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2004/05 - Is this our season at last ?
Vieri's Inter Future
Roberto Mancini
(19-08-04)
Inter last won a Scudetto title back in 1989 when players like Bergomi, Lothar
Matthaus, Jürgen Klinsmann were in their prime form of their career. L.Matheuaus
later moved to B.Munich, retired few years back and is already a coach now,
but Inter?? It's still the same story. The only answer we get/got from 1989
till 2003, when asked "When Inter last won Scudetto", was/will be
- "1989".
It's not that Inter was quiet till now. Inter is known as the "Sleeping Giants" of Europe; just like USA was, till Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. USA then showed the world what they could do and never stopped after that, but same cannot be said of Inter. Milan did try to wake us up (Japan) by scoring 6 goals in that infamous derby match in San Siro (6-0) and there were many periods when teams like Japan tried to wake Inter up; but Inter, still didn't wake up.
Many coaches were changed and tons of $$ was spent to bring that lost glory. Sadly, it was only the UEFA CUP title, that Inter was able to win (1998). Inter did come close to Scudetto title in few occasions like in 1998 and 2002, but sadly, they failed at the last hurdle. Had Inter won in these period (especially in 1998), things could have gone differently for Inter.
As time passed by, and Inter couldn't get success, they were put in more and more pressure by the media and fans, not to forget that the management would also not give enough amount of time to the coaches or the players. Words like "Continuity", "Plan", "Project" were not in Inter's dictionary. Players like Ronaldo, Bergkamp, R.Baggio, Kanu, R.Carlos, Crespo, Djorkaeff, Blanc, Zamorano, Seedorf, and co. joined and left Inter, but nothing changed in Inter.
Not to forget Inter's management decision to sell their players like Mutu, Ferrari, Pirlo, etc in their youth ages, who now are star players for their respective teams like Chelsea, Parma (Roma), and Milan.
But there is a saying - "It's not the same always, sometimes things change at a period of time". And at least for me, it looks like finally we are to expect something good very soon. It all started from the hiring of Cuper. And for the first time in years, Inter management decided to keep a coach for more than 2 seasons, which happened to be a record in Moratti's era. We didn't win any trophies in Cuper's era, but he brought back Inter to winning ways again and close to glory. Opponents would not take Inter lightly again and the results were also getting better.
Cuper's first season:
(1) 5th May 2002 (Inter choked at the last hurdle to win the last match of the
season and thus lost on the title).
(2) Semi-finalist in UEFA Cup
Cuper's second season:
(1) 2nd in Serie
(2) Semi-finalist in Champions League
And Cuper had done all that without pure wingers (except Conceicao), which he had been yelling for. And when he finally got his wingers, he wasn't given enough amount of time and Inter appointed yet another new coach: Zaccheronni, who proved to be inconsistent when it came to results. He did get the 4th spot for Inter, which was supposed to be his primary objective.
And it can't also be said that Zach was that bad. Inter seemed to have wanted continuity and for that, I personally too, wouldn't have wanted Zach.
But Inter this time does make a brave decision, which should indeed be applauded. Instead of letting Zach continue with mixed feelings (which could have led to sacking next season incase of few bad results), Inter makes it clear to the coach that they have no intention of continuing with him, after which Zach is forced to give resignation and make way for the long awaited coach Inter had been waiting for - "Mancini", an inexperienced coach but already been in the wanted list of many clubs for the success he had had in a very short period of time. He didn't win any Scudetto, but Inter was convinced that this man might be the one who had the ability to do so. So was I.
Inter's transfer policy had already started changing since the arrival of Cuper. But this season, it only got better (it seems so uptil now). There might be few transfers, which are debating ones, but still, it's not a bad transfer market for Inter, keeping in mind how Inter used to be in the past. Therefore, until now, I am very much satisfied with the transfers. Inter seems to be eager for the word - "Continuity" and also seems to have found the meaning of the word "Project".
Inter seems to have known the value of money at last, as they have only spent $$ for one player - Burdisso uptil now, that also being not a big amount. Other players like Favalli, Cambiasso, Davids, Veron all are free agents. So, is the case with Mihajlovic.
Opinions vary from person to person, but still, I would say that the transfer market is going very good for Inter and I hope that it remains the same.
And coming to Vieri's case. After the departure of star strikers in the last two seasons: Ronaldo and Crespo, Inter seems to have decided to keep Vieri, even though Adriano was already brought last season (mid). Yet another debating decision, but here as well, I think that the decision is a brave one. Lets just hope that Vieri's good friend, who happens to be Inter's new coach, Mancini doesn't favour him.
