Stefan Steyn - Columns

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'Mancini so far'

With the season being at half way mark I think its time to review how Mancini has done as the new Inter boss.

Personally I think he has done a more than adequate job. Inter are the only unbeaten side in Europe which is a very good achievement when we consider how horrifically bad our defence has been. Yes we have drawn way too many games but I think the wins will come with time. In time we will turn these draws into wins.

The mayor positive has been the way we have been playing. In most of the games we have dominated and been unlucky that the opposition have scored with virtually their only chance they have created the whole time. The way the midfield have at times played the ball around has been terrific.

Another positive has been the call ups of Marino, Della fiore and megrioni. This is something which was also done a lot under Cuper and not at all under Zaccheroni.

Things which I think needs work is the defending on counterattacks and set pieces. I am not sure if it’s something that can just be practised and corrected or if we need to get better defenders to solve it but something has to be done.

Players that have really impressed in this 1st phase of the season have been cambiasso, Adriano and yes believe it or not Mihalovic.

Players that have disappointed have been Toldo, Davids, Stankovic and Recoba.

On the defenders I think it has been a mistake giving Burdisso so few games. He needs game time to get used to Serie A. I have only seen about 4 games in which he has played and I can only say he played very bad vs. calgliari the rest he has done a decent job. On Mihalovic he has done well when played but I still think he should be a squad player at Inter but not the starting central defender.

One other position that I think we need reinforcements is the winger department at Lazio Mancini employed 2 wingers(Cesar and Fiore) but at Inter he really is struggling since with Kily’s injury we really don’t have any winger who can supply the crosses for Vieri and Adriano . Yes Van der Meyde is a winger but he can’t deliver a cross to save his life. We really need to look at getting in someone to be a squad player in that position.

Finally I think we must just be patient and ignore the league table. We are in a rebuilding phase and need to support the side.

Stefan Steyn

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'Pre-Season Review'

Another season gone another one coming up, one where once again the Nerrazurri faithful will hope that our time will for once deliver Lo Scudetto to us.

So what has Inter done so that this can be a possibility this time around?? Well firstly and most importantly we have gotten rid of ZAC and brought in Roberto “Mancio” Mancini. The critics might argue that Mancini lacks experience but we have tried experience coaches before and they have failed to deliver. I am glad that Moratti has learned from last summer, when he kept Cuper even thought he was never really convinced that Cuper should have continued and then when things went wrong he fired him 6 games into the new season and was then left with no option but to turn to ZAC since there was no other decent candidates available at that stage in the season.

The important things I have noticed so far from Inter game plan is that we go out and try to dominate the opposition in the midfield and try to dictate the pace of the game. Another refreshing thing is that we don’t see the long ball used as much as it was under Cuper and ZAC. One thing that has really impressed me about Mancini is that he has given our youngster a chance in the preseason games. I really like this it seems that we again have a coach who is willing to give the youngsters a chance like Cuper always did, this is a thing a missed under ZAC. The defence hasn’t so far looked solid but I am sure that when Burdisso is fit and he and Cordoba play together we will be great at the back.

On the signings front we have made quite a few acquisitions like Inter always does. Most have been good signings only two of the signings I don’t think where needed. Our first signing was Juan Sebastian Veron on loan from Chelski. People can argue that Veron has been poor in the EPL the last three seasons but I think that mostly has to do with the system he played in. At MAN U Ferguson never allowed Veron to play the role he likes to play while at Chelski he was mostly injured and when he was fit once again Ranieri didn’t employ him in the right way. Having played with Veron I am sure Mancini knows how to employ Veron so that he can give his best.

The second signing was Giuseppe Favalli from Lazio on a free transfer. This is a very important signing in my opinion, Coco has been out for a very long time and we never know if he will be completely over his injury problems while Pasquale hasn’t entirely convinced with his defensive capabilities. We needed someone we can rely on and Favalli is this guy. We also signed Esteban Cambiasso on a free transfer from Real Madrid. He has been bought to add depth to our squad and to be the backup to Edgar Davids for the defensive midfielders.

We acquired Nicolas Burdisso from Boca Juniors for €4 million. He is an very impressive young defender; he has won every thing there is to win in Argentine football. I am totally convinced from what I have seen of him that he will be a success in Serie A.

