Roberto Mancini spoke to Sky after the 0-0 draw with Chievo today and expressed his disappointment with the outcome. He said: “We are disappointed because we could have jumped into 6th place, but we had trouble finding the goal. When a team defends with all its men it becomes hard to score. We are sorry for not winning. We lacked intensity at the start but with 24 shots we only found the net 4 times. A team cannot do more but we need to be more accurate. The only thing I can complain about is not having scored. In these games you need to release those who have talent and we have players like this but we were not successful.”
The manager was then asked about Icardi: “Icardi was perhaps a little subdued today because he did not get a lot of space. They always had eight players close to him. In that case Lukas, Shaqiri and Hernanes need to invent something to find him. Today may have been a bad day but the team did what the had to do and I cannot complain.”
Mancini was then asked if it would be a good ideal to sub Medel in matches like this: “The play was started slowly by the defenders and by Medel. The solutions in these matches are often found in the final 30 meters but they need to begin from the back.”
The interview was then turned on to Inter’s chances in the Europa League and Mancini replied saying: “We must do our best. You need two teams, one for the league and one for the Europa League (jokes). Clearly when you are playing on Thursday you will; have problems and will need to rotate. Benitez has done well in this sense, while he has lost something in the league he has performed well in the cup.”
He continued: “We need to do many things better such as resuming play in the second half. This must be done more quickly. Chievo played defensively and on the counter and their players were in good shape. We were too sloppy and with 24 shots I expect a team to score a goal.”
Source: FcInterNews.it
Maybe Mancio still doesn’t get it: everytime Inter vs smaller teams, they tend to defend more, so next time don’t leave your attacking minded players on the bench! And one more thing, possession play doesn’t guaranteed win, look at Cheivo intelligent approach, they dangerous on counter attacks and almost scored in the end when Inter players look tired after all that keeping possessiona and runnings that come to nothing. And it is time, to drop Guarin. Rarely make any contribution to the team. Might as well field in Goukouri in his place to refresh the team. Mancio also should play Podolski since he is high in self esteem at the moment and he was very dangerous when came in the match. What happened to Santon? Why now ommit him for JJ? JJ great defensively but not so when contributing to crossing. Might as well revert to back 3!!
Another horrible starting XI and wasted 45 minutes.
The guy bencehed Santon and played JJ on the flank and like always he had been a non-factor in whole 90 mins!
Besides, with 4-3-1-2 and 3 holding midfielders, we opted to play counter-attacking football against a well defending side!
That’s Mancini logic.
I think he has done his best tonight. Just the players couldnt find a way to break those defense.
I don’t know if Icardi has an issue passing horizontally or does he has an issue passing to Shaqiri. Happened versus Roma and happened again today; Shaqiri was all free and waiting only for the ball instead he goes for Palacio between three defenders. I hope we get some 40 million offer for him and