The Nerazzurri traveled to the South to take on Rafa Benitez’s Napoli this evening. Napoli was coming off a loss to Torino in the league and a draw with Lazio in the Coppa Italia. Inter would need to rebound from a very disappointing performance against Fiorentina if they were to be successful against Napoli and I had revenge on my mind after being bumped from the Coppa Italia by the Neapolitan side. Mancini fielded the 4-3-1-2 with Santon and D’Ambrosio on either side of Ranocchia and Juan Jesus. The Guarin-Medel-Brozovic midfield remained intact with Shaqiri in the tequartista role behind Palacio and Icardi.
This match began wide open and the play was flowing freely from one end to the other. Notably, Rocchi booked Juan in the first 30 seconds for a very soft foul and now JJ will miss the next match. Although the play was taking place in both ends of the pitch, Napoli surely had the superior chances and by the 35th minute could have been up 3-0 if it wasn’t for a bit of Handanovic brilliance and some poor Gonzalo Higuain finishing.
Inter on the other hand were bringing the play to Napoli’s box but completely ran out of ideas on the ball once they got there. Palacio was wasteful and Shaqiri seemed flat compared to previous performances. Moreover, Icardi was forced to run out to the corners to get touches on the ball and that is certainly not where you want Maurito spending his time. At the other end the defence was getting easily overrun by Napoli counter attacks and the CB pairing of Ranocchia and Juan were giving us more reasons why they should be separated. The whole back line did not seem capable of tracking the interchanging positions of Callejon, Hamsik, Mertens and Higuain. Santon in particular was having a hell of a time keeping up with Mertens on the right.
Inter completely failed to impose any of the style we had seen in previous weeks in the first half. When we gained possession we took too long on the ball or wasted the possession that Napoli were giving up. Napoli were sitting back and countering and this is precisely the type of opposition that Inter has dropped points against for the past two seasons regardless of who managed.
The second half began no better despite Santon and Danilo switching spots, as Inter were shaky on the counter and eventually conceded. This is precisely the type of goal Inter have conceded for years and I can count similar goals conceded in matches against Milan, Napoli and Lazio without even probing my memory. Consistently Inter have superior numbers in the box and between the defence and midfield, fail to properly mark the one or two opposing players in the box when crosses come in from out wide.
By the time the 60th minute had rolled around Inter were looking flat, lazy and frustratingly Mancini was not doing anything to fix it. Mancini is supposed to be the doctor and he sat back and watched his patient flatline without providing it any medicine until things looked incredibly grim. Higuain added to Inter’s woes and made it 2-0 before any changes were made on the pitch. However, Hernanes came on for Broz and Palacio added a quick goal in a massive scramble, which turned the game around.
At this point Inter seemed to smell blood in the water; however, they would need to remain vigilant because the counter attack threat was still there. Mancini seemed to also see an opening and replaced a very poor Juan with young striker Puscas. The Nerazzurri pushed forward but it looked destined to end in sorrow as there was no real cohesion to the attack. However, in what seemed like an impossible occurrence, Rocchi awarded a penalty to Inter in the dying stages of a match! Mauro Bomber Icardi stepped up to the ball and in calm and cool pazza Inter fashion chipped the Napoli keeper with the game on the line. Although there was some time left on the clock, the match ended 2-2. It was great to get a point after being down but this was far from a stellar performance from Inter. We will take a point home but I do not feel any better about our chances in the Serie A after the last string of performances. We need to learn to impose ourselves on matches, rather than waiting until the last dash to make our mark on a match.
Handanovic was definitely an basketball player…
note for Mancio. our defence (or mid) should closing opponent movement ASAP, not keep them space so they can cross or making long shoot. and when attack, they 1-2 players around them so they can’t look like headless chicken when got the ball and losing it. play simple short pass like tiki-taka or anything you name it. Napoli players already exhausted because playing in Copa last midweek, but they got more run than our mid-def. and for JJ, like I said in Celtic game, he keep leaving his pos and put Rano alone and get burn alive by Inter fans. our stupid CB still thinking they playing in 3 man defence did they? and for chrissake, PROTECT YOU GK!! they just keep their opponent space for cross or make a long shoot. if you have to smack them in head, do it Mr. Mancio. it so frustating to see they afraid to challenge our opponent..
I do agree with you, it seems JJ is struggle on 4 men defends. The good thing from Rano is, he can read the game even though he is slow.
rather old Camps as fullback, I rather choose JJ as a fullback if we wanna rest Santon. JJ too offensive, and he got speed. but it will leave us with 2 slow CB. Rano not that great too actually, he also keep getting forward to challenge opponent striker, that why idk why Mancio/Sylvinho never solve this problem. less concede can make us like a real contender imo
JJ, Brozo and Palacio were HORRIBLE!
But as always it took a decade for Mancio to make single f*&$ing sub!!!
I think it was a good game. Hopefully Mancini by now realises that he should leverage more Hernanes. Brozovic is a fantastic tactitian but not a dribbler, unlike Hernanes who offers more individual solutions at games like today were our typical midfield (Guaring, Medel, Brozo) couldn’t break the deadlock. At first half our midfield was too predictable. Napoli simply marked Guarin coz they know he’s the only midfielder capable of doing something creative. Shaqiri had to go down the field a lot to help but that left the two strikers almost isolated. With Hernanes on the field Palacio all of a sudden reappeared!
One last note about our defence; I’m one of those few (maybe naive) Interista’s who kept defending Rano and JJ. With today’s game I’m starting to believe the two can’t play together. They both let Napoli strikers get the ball and turn around without serious pressure, you can’t let strikers receive a pass and turn to your goal…that’s ABC defence!! Rano had a slightly better performance on few one-on-one situations today but seriously Inter can’t play high defence with these guys
In this game Rano played really decently. But JJ was horror!
Why not play Andreolli, Vidic or even Felipe instead of JJ who clearly has a lot learn. I dont understand.
Personally I think Vidic is the best among them.
I seriously wanna see andreoli and vidic again… does anyone remember how neat our defence was when they were paired? Two games in a row , we were good defensively
You’re right it’s probably the most solid defence we had this season
Im just wondering, did Mancini knows, that he can make substitution before we’re losing and before 85 minute?
I am sure that he does. He is also painfully aware that his midfielders struugle to both possess and play the ball forward. Truthfully, how many two way midfielders does he have to chose from? Sure the bench has improved, however it needs to get better.
The only coach who brave enough to do changes every time needed is Stramaccioni …but Inter fired him because Inter was under perform due to injuries.
Maybe Mancini trust his core player too much? OR – simply doesn’t have balls to trust his player on the bench to provide alternatives.
scoring 2 goals from 2-0 behind in napoli’s home, got posession more than 60% in napoli’s home are actually impressive I’d say. Im sure we could win if we have more quality players on bench thus we wont only rely on this particular set of squad again and again. Hernanes is good though. And Icardi has got 20 goals, hasnt he?
Possession means nothing if you can create a decent chance with it.The only important stat is goals and it seems we’re all too happy to let our opponents make the first move then we try to salvage something at the end.If we want a EL spot we must adopt a new mentality.
Always frustrating that we always start attacking only after conceding
And mancini always making late subs.
I really don’t know what he expects .If they are playing badly for the entire game so far nothing is going to dramatically change..use the subs the bench is loaded with midfielders and young talents as well as vidic who’s just collecting a fat paycheck for whatever reason without even playing,ridiculous but that’s another story.My point is if your team is lacking in departments during the game it should be fixed as a manager take the initiative and fix it,don’t wait until the opponents score to act or react in that case.
Right!! I swear i was going to throw my laptop from the top of the staircase.