Another very important signing was Edgar Davids who arrived on a free transfer from Juventus. He has been bought to solve our dmc problem. He will do a much better job at that position than what Cristiano Zanetti has done. He has had a fabulous season at Barcelona and I am sure he will have another at Inter. We also signed Jose Ze Maria from Perugia. He will add a lot to Inter’s right wing.

We signed Fabio Carini from Juventus as part of the Fabio Cannavaro deal. Carini is a great young keeper and I am very happy to have him as the future replacement for Toldo. He should have rather stayed another season on loan at Standard Liege but at least now Toldo will know he has to be at his best to stay in the first team. I personally don’t think we wanted to sell Cannavaro, what I think happened as Canna came to Inter and told us he wants to leave and wants to go to Juve but he only did this after all the great young defenders that where available this summer had already been signed.

The two signings where Sinisa Mihalovic and Choutos. Both free transfers. Personally I think Mihalovic is done he should have retired I hope he proves me wrong. I would have rather kept Eliakwu as the sixth striker than sign Choutos to be that striker.

Expected line up:

GK: Toldo

RB: J. Zanetti CD: Cordoba CD: Burdisso LB: Favalli

RM: ZE Maria CM: Veron CM: Davids LM: Stankovic

FC: Recoba FC: Adriano

I won’t be surprised to see Vieri partner Adriano up front, for the 1st few weeks we should also see Materrazi as Cordoba’s centre back partner since Burdisso is currently out with an injury he sustained at the Olympics.

I think this squad is ready to challenge and win Serie A the only question mark I have is over our defensive cover but we should be ok if Cordoba and Burdisso is fit for 75% of the season or if its less than at least 1 of them being fit at all times.

Stefan Steyn

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'A New Era For Inter'

(30-06-04)
With the demise of ZAC a new era at Inter(yet again) has begun. Lets hope this time it last longer than the 1 season era’s we seem to have during Moratti’s reign as Inter owner. The key to success is continuity.

But continuity is worth nothing if it is not with the right manager. I think that Inter’s management have at last found the right guy in Roberto Mancini (mancio to his fans). What Inter’s management now needs to do is keep faith with him give him time to develop “his team”. Cuper laid a solid foundation now its time for Mancini to build on this .

Some people will argue that he lakes experience. That might be true as far as being a manager is but I think his experience as a player at the top level will help him to overcome this defiencency and experience can be gained anyway while being a good manager can’t be gained.

I am very happy with this choice of manager. Now lets see what we should expect from our new look Inter team. First thing we will see is the return of a back 4 defence . This sort of defence proved very successful during Cuper’s reign. Another thing is we should see Javier Zanetti back in his best position which is left back.

We should also see an entertaining Inter side. Mancini’s Lazio side has been 1 of the most entertaining side in Serie a for the last 2 seasons and with the quality of players he has at his disposal at Inter I don’t expect that to change.

The 1 question mark we will have is who of Cordoba/cannavaro will be bench since them as a partnership lacks height I expect Materrazi to start unless we manage to sign Ferrari from Parma. The other question mark is the Adriano-Vieri question mark. We know Adriano must start now the question is who should partner him. Vier hasn’t work very well as a partner,Recoba is too inconsistent to consider as a regular partner, Cruz isn’t good enough to be a regular 1st teamer at Inter . So in my opinion it has be our youngster OBA Martins.

Stefan Steyn

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'What Needs To Be Done'

(24-04-04)
With the season nearing an end we need to take a look at what Inter must do to get back at the top where we belong.

1stly we must decide whether it is wise to keep ZAC for another season or sack him now and start with a new competent coach. ZAC has brought some positives to us. He has made us some what more attacking but again this isn’t really surprising since we went from cuper who has no equal when it comes to defensive play. He has beaten juve twice. The negatives has been using Helveg as a starter, not adjusting the lineup when injuries didn’t permit the use of 4-4-2, not giving youngsters enough of a chance, not being able to deal with player problems internally ex.Vieri and van Der Meyde., getting knocked out in the 1st phase of Champions league. Basically ZAC has failed and should be replaced by some like Capello/Mancini/Erickson/guy from depor or Mourinho.