Inter's back up players have always been of good quality, compared to other teams (lazio, roma) and that seems to have continued for this coming season as well. Instead, it seems that Inter's back up players will be of better quality than the past seasons'. In this case, the coach will have a big hand in this case, convincing his players to, have patience and wait for chances to be given. Otherwise, another problem could arise. This season, Inter has only targeted the players that can help them in a great deal and the "Project" seems to be there. The players just should be united and have patience.
Veron - If he gets his form back, then everybody knows what kinda player he is and the differences he can make.
Davids - A debatable transfer, but one cannot neglect his skills and abilities. And if could play as DM and does well, Inter's midfield might all of a sudden be the world's best from a pathetic one (if players like Emre, Veron, Stankovic, V.Meyde also do well).
Favalli - Instead of getting another LB (Dede / ?) as Inter always does, Inter seems to have decided to give chance tothe player they already have. I am discussing about Coco. Coco's a quality left back player, but hampered by injury problems. Had Inter bought someone like Dede, Coco's Inter future would have definitely been over. But this time, Inter decides to bring in a veteran left back, Favalli; who's not a star player, but who always does his job well and is consistent. Incase, Coco gets injured again, Inter won't have problem in the left back again as Favalli would take that spot.
Cambiasso - A star player some years back in youth period, who has the ability to do well. His 2nd seaosn with R.Madrid didn't go well, but one can't forget what he's achieved before that and not to forget that he's young. He would only get better.
Burdisso - Inter has never had problem with defence, when it comes to getting the right players, and the trend seems to be continuing. A very talented versatile defender and he's young.
It seems that Inter has at last realized that it's the midfield that's not performing that well, which is indeed true. After all, midfield is the link between defence and offence, which has a very important role. No wonder, Inter's midfield all of a sudden seems to be of quality, atleast on paper, which wasn't the case before (since I have followed inter).
Veron, Stankovic, Emre, Davids (?), V.Meyde, Kily/Cesar, C.Zanetti, Cambiasso ---- for me, those are quality midfielders. The only problem is how would Mancini accommodate them in his line up and if the players would accept the bench role for the sake of the team. And the other important thing, which should be noted, is that most of the midfielders in that list are versatile, who can play in different positions.
By saying all this, it doesn't mean
that Inter will definitely win titles this season at last. They might win, might
not; but I expect Inter to give a tough fight for the title.
Pravesh Pradhan
Discuss the article at the FORUM
(08-07-04)
Atlast, we have got our man for the bench. Not the substitutes, but I am talking
about the coach.
Well then, what’s next ??
Now, the most important thing for
Inter to decide as soon as possible is Vieri’s inter future. His future
is most important than getting Davids / Ze Maria or even Cesar. I guess Mancini
has already decided what he wants to do, and just needs to talk with the management,
or he might have even done that. To keep VIERI or not ?? A very very tough decision
and could even have slight impact of our season. My personnel feeling for this,
is that we should try our best to sell Vieri if he doesn’t want to be
benched or be part of rotation policy, if Mancini is trying to imply.
Vieri has given us a lot, and telling frankly much more than Ronaldo.
What did Ronaldo give us ?? One good season and paid us very greatly after missing 2 seasons. Vieri scored goals like hell, with such a bad midfield. He saved our ass many times. Sadly, we all know that sometimes things need to be changed, in this case for the good of Vieri and Inter.
Had we not had Adriano, we wouldn’t have been talking about Vieri’s future, whatever kinda season he had last season (but not forgetting his seasons before that !)
The reasons why I want/ed Inter to sell Vieri are:
1) We can still get some good amount of money from his sale which would be helpful for Inter ?
2) We already have got a natural replacement in Adriano, who’s better than Vieri at this stage.
3) After he said that he wouldn’t accept bench.
4) What if Mancini shows how good friend he is of Vieri, by playing him even when he’s out of form, instead of Adriano. (which I highly doubt from Mancini)
I won’t mind at all if Inter decides to keep Vieri IF and coz:
1) Vieri agrees to be benched and accepts the rotation policy (?)
2) If money is not a problem for Inter. (money, Inter would have got by selling Vieri, not much but still…)
3) IF Mancini can convince Vieri to be benched and won’t have problem between him and coach (well, there’s always chance that his friendship between Mancini and Vieri would be bad)
4) We did play Vieri—Crespo, so why not Vieri—Adriano ?? Ofcourse, I would want Adriano—Recoba, but I am just trying to convince myself that this might also work, with good amount of training, which wasn’t the case last season when they failed to click whenever they played together. Recoba – can also play as attacking midfielder to support the duo.
