Inter go into this game on the back of 2 disappointing defeats against Sassuolo and Torino. A good run in the Coppa Italia could restart Inters season.
Inter finished their transfer business this week with the signing of former player Davide Santon on loan from Newcastle United with a view to a permanent transfer. Inters mercato has went very well so far with Podolski, Shaqiri, Brozovic and Santon all coming to the club.
Mancini now has the players he wants and it’s about time Inter started to get their act together.
This is the line-up as reported by La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Mancini is expected to change formation to a 4-3-1-2 for this match.
Carrizo is expected to start in nets.
Inter still have some problems in defence with Campagnaro, Andreolli, D’Ambrosio and Jonathan all still injured. Nagatomo has returned from injury and may well start at right back. In central defence Juan Jesus returns from suspension to partner Ranocchia with Obi expected to play at left back. New signing Davide Santon will be on the bench.
In midfield Marcelo Brozovic should start alongside Gary Medel and Kuzmanovic. Hernanes is the favourite to start in the trequartista role.
Up top Mancini will put his faith in Icardi despite having to fine the player after his row with Inter fans at the end of the Sassuolo game. His partner up top is expected to be Bonazzoli who Inter this week announced would be joining Sampdoria at the end of the season.
Probable line-up (subject to change): Carrizo, Nagatomo, Ranocchia, Juan Jesus, Obi, Brozovic, Medel, Kuzmanovic, Hernanes, Icardi and Bonazzoli.
Bench: Handanovic, Berni, Vidic, Santon, Dodo, Donkor, Kovacic, Guarin, Palacio, Podolski, Puscas, Shaqiri.
Pre match stats:
This evenings cup meeting could see Juan Jesus and Palacio both reach 100 appearances for Inter.
Juan made his debut on 13th May 2012 in Serie A against Lazio. He has played 76 times in the league, 7 times in the Coppa Italia and 16 times in European competitions.
Palacio first appeared for Inter on 2nd August 2012 in a Europa League game against Hadjuk Split and has since played in 82 league games, 5 Coppa Italia games and 12 games in European competition.
Napoli are on a 12 match scoring run with 24 goals in the Coppa Italia since they last failed to hit the net on 26th January 2011 and interestingly it was against Inter. The match finished 0-0 after extra time with the Inter side managed by Leonardo winning 4-5 on penalties.
Previous match-ups between Rafa Benitez and Roberto Mancini see the coaches locked together in perfect parity with 2 wins apiece and two 0-0 draws.
My Player to Watch: Hernanes – We haven’t seen Hernanes for a while and rightly so after some below par performances but this is his chance to impress the manager and with Kovacic starting to go off the boil I expect a big performance from Hernanes.
My Prediction: Napoli 2-2 Inter Scorers: Higuain, Callejon (Napoli) and Icardi, Hernanes (Inter)
Officials: Referee: Massa Assistants: Giallatini and Passeri 4th Official: Banti
After Inters performance in the last 2 matches it’s hard to have any hope against a good Napoli side who are very much in form but this is a chance to start from a clean slate for a lot of our players and I can actually see this game going the whole way to a penalty shoot-out. Here’s hoping anyway.
Forza Inter
Decent game, but we still got Ranocchia…
Decent game, but we still got Ranocchia…
Ranocchia the worst defender in the world
I used to love seeing Bonazzolli in the starting 11. But now that he’s a Sampdoria player, it doesn’t excite me anymore :/
I used to love seeing Bonazzolli in the starting 11. But now that he’s a Sampdoria player, it doesn’t excite me anymore :/
still not put Shaqiri on your starting line sir? or this means we gonna try to play defensive, try to not conceded and starting to attack at 72 min? good luck with that. we should pushing their defence from min 1 until finish. that will show to ultras that these squad always want winning, at least that what I want to see when I wake up in 3 am and have to work after that
still not put Shaqiri on your starting line sir? or this means we gonna try to play defensive, try to not conceded and starting to attack at 72 min? good luck with that. we should pushing their defence from min 1 until finish. that will show to ultras that these squad always want winning, at least that what I want to see when I wake up in 3 am and have to work after that
We will lose again, believe me. Not that i’m being pessimistic about our chances but i’m being realiistic. We actually have decent individuals footballer in our team. But that is the problem, our team is not teamed enough. Our captain either doesn’t have balls or doesn’t have enough charisma to gel the team. Therefore no sense of belonging, no characters, no pride. It will take a long time to be a real team, or if you have the money you should hire a coach that do understand psychology or in other word bring mourinho back. He knows how to draw attention to him rather than the team, make the players love him, and turns the whole world against his team. And the result is the team becoming a real team that have a high sense of belonging, with characters, and obviously with pride.
We will lose again, believe me. Not that i’m being pessimistic about our chances but i’m being realiistic. We actually have decent individuals footballer in our team. But that is the problem, our team is not teamed enough. Our captain either doesn’t have balls or doesn’t have enough charisma to gel the team. Therefore no sense of belonging, no characters, no pride. It will take a long time to be a real team, or if you have the money you should hire a coach that do understand psychology or in other word bring mourinho back. He knows how to draw attention to him rather than the team, make the players love him, and turns the whole world against his team. And the result is the team becoming a real team that have a high sense of belonging, with characters, and obviously with pride.
We will lose again, believe me. Not that i’m being pessimistic about our chances but i’m being realiistic. We actually have decent individuals footballer in our team. But that is the problem, our team is not teamed enough. Our captain either doesn’t have balls or doesn’t have enough charisma to gel the team. Therefore no sense of belonging, no characters, no pride. It will take a long time to be a real team, or if you have the money you should hire a coach that do understand psychology or in other word bring mourinho back. He knows how to draw attention to him rather than the team, make the players love him, and turns the whole world against his team. And the result is the team becoming a real team that have a high sense of belonging, with characters, and obviously with pride.
i dont want to see kuz, obi or nagatomo tonight..especially not all toghether!
i want to see them leaving inter together >:)
hahaha
I know about rotating squads, but I would really like to see Handanovič in the Starting XI, its quite a big match that could potentially lead to our first trophy in the last years.
If the line-up is true,it will be a massacre.Non of our midfielders give accurate attacking through ball than Guarin for the last 4 games.So he should start.Rano out.He is too slow.Isaac donkor should never play our match.Vidic should start.Palacio benched.Icadi should play one top.Hernanes should play as supporting striker.With this we will win.
yes guarin was awesome in sassuolo game especially with through balls.hahaha he’s through balls was for sassuolo fans
Why put Obi as a left back? we saw that thats not the solution.. ranocchia out vidic in
Why put Obi as a left back? we saw that thats not the solution.. ranocchia out vidic in
hmm. Tuttosport prdicted us to play with the 4-2-3-1 we have used so far with Hernanes on, plus Puscas and Shaq and with Brozovic in midfield too, but with Santon on the left from the beginning.
They even said that Mancio had tryed out the 3-5-2 in training!!! So no one really knows how we will play – hopefully Mancio does!
Vidic on bench…. Goodbye cup
Vidic on bench…. Goodbye cup