There’s no way to sugar coat it ladies and gentlemen, Inter are a flaming hot mess at the moment. They are coming apart at the seams… again, and earlier than usual. Here’s a quick rundown of their current troubles in no particular order:
– The Curva Nord is openly feuding with Inter captain Mauro Icardi and cheered enthusiastically when he missed a penalty against Cagliari.
– The club hierarchy threatened to strip Icardi of the captaincy before ‘allowing’ him to continue wearing the armband.
– Manager Frank de Boer, who has been at the helm for roughly two months, is very much on the hot seat with his potential replacements splashed on the front page of the Italian major dailies.
– Inter has lost in convincing fashion to the fourth-placed team in the Czech Liga, a club from the Ligat Ha’al in Israel and one of the newly promoted teams in Serie A, which had dropped their previous three away matches by a combined score of 7-2.
I’m at the point where I’m seriously considering replying to the DM I just received on Twitter from a French Buddhist monk/guru about buying some sort of five-step singing meditation program. Yeah, that’s where I’m at right now…
Without any further ado, here’s what we learned from Inter’s 2-1 setback to Cagliari:
1. Candreva can’t cross
I’m beginning to think that Antonio Candreva is the new Fredy Guarin. There are some striking similarities between the two players, with the most glaring their penchant to fire away (wide) from long distances.
I will readily admit that I thought the Italian international was a solid signing who would provide a veteran presence on the wing but he has been underwhelming to the point where there were some jeers when he was subbed off against Cagliari.
How he lasted 75 minutes is beyond me as I lost count of the amount of times he wasted a cross. A typical Inter counterattack consisted of a promising buildup before Candreva received the ball and sent in a cross was too wide, high, short, low of his intended target. Rinse and repeat 15 times and you get the idea.
2. Icardi needs to be stripped of his penalty-taking duties
Much of the talk has revolved around whether Icardi should remain the club’s captain but lost in the mix has been his poor recent record from the penalty spot. He has missed three of his last four penalties in Serie A and his latest misfire took the air right out of the Meazza.
I’m not going to dive into the latest controversy regarding Icardi but will say this: A 23-year-old who hasn’t won anything of significance during his senior career shouldn’t have an autobiography on the shelves but that being said it would be a major mistake to run him out of town.
The Nerazzurri have a long record of selling talented youngsters who go on to flourish at other clubs and Icardi would just be the latest name to join the list.
3. Joao Mario is a shining star
The Portuguese International was one of the lone bright spots in the loss to the Sardinians on Sunday. The midfielder bundled in his own rebound for his first Serie A goal and gave Inter a lead it should’ve have never relinquished.
In a brave new world of statistics and live metrics (which is fine and dandy) Joao Mario passes the eye test with flying colors. His sublime flick in the second half was a thing of beauty.
He rarely put a foot wrong and was the best player on the pitch for Inter on Sunday. It’s a shame that his teammates weren’t up to his level.
4. Time is not on de Boer’s side
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Frank de Boer considering the timing of his hire but the natives are starting to get restless at Appiano Gentile. Blowing a second-half lead at home to Cagliari will do that.
Questions about the team’s formation and fitness levels have surfaced after the Nerazzurri self destructed in the final 20 minutes. Under normal circumstances a manager should have a year or two to put his stamp on the squad but as I have mentioned in previous articles, Inter are the antithesis of a normal club and the sooner the Dutchman understands that the better off he will be.
De Boer’s substitutions left much to be desired as well, even though Ever Banega was visibly tired after traveling to South America for international duty while Candreva was struggling with his accuracy, but Assane Gnoukouri and Eder were hardly inspiring choices.
Cagliari manager Massimo Rastelli made some rather telling comments after the game when he said that, “Inter are a team with a great deal of quality… but no balance, so we worked on that.” Sounds about right.
5. Hard to blame Handanovic
Yes, that was a terrible goal to concede in the late going and yes, his mistake proved to be the difference between a draw and a loss but it’s difficult to pin the blame on Samir Handanovic so I won’t.
The veteran keeper made a series of top-drawer saves, including a double stop in the second half that would’ve have made Walter Zenga proud. Handanovic has bailed out what is becoming a porous back line one time too many times this season and the Nerazzurri are fortunate to have him.
Max De Luca is a journalist based in Toronto, Canada and has been published on Reuters, CBC, Yahoo, Goal, USA Today and many more. Starting today and every Wednesday, Max will pen a column exclusively for SempreInter.com discussing the most pressing topics of the day.
Do you agree with Max? Discuss below and follow him on twitter @maxzenpower
Ok good article, and great debate is on going in comments, a lot of problems has been hinted and cleared, however I wanted to point the cause of all the troubles, its pressure from everywhere that got us on the loosing track, we have seen how good is the current Inter in the Italian derby match, but ever since then the pressure just mounts and mounts, Inter need help specially from the Curva Nord.
FDB, is under pressure since he arrived, only credited after the derby, and the media will keep hunting him.
Icardi, has been under pressure fire from the summer and he still in its hell, contract renewal, Argentina national team refusal, Maradona statement, the book, and Cagliari match loss.