For the goalkeepers for next season we should keep Toldo as no1, yes he has had some poor games but he will recover and we don’t have any alternatives after Chelsea signed Cech. We should not renew Fontanna’s contract this is nothing to do with his performances but he is 36/37 years old. Do we really need an old keeper as the backup? Wouldn’t it serve us better to have a youngsters as the backup who can learn from Toldo and take over from him in years to come? We should have cordaz and moreau as toldo’s backupps.

For defence we should keep Cordoba,Materrazi,Adani,Coco, Javier Zanetti,Pasquale and give Cannavaro and Brechet another chance. We shouldn’t renew Helveg’s contract. Use Nossa as Javier’s backup. Sign one of Ferari/mexes/Samuel to replace gamarra.

As for dm’s we should cristiano , not renew almeyda’s contract, sell lamouchi,okan. Promote Beati to be the 1st backup. If we have the chance sign Emerson. We can use emre,karagounis and jz as dmc’s so we still have 5 players for that role.

As for the attacking midfielder role. We don’t need anybody unless he is of super star quality this means if it isn’t totti,aimar or ronaldinho we should even think of buying him. We have Stankovic,emre,karagounis and biava(I think that’s where he plays) for the amc role.

As for wingers we have Kily and andy van der meyde. We don’t really not add more players to this role since deki and emre , jz can play this role as well.

For the strikers role we need to sell Bobo and recoba. They just take too much off the wage and we don’t get enough return and Vieri’s attitude just isn’t right. We should use Adriano,martins,kallon,ventolla,cruz. Cruz should be sold if we sign totti/aimar.

That’s what I think needs to be done which will mean we make 3 new signings maks a dmc,a playmaker and a defender.

Stefan Steyn

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'The legacy of Massimo Moratti'

(19-01-04)
Lets take a close look at the reign of Massimo Moratti as Inter president. When he took over all Inter fans where positive since we belived since he was Angelo’s son it would by default mean we would return to the glory years but instead Moranutti has taken us to the worst period of our great history. I don’t know if there has been a worst part. I can’t think of a time when Inter has gone a decade without winning a scudetto . To put it simply he has ruined our once proud club.

Positives: Established deals with company’s like Acer,Pirelli, nike and ect. Made the inter website the best official website on the planet. Bought Cordoba and J.Zanetti. Established a great youth system .

Negatives: Runs the club like a family hobby. Has gotten us into mayor debt something like $100 million. Sold future stars like Ferrari,Pirlo,Mutu and ect. Has gone through 13 coaches. Has never had any patience with the staff. Has spent something like $500 million on new players but for all this spending all this has gotten us is a measely uefa cup which to be frank just isn’t good enough for a club like Inter. He has interfered way too much with the running of the club. Oriale was a brilliant transfer guy at Parma there he brought in guys like Buffon,Thuram,Crespo,ect. But at Inter he hasn’t been able to do this and the reason is quit clear at Parma even though Tanzi was a crap president while Oriale was there he didn’t interfer while at Inter he can only buy players that Moratti likes. A rumour goes that the way Moratti decides to buy players is he and his family sits and watches football on tv and the players he loves he decides to buy without asking the coach if he even wants that player.

How do we rectife the situation? Well the only way is by getting rid of Moratti and this will be very difficult since the man is a selfish pig he doesn’t care about Inter if he did he would have quit a long time ago. The only way to get rid of him is to force him out like what the Barca fans did to Gaspart. For this unfortuanetly we will have to see mayor riots by the tifosi and ultras in milano . They have to make Moratti feel like its hell being Inter president.

If we succeed then comes the difficult question if their any rich guy out there who would buy a club in crisis with big debt? Well I think there will be. I doudt guys like Tronchetti wouldn’t step in if their favourite club was available. There are a lot of rich Italians who would love to own Inter, this falsehood that some of us lives under the moratti is the only rich guy who can help Inter is totally false. Inter is a great opportunity all that’s needed is a bit restruectiring of the top management and we can easely get back to the top. It will off course not happen immediately when we have a new president it will take a few seasons. But this is a lot better than having to live with Moratti being in charge of our beloved Inter.