5) Just imagine, if Adriano gets injured. Then, it won’t be easy for Martins to cope up with the pressure. There is where, we won’t have any kinda problem. Vieri will be natural replacement. And there is where the words of Faccheti comes up, when he said about Inter’s project for the new season is – “Enough number of quality players, so that our tactic/formation won’t be hampered by injuries to key players”. And I didn’t mean Vieri as a back up player. I just want in-form players to be played.
But Vieri has already stated that it’s hard to be benched now, and he
needs to play. And he’s right!! Vieri, now is a good experienced striker,
used to be a great striker. The only problem is where will he get that chance
and how flexible he is when it comes to rotation and bench, incase he stays
in Inter.
I don’t want Inter to keep Vieri, if Vieri insists that he should be played all the time. Anyway, with Mancini as our coach, things could be different, unlike in the Zach era. Lets see how good friends they are. I would also love Vieri to reduce his wage, that wud be great of him. And I wouldn’t mind even a bit, if he doesn’t do that.
And we should also not forget that losing star strikers every season, doesn’t feel good.
R.Baggio, Ronaldo, Crespo and now Vieri ????
I will respect whatever decision Inter takes on this one, as it’s not an easy decision at all. Even though, I think it’s good for Inter to sell Vieri, I get confused at times. Whatever decision Inter takes, it will be a brave decision. And I am saying this coz we have Mancini now and I am hoping that he will have a big influence on this decision. I don’t really trust our management. Mancini is no god, but somehow, I think that he’s our saviour and yes, I am biased to him. Sorry, I just feel that way.
Vieri, Adriano, Recoba, Martins, ???? won’t be bad at all. Indeed a great one if we can keep our players happy and if this clicks on.
Not to forget that we had these strikers some seasons back (in one season) :
Vieri, R.Baggio, Ronaldo, Zamorano. (ain’t I right ?)
And if we decide to keep Vieri, then it would be great help for Adriano, Martins (out future stars for seasons, hopefully) as they can learn from Vieri.
Just see how confused I am on this !! Even when writing this, I was thinking about Adriano --- Recoba !!
And another thing, which we should remember, is that Adriano, Recoba will have a bit more international duties and might not be available for Inter. And same is the case with Martins. They will have to go to S.America and Africa, which is quite far from Italy and we all know the consequence of this. Well, J.Zanetti also goes to S.America for Qualifying matches, and till now, it has not affected us that much; but same cannot be said of our other players. And this is where, Vieri’s availability could be very very important for us.
The reason why I am so confused on this is coz Vieri’s been our saviour for years and even I also know that sometimes things need to be changed. Well, I am a very very confused man now. Only few month/s back, I was saying – “Vieri has given us a lot, but things need to be changed” But now, I am hoping that Vieri agrees to help Inter by agreeing to be benched.
Pravesh Pradhan
Discuss the article at the FORUM
(30-06-04)
Well then, we have got our man at last. There are mixed reactions on this issue
among us in the forum and may be in the inter management as well. No wonder.
I do think that, this time Moratti took the right decision by sacking yet another coach; but, for the good of Inter. The only question which comes up is - "Is Mancini The Right Man ?"
Well, if what Capello told is true that he could have joined Inter had our management wanted !! Wow, that would had been great ... awesome ... isn't it ??
But at that time, we were rumoured to stick on with Zach. And now, we got Mancini ??
I guess this is wrong ...... What I mean is - I think Moratti wanted Mancini, even when he had the chance to get Capello. Otherwise, it would be too stupid to decide to stick with Zach when Capello was available even when we wanted to change our coach. I guess, Moratti only wanted MANCINI, as he rates the coach very highly.
Thus, this would put additional pressure on our new man, just like the previous coaches. This is Inter we are talking about. Every players and coaches we sign are thought to bring us the long time unachieved glory. But whatever happens, I hope that the word "CONTINUITY" does apply now in Inter. What was Inter before the arrival of Cuper ?? shiitt - yup !! Cuper helped us alot and even the arrivals and departures of players didn't go that high after his arrival as it used to happen in the past. If one looks at the transfer market after the arrival of Cuper, it really got better than the past and this season it only seems to be getting more and more better. Well, it seems atleast !! hehe
Was the sacking of Zach the right decision taken by Moratti ?
