chances; he's been like that all his career, scores tons, but misses 3 times more, from his time at Mallorca to Barca. But we didn't create enough. Bari played very poorly in the first half and we didn't take advantage. Even if we win the derby Saturday, it doesn't change the fact that we're not creating enough. It can't be just lack of TQ, the whole tactic has to change.

6. EPL v Serie A: All due respect to Italy, but the top EPL teams (IMO) are tactically and technically far superior than top Serie A teams, as we have seen over the past few years. Our objective should not be to argue who is on top now but how do we take Serie A higher. Without inventive players I'm afraid we may bow out to another English team in CL this year, and people at FSC will continue to deride Inter and Serie A.

7. Mou: The man is getting annoying, honestly. Instead of focusing on winning, he's into blaming everyone ("intellectual prostitution?"). Everything has to be about him. He needs to lose his paranoid personality - not everyone in the world is against him. Maybe he should just shut up and get us the CL.
Johonna

Mickey - I dont think Gourcuff is available. We already asked, I think he said no (actually, probably more like hell no).
barindera

Baptista = For the love of god no!
mickey

omg you guys I totally forgot there is definitely a player who we can get and he would be a great addition although he is a bit inexperienced he would be the perfect man for the job. Yoann Gourcuff. He failed at Bilan and they were fools to have sold them now their failure will be our success. Moratti, Mourinho, Branca and Co: Sign him, Sign him immediately, he is the only one who could really get the job done. Baptista is just far too inconsistent.
ScudettoStarved

I read that Pandev accepted a move to West Ham (it's not official yet). Zola is starting to piss me off.
MAD

Obinna is rumored to have accepted a transfer to one of my favorite places, Malaga.
johonna

Well, look at it this way: We had a good run. So now we suck. Oh well. At least we can suck in pure Inter fashion and SUCK HARD!

Baptista... yikes. To think we have come to that. [shaking fist] Damn you fiscal responsibility [/shaking fist]
Vinod

Not Baptista, come on! He has his moments, but he's about as consistent as Recoba. Further, Recoba in form >>> Baptista in form.

I wouldn't trade a pacy dependable goalscorer like Suazo for Baptista, ever.

I agree with Paolo - we should do the Godfather with Samp about Cassano. Or worst case, leave it be, play Balotelli this year, wait for Coutinho next year.
sammy

excuse me, but why does anybody would consider Baptista for our Trequertista? seriously guys, do you ever watch him play? he is not a trequertista!!, yes he can play in MF but the guy just CANT PASS a ball, and that's exacly what we need...why on earth that we would want a roma castover anyway??, try visit the roma blog sometines, and see how much they bashed him dailly!!
Jovan

modric doesn't want to leave and 'ham don't want to sell.
mickey

no you dont get it for real. He just said that hes staying at the club very recently and there is nothing we can do now to get him to wear the blue and black shirt. While Baptista on the other head remains a far more realistic goal considering how his agent said that they would consider an offer from inter if we did make an approach for Julio. Roma have no need for him and we can offer them cash plus a player that they need: a striker. I guess we could give 'em suazo.
Kevin

Modric just came out today and expressed his loyalty to the club, although I would love to see him with Inter. Riquelme, wont happen even though that is my dream. I really don't think we have an option besides Baptista. I almost don't care anymore. Everyone seems to blame.
Paolo

I can get on the Pandev boat but to be quite honest...

Only after astronomical bids for Cassano, Deco, or both are rejected.

We should be making Samp and offer so irresistible that they cannot possibly say no! Whether the offer monetary, personnel or both. We have resources. I cannot overlook how quality Deco is on the pitch either.