Kondogbia, went from the only fighting player in the first two starting matches this season to a not worthy player that can’t defend, made crazy reaction in the Roma match when he was subbed, add to that his young age and the lack of experience to handle pressure.
Candreva, a man that was crossing fine with Lazio, is currently under pressure for not doing his job right.
Perisic, under the pressure for not getting the deserved appreciation and value new signed players gets.
Gnoukouri, simply pushed in time the team was in bad situation, the pressure just broke the youngster well growing.
Ranocchia, started bad and developed his selfsteam, but was left out of trust ever since Murillo got back.
D’ambrosio, a lot of mistakes keep dragging him to the dark side.
Nagatomo, used in the Roma match out sudden, even we thought he was out of FDB choices.
Out of the mix some players enjoy staring under pressure we should give credit to
Handanovic
Miranda
Murillo
Santon
Medel
Joa Mario
Banega
icardi is very poor in penalties, he is bound to miss every time, doesn’t know shit about scoring from penalties, puts too much power and is reckless
IMHO, he is a pretty good penalty taker. He successfully did penalties with panenka-style a few times in 2015. Lately, he just didn’t have a calm mind with all his recent problems with Curva Nord
what about last season against bilan
6) FDB’s offensive approach is clueless, overly reliant on crosses.
The guy needs to figure out which players he can count on and which he can’t, like Jovetic ,Melo,Eder,Gnou.
Also, he needs to fuckin play Brozovic , our midfield can’t create with JM playing so deep and havin defending responsibilities.Brozo was wrong in the UEL game but FDB already made his point, and so far Gnoukuri looked useless every single time he is subbed on so why play him ahead of Brozo?
We saw where the team could go this season in the Juve game, so those rumours of the board firing FdB are a bit exaggerated in my opinion.
1) Candreva is – I believe – the player in the squad with the most assists right? Playing on the wing and be dangerous requires help from the full backs when it comes to overlaps and also be a provider of crosses himself – or else it simply is too easy to close the winger down. THAT’S why he and Perisic struggle; our full backs are simply not good enough to provide the much needed help!
2) Icardi normally is very good at penalties but everything before the game was everything else but normal! The tension between him, the club (with the comments from Zanetti) and the fans was like mountain high and made him clearly lose his focus!
4) About Franky´s subs; Agree! To put on a young and promising Gnou instead of Banega and not Broso was very strange! And Jojo instead of Gabi??
– I’m losing hope and believe in Franky… he seems to only know how to play in one way and that’s simply not enough in Serie A – Hell, it isn’t enough in ANY of the biggest leagues!
If he doesn’t start showing a will to solve the difficulties we have (like closing the space we leave in front of our defense – maybe by inserting a defensive midfielder there, or by fixing the “we-only-know-who-to play-with-Banega-on-the-pitch-problem), then I’d say; let’s find a more flexible coach (Eusebio di Francesco maybe).
now you gonna agree to what I have been saying, you are so slow lol
I’m an old man – be patient with me, my young friend 😉 But- slow on what?
on fdb I told you exactly how his ideology will not work in calico, and he will get murked by all teams playing like that, and I said I can see it from a mile away and you said no he is perfect for inter, its ok the son doesn’t always stay behind the cloud, btw how old are you?
I liked the way he made us play – and in a very short time. I said that sometimes we need to see the play on the pitch and not only the result… but loosing, loosing and loosing some more makes one losing his faith in the man and the project!
I’m 38, almost as old as Totti 😉
38 is not that old, Im 30 will be 38 very fast, time flies after you turn 25
No I know, in fact your not a grown up until you reach 40 🙂
it all depends how spoil u are and how hard u grew up, some people will never grow up
True, I know for sure I’ll always be an Inter supporter, no matter age! Forza Inter my friend!
Nah, icardi penalty ‘s record is bad
Mancini’s strategy was ‘play not to lose’
FDB’s strategy is ‘play to win’.
No wonder the team plays like a confused practice squad.
Give DeBoer more time!
And with the morrans we have in defense and midfield (Medel is fine but not world class) it´s not strange the team struggles!
Max De Luca after Bologna game: Kondo is shit, after Roma game: Jojo is shit, after Cagliari game: Candreva is shit.
Stop making scapegoats from the players!
Surely, it is our mental which so bad. Hopely Inter has fans like Liverpudlian or Gooners.
Sadly we took real madrid fans as role models
You cannot play on crosses when you have only one man (Icardi) upfront capable to score with his head.
I would blame Candreva for not cutting inside more.
The problem is there is not enough body in the box when the crosses arrive. Perisic, Banega, Mario should get in there to meet the crosses from Candreva. Specially Perisic who is good with his head but he almost never do it. He is stuck on the left wing. It’s always Icardi alone in there against 3 opponents.
Well o can say that Mario wasn’t that bright.. he cheated in he’s defensive work all the time.
Nice article. Two points can be added: Inter can’t defend and Inter has troubles in scoring goals.
which is what football is all about!
basically inter is shit at football