For me, it's a big yes !! As the rumours said, Moratti didn't want the past to be repeated when Cuper had to be sacked in the early part of the season. There's no point in continuing with a coach if the management is not fully satisfied, especially in a club like Inter. Few bad matches, and the coach will be sacked for sure. Cuper ??
With Zach, we did play attacking football at last, but sadly, I have to say that apart from few matches, we looked clueless most of the time even when we were attacking and sometimes even when we were scoring GOALS !! May be I didn't make myself clear on this.
OK ! What I mean is..... apart from few matches; even when we played with good attacking line up, we didn't look good at all. Teams like Empoli and co. also seemed to be equally attacking teams for me. The only difference between them and us was that some individual performances from players like Recoba / Adriano / Vieri / Martins / .... used to save us (I meant their Goals). Our players seemed to be motivated in attacking but there seemed to be no good tactic, whatsoever.
I was pretty much satisfied with the subs Zach made, compared to Cuper's (sadly,
even though I respect Cuper, I rarely liked his subs). If Zach was really a
good coach, then he would had changed our formation from 3-4-3 to something
else like 4-4-2 / 4-3-3 rather than playing with the same back 3, even when
many key players were injured/suspends. Helveg as RCB, Helveg as RM, LM....
uh !!!!
I am not criticizng Helveg, but Zach's inability to change tactics. Coaches
like Capello are good in doing that - changing formations, no wonder he is a
renowned coach. And I have realized Mancini also doing the same. He has also
changed formation according to the need. Ofcourse, he's still in the early phase
of his coaching career, but it's working.
Mancini had done very well in Lazio with his squad. Players got their form back
(that's what I have noticed and read) and most importantly they seem to be playing
as a team ! Look at the way they attack, their passes, one touch balls and movements
???? It was good.
Well, Recoba and Farinos were back in form in Zach's Inter era, but apart from
that and victories over Juventus, I don't think there's any special thing to
talk about Zach's.
By saying all these, I hope I am
not trying to convince you all that MANCINI is a GREAT GREAT COACH. nope....
not yet !
But he can be one of the "GREAT COACHes", just wait for sometime and
have patience... What does that mean then ??
He might do great for Inter as well, but as I said earlier - don't expect things right away... May be 2004/05 (this season) or the next one or ..... (haha). I just hope that we give a tough fight for the titles we play for. That's the most important thing.
And if Mancini wins Serie title or Champions League with us, then he will automatically get the tag of so called "GREAT COACH". Coaching Inter is the toughest job in Europe !!
Some might argue saying that Mancini is inexperienced and a young coach. But
let me remind that Inter also had Tardelli as a coach sometime back (ofcourse,
he failed though). But Mancini might not fail; that is what I think and hope
for !!
Coninuity shud be done with coaches
like mancini, capello, prandelli .... but not with ZACH. That would be suicidal.
And the other reason why mancini's arrival is good for inter is (as we have
discussed so many times) :
Mancini knows some of our players very well - VERON, STANKOVIC, FAVALLI, (CESAR ??)
If Zach would have remained as our coach, then I was sure that we would have
lost V.MEYDE, who could had been the future Pirlo, Mutu, Ferrari; the second
player's name which comes in my mind is EMRE ! It's not that with Mancini's
arrival, V.Meyde will get lots of playing time and so on, but I am hopeful that
he will get his chance and most importantly only in-form players will get to
play.
It took sometime for Zach to have the guts to bench Vieri. Well, Mancini is
been rumoured to play Vieri - Adriano duo, but I think he has the guts to bench
players who are out of form.
Saying all these, I do want Inter
to sell Vieri as I think that it will be yet another good decision.
Same goes for Cannavaro.
As said by some guys over here, he couldn't do that well in Lazio with a not
so bad squad. I have to disagree a bit on that, as Lazio didn't have that large
squad unlike us and they were hampered by injuries as well. In our case, even
though we had many injuries, we had a large squad to choose from. Players like
Lopez, Cesar and co. were injured for quite a long time and those were key players
for Lazio. We had Farinos, Almeyda, Martins, Adani, Stankovic (I don't think
we missed Emre that much compared to last season when Emre was injured and our
midfield was like shitt) to replace the starters, whereas in Lazio, the case
was different.
And also remember that, like Parma, Lazio were also in a difficult stage. Their
main striker was Corradi/Muzzi (Lopez was out for a long time), compared to
ours' - Vieri / Adriano (not to forget Recoba and Martins, what about Cruz's
2 wonderful month ??). The only failure I saw in Mancini's Lazio was when they
lost that 4th spot to us in the last few months ....