Stefan Steyn

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'Tribute to Christian “Bobo” Vieri'

(08-01-04)
Firstly Let I just say how glad I am Bobo reached his 100 goals. For players there are a few achievements that stand out. On an individual basis it is playing 100 games or scoring 100 goals. On a collective basis its winning competitions.

Bobo has been the most striker inter has since I became a fan in 1997/1998. He is always the guy there to tap in that crucial goal. You can say tap ins are easy but somebody has to do it. He is great at that.

If we hadn’t had a striker with Vieri’s finishing ability we would never have gotten anywhere near to what we did under cuper. Cuper succeeded sort of cause he had the most lethal finisher in the game at his disposal that’s why his counterattack game worked.

Vieri is the reason we have been in contention the last 2 seasons both times scoring more than 20 goals. The great part of his game is he scores even when he isn’t in great form. The parts are his sometimes atrocious ball control. This isn’t that bad when he is in form but when he isn’t he really struggles with it.

I have still not changed my opinion of what to about him at the end of the season. The key for me is can he successfully play alongside Adriano if they can than we should defenitly keep them but if not I am afraid the reign of the King should to an end.

But my final words are a big thank you to Vieri for all the pleasure and joy he has given us inter tifosi from across the world . Lets hope at the end of the season he gives us the ultimate joy of winning lo scudetto. Good luck to Vieri and the boys on the task that lies ahead they will need it.

Forza Vieri Per Sempre!!!!!

Stefan Steyn

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'Vieri: Asset Or Barrier'

The problem I see is that when Bobo is in the side we concentrate our whole offence on him while we Cruz plays when differ the points of attack. When Vieri plays we are predictable while when Cruz plays we are unpredictable.

Bobo is still a great striker and has saved inter on countless times in the past 3 or so years and will continue to score goals but the question is can Inter win a trophy and beat the big boys when we are so predictable?

If we are able to adjust our gameplan and play the sameway as we do when Cruz is in the side as when Bobo is then there is no reason to sell Bobo.

In my opnion we shouldn’t sell Vieri yet, give him time to prove that he can do the same job as Cruz we he plays. But if we can get Parma to give Adriano back to us in January then I am afraid I would have to say yes to selling Bobo reason being I think Adriano can score as many goals as Vieri but also he will help with our overall game.

Offcourse this isn’t an easy decision but when making such decisions we cannot and should not let our emotions for a player dictate to whether to sell or not to sell. This might be our last chance to get anything for vieri. Off course we should only sell him if we get 15 + million euros anything less and there should be a flat refusal.

Stefan Steyn

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'Future Planning'

When evaluating what we need we have to look what we have struggled with. I feel we need reinforcements in midfield. Unfortunately Karagounis and Lamouchi just haven’t produced what we need from them. The man it seems we will definitely get is Dejan Stankovic from Lazio either in January or in June. I feel we must get him in January. Same say he will play as the playmaker or as a wingforward. I disagree to me Deki will play in Cristiano Zanetti’s place or Emre’s(when he is injured). Some say Emre-Deki is too offensive, they might be offensive but both are 2 way midfielders so I am sure they will work well helping each other with the defensive duties and offensive ones.

The other are we must look at is the trequartista playmaker spot. In our squad we don’t really have one. It seems we have signed Peralta as one for this spot. I have never seen him play so I can’t comment on him but I think we need more than one playmaker so I suggest we buy Diego as well for this role. They won’t be too expensive.

For the defence we need 2 central defenders for a back 3 maybe not in January but definitely by next season. We have 1 defender that’s under 30(Cordoba) the rest are all over 30 and we will need young blood to replace them. Our best option are for the sweeper role Vidic,Boumsong,Mexes,Metzelder and Lucio. My choice would be Mexes he has proved he can play at the French international team wouldn’t cost too much and is well suited to us. For the man marker spot the only choice I see is Matteo Ferrari of course he will be more difficult and more expensive to get than most of the other transfers. But he is a must for me.

The last spot is the strikeforce. Here we are mostly covered even with Kallon’s injury. The only purchase we need in this area is Adriano which is an must, we can’t afford to lose another super talent we must get him back. He should be our future like martins.

Well that’s my 10 cents on how we should manage our transfer campaign.

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