This is starting to become a joke and a deal for a player for this role should have been this summer's # 1 priority.
jojo_milan

Or Luka Modric (if Redknapp would let him go) = Muntari + cash
jojo_milan

Not that what we say here matters, but I still think Deco is a good stop gap while we search for someone young and talented who can serve us for a long time.
mickey

its official you guys WE ARE SCREWED!!! Sneijder has officially said that he is staying at real madrid and that he has a contract with them and intends to see out the contract. So like the stupid idiot that he is he has decided to stay at real madrid. Now we go all out on Baptista!!!!!!!
jojo_milan

I absolutely agree that we have the best defense. The attack needs one really good player and it'll be top of the line. Eto'o is not yet there in terms of being in sync but in my experience of watching football, Milito is the player I have seen who you would most likely underrate at your peril. So attack is not bad. The truth is that the midfield is average at best. And with Cambiasso injured, it's probably fair to say that it's right now in the 40th percentile of all Champion's league teams in terms of quality. Motta as good as he can be, has a leisurely pace that baffles me to no end. And Muntari used to be so much more dynamic when he played in England. Vieira and Stankovic to be fair should only be considered as capable backups as their best days are behind them. So, if you compare them to Chelsea's Lampard-Essien-Ballack-Deco-Mikel-Zhirkov-Malouda or Barca's glorious trident, I am not sure why other than for parochial reasons, Morratti thinks we are as good as any club.
Johonna

jojo: In my opion, Nope. But of course, I am still traumatized by Ibra and I just have not warmed up to Motta.

Mounrinho vs Muntari: Here are Mourinho's words

"Vieira ha disputato un ottimo primo tempo, l'ho sostituito perchè ho cambiato sistema, Muntari invece credo abbia avuto qualche problema legato al ramadan, forse con questo caldo non è positivo per lui essere in questa situazione."
http://inter.it/aas/news/reade...

Translation:
Vieira played a good first half, I substituted him because I changed the system, Muntari instead, I believe he had some problem related to Ramadan, perhaps with this heat it is not good for him to be in this situation.

How exactly is this controversial? All he said was that it was not good for him to be playing in the heat when he was fasting for Ramadan. Strenuous exercise plus high heat and no water can equal organ damage. I prefer that Muntari not play rather than risk his long term health.
jojo_milan

If things stay as they are with our squad, will it really be objective to say that we have the strongest squad in Serie A ?
Vinod

You know, I really can't stand these haters who come in here, think they know everything, and spew out nonsense without even looking at the facts.

To the idiot who couldn't even come up with a name: Did you watch the Inter game? I highly doubt you did - because if you had, you wouldn't be here making stupid comments. Muntari was HORRIBLE - he looked tired, he was second-best to every ball and he couldn't connect properly with his passes.

Do you know why? Not just because of Ramadan, but because it was only his second day of fasting and because it was 6 in the evening. I'm not sure if you are Muslim, or have anything to do with Ramadan, but take it from someone who grew up in the Middle East - the first few days of Ramadan are always the hardest for anyone. An athlete's body is not used to going through strenuous exercise without fluids, and it takes time to adapt to the new regimen.

Further, you're always most tired at the end of the day, and when you try to do something strenuous then, you're really not going to last very long. And that's exactly what happened with Muntari. If he had continued playing, he may have collapsed. A week from now, maybe two weeks even, and you may see Muntari playing much better.

So please pardon our coach for caring about the welfare of our players, maybe in your club it doesn't work that way. And please take your spite somewhere else.
Mounrinho vs Muntari

Have you all heard about the yet again controversy that Sir Mourinho has sparked with regard to Muntari after his performance in the Bari game.
"I think Mourinho could do with talking a little less"!
I wonder if Inter is embarrassed by Mourinho's narcissistic behaviour.
Vinod

Hope springs eternal, they say - I'm still praying that Sneijder comes to Inter. After the d-day, if he's not here, I'll join you guys in calling him Schmujcko (though I would prefer Schmujcker).

And isn't Pandev more of an out-and-out striker? I don't recall seeing him play trequartista, ever.

For me, if not Sneijder, then Cassano, otherwise Balotelli it is.
MAD

Sooooo, Goran anyone?
Sandro

Wow it's like he convinced his ex girlfriend to take him back. She's never going to love you Sneijder!