But still, they were in that 4th
spot hunt till the second last match !!!!
Not to forget that we had bought a key player from their side - Stankovic.
Well, I am very very happy that Inter has brought MANCINI. With Zach rumoured
to remain in Inter, I wasn't hoping for any trophies for yet another season.
But now, there's some hope again... I hope that we will fight till the end and
play well.
And now discussing about Mancini's factfile and tactics/formations :
Last season, he started with 4-4-2; but later on played the 4-3-3 after Muzzi, Lopez recovered from injury. But he couldn't operate 4-3-3 that well (to the best) as key players like Cesar, Lopez were injured for a long time. Muzzi was also injured for sometime and that didn't help him. But still he kept on alternating 4-4-2 and 4-3-3. And that is a very good sign for Inter as well, as we have players who are fit for 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 and 4-3-1-2 and ??. Not to forget that, now we also have got two players that can act as a play-maker - Veron / Stankovic.
===================
Some results of Mancini's Lazio in 2003/04
21/09-2003 LAZIO-Parma 2-3
19/10-2003 Milan-LAZIO 1-0
09/11-2003 Roma-LAZIO 2-0
06/12-2003 LAZIO-Juventus 2-0
21/12-2003 LAZIO-Inter 2-1
08/02-2004 Parma-LAZIO 0-3
29/02-2004 LAZIO-Milan 0-1
21/03-2004 LAZIO-Roma 1-1
10/04-2004 Juventus-LAZIO 1-0
25/04-2004 Inter-LAZIO 0-0
28/09-2003 Empoli-LAZIO 2-2
29/11-2003 Siena-LAZIO 3-0
06/01-2004 Reggina-LAZIO 2-1
11/01-2004 LAZIO-Brescia 0-1
18/01-2004 Modena-LAZIO 1-1
02/05-2004 LAZIO-Reggina 1-1
09/05-2004 Brescia-LAZIO 2-1
--------------------------------------
Copa Italia Cup
14/01-2004 LAZIO-Parma 2-0
20/01-2004 Parma-LAZIO 1-1
05/02-2004 Milan-LAZIO 1-2
11/02-2004 LAZIO-Milan 4-0
17/03-2004 LAZIO-Juventus 2-0
12/05-2004 Juventus-LAZIO 2-2
---------------------------------------
Champions League
22/10-2003 Chelsea-LAZIO 2-1
04/11-2003 LAZIO-Chelsea 0-4
---------------------------------------
And his former club Lazio's squad :
PERUZZI, Sereni, Casazza
CESAR, Colonnese, Favalli, Couto, Mihajlovic, Negro, Oddo, STAM.
Zauri, STANKOVIC (half season), Liverani, Gottardi, Giannichedda, FIORE, Dabo, Conceicao (half season), Albertini
Corradi, Inzaghi, Muzzi, LOPEZ, Delgado
==================
Comments made by Chiesa when Mancini was appointed as Fiorentina coach :
"We all trust him - says Chiesa - I believe that the choice he made was really important and at the same time a signal of security, so we don't have anything to worry about".
The forward remembers the season '95-96 when himself and Mancini were the attack-couple of Genova's club "It was an extraordinary season, I scored 22 goals, my personal record, and many of them were merit of his inventions; anyone could see he always was a man who never want to lose, and I have to say that he was a trainer on the pitch for us, he used always to speak with the team-mates and give suggestions to everyone".
Lets hope that our transfer market goes very well and most importanly according to what Mancini wants. Stop getting average players, we have already got those. Get the ones which would make difference and be very helpful to the team. The names of Carvalho / Ferrari, Burdisso, Fabiano sounds good to me.
I very much hope that Mancini will lead us to the glory at last, after years of sorrows and painful years we have been through. And ofcourse, hope he is given continuty and is helped by the management and the players also help the team, like by not yelling for not been able to play that much, so and so .... and ofcourse, god help inter from INJURIES !!
I wouldn't mind a squad something like this :
COACH - R.Mancini
Toldo, Fontana, Cordaz / Moreau
Cordoba, Materazzi, Burdisso, Carvalho
J.Zanetti, Ze Maria, Coco, Favalli
C.Zanetti, Cambiasso
Emre, Stankovic, Veron, Davids, Karagounis, V.Meyde, Cesar / Kily
Adriano, Recoba, Martins, Fabiano / M. Di Vaio.
Pravesh Pradhan
Discuss the article at the FORUM