Wayne Wong - Columns

Doing the double over one of your deadliest rivals should guarantee applauds. However, Inter’s stuttering and, at times, painful performances this season have overshadowed the two tremendous victories. In fact, one would counter that these two displays were the only games worthy of remembering when reflecting on another disappointing campaign, these were games where the result, and the performance, were compatible, both being positive.

Watching the game last Sunday in a bar in Brescia was a didactic experience. The atmosphere was, at least to my mind, somewhat subdued. This is thoroughly expected due to the underachievements of both parties concerned this term, notably Juve’s elimination from the Champions League and their ghastly first leg display in the Coppa Italia final, and of course, the reoccurring Inter “nothingness”, bar the UEFA Cup venture. However, unlike campaigns of the recent past, there was the simmering sense that Juve were there for the taking, that one would deem confidence in the camp to be high despite Inter’s domestic resurgence only recently commencing against Reggina, and the laughable jokeshop that is Ancona.

When the teamsheets were revealed, it was clear Inter would have the upper hand. First of all and needless to say, this was a Juve team minus Nedved, minus Del Piero, lacking dynamism and inspiration especially in offensive terms. This meant even our holding midfielders in Farinos and Cristiano Zanetti had the room to roam and pick out passes with ease since defensive priorities have fallen down the pecking order. The only hazard rooted from the rightwing menace of Camoranesi, and once more, one is convinced Kily does not hold the capacity to compete in the left wingback role, although his own goal was in no way his fault. Incidentally, Coco’s return is far too long overdue to the point of there being more questions than answers nowadays.

When Stankovic arrived in January various experts questioned what position the Serb would occupy in his new surroundings, yet few would have guessed the left forward role he occupied on Sunday night. In effect, Stankovic was given a quasi-free role, allowing to drop deeper to central positions in order to pick up possession. Contrary to the ratings after the game, Stankovic did not in fact have such a brilliant match (below par distribution) apart from his goal and the penalty, but this new found role was a potent indication of his patent versatility, and one suspects, spells even more ominous signs for Van der Meyde

In truth, the fact that Inter surrendered two soft goals should not overshadow the minimal threats posed by Juve during the entire evening. Excluding the spell after Kily’s own goal, Inter’s rearguard was rarely threatened, to the effect that it was difficult noticing Gamarra was actually on the pitch.

Overall, in accordance with Juve’s plain awfulness, Inter looked a revitalised pack of players who placed their testicles high on the line and scrambled. Whether Zac can harness the consistency required in domestic terms (unquestionably more paramount than progression in the UEFA Cup) to garner the remaining Champions League spot remains to be seen. But undoubtedly, the players are ready (most notably Almeyda’s rebuffing of his alleged retirement and Materazzi’s return), and one fully expect a win against Perugia on Sunday.

Wayne Wong

1. Inter’s midfield does not contribute enough to support our attack, this is at its most evident when Julio Cruz drops back into an attacking midfield position to pick up the ball and orchestrate the moves. This is often the problem with teams that employ the double pivot system of two holding midfielders, who are essentially ball winners solely (Arsenal with Gilberto and Vieira and Deportivo with Mauro Silva and Sergio for example), and in our case the choices of Almeyda, Cristiano Zanetti, Farinos plus Lamouchi. Putting it bluntly, the attacking thrust just doesn’t initiate. It seems Emre could have broken the trend by installing some much needed intelligent usage of possession, but the boy has been a letdown this term so far, and his sporadic adoption as left forward in our 3-4-3 simply does not work. Somehow we rely too heavily on Cruz as the origin of attack during possession play.

2. By and large, the wide men of the teams that employ a double pivot are the root of the majority of attacks, again, as in the case of Arsenal, with Pires and Ljunberg. With Inter’s 3-4-3 however, this does not materialise. This is simply because the two flank men, Javier Zanetti on the right, and the choices of Pasquale, Kily, Brechet and so forth shall often be preoccupied with defensive duties, which limits their function as offensive armaments. If and when they get pushed back during matches, this restricts enormously our room for roaming from those areas, where we will be left only with an attacking trident, more often than not isolated 40 yards down the other end of the pitch. On the contrary, if the two widemen push forward too far and we get hit on the counter, the chances are our centre backs either side of Adani, that is Cordoba and Cannavaro, will get dragged out of position to cover.

3. I am still a firm believer in Recoba’s possible positive role for the side, despite the intermittent justified criticism showering from all corners of his worth. Evidence so far has not been conclusive enough (primarily due to injury) to suggest he’ll once again become the odd man out (like under Cuper), or conversely be given a role as the man in the “hole”, a position out of all our players this season, Cruz most closely resembles during matches (see the recent Perugia and Dynamo matches for examples). This is not to say though that it is imperative for Inter to acquire a fantasy player of such type. And in actual fact, under Zac the creation of chances has not been the biggest cause for concern, it is the putting away of them, cue the Parma debacle last week. Our variation in terms of types of strikers we have is actually very sufficient, like the usage of pace in Martins, power in Vieri, and the methodical approach of Cruz are all positive signs. But above all, having chances but not smacking the back of the net defeats their manifestation, hence the talk of Adriano is fully warranted.