It was supposed to be a happy night when Roberto Mancini made his official debut at home at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in Milano’s San Siro district. Instead we were treated to a 45 minute long horror show where every single one of Inter’s weaknesses were exposed.
Andrea Stramaccioni wasn’t given a fair chance at Inter and was thrown to the wolves when being sacked after having watched his Inter be demolished by Udinese. So the scene was set for revenge for the Rome-born coach when he came back to his old stomping ground assisted by Inter legend Dejan Stankovic. Revenge is exactly what he got.
What we witnessed tonight was a parade of incompetence and mediocrity at best which isn’t necessarily connected to the result itself. Losing matches is part of the game of football and everyone knew that Inter weren’t in the best shape after a few turbulent weeks. However, the manner in which the match was lost is inexcusable.
Inter dominated the first 45 minutes and should have been in the lead by at least 2 goals but as always the team aren’t cynical enough to make their chances pay off. Despite this Mauro Icardi did what Mauro Icardi does best, namely score goals. Together with Mateo Kovacic, Fredy Guarin dominated the midfield and the entire build-up of play that led to the Colombians assist to Icardi’s goal was simply stunning.
With all these things going your way together with the fact that your side had taken the lead just before the whistle which signalled the end of the first half, Inter should have been cruising. Instead the team collapsed collectively from the 50th minute and onwards. Physically and mentally the team collapsed like a house of cards. If Antonio Di Natale had woken up on the right side of his bed this morning he would have scored at least 3 goals tonight. Guaranteed.
Everyone connected to football has to inevitably at some point or other accept a defeat, but no-one should accept losing due to mental and physical collapses which we’ve seen this Inter go through time and time again. With the legendary treble heroes gone, this squad needs their leaders to step up and it’s painfully apparent for all to see that Andrea Ranocchia should not be in the starting 11 right now, let alone be the teams captain. Fredy Guarin and Yuto Nagatomo seem physically incapable of giving a solid performance for 90 minutes. Zdravko Kuzmanovic has no business playing 90 minutes match after match. Rodrigo Palacio is colder than an igloo and seems finished.
Enough with the excuses, the explanations, the “we want to show you the real Inter” speeches. Get rid of the abundance of mediocrity that is rife within Inter’s squad and replace them with quality. If you don’t then please stop talking about returning to the Champions League or fighting for titles, because otherwise you are just embarrassing yourself, the club and all the clubs supporters. Enough is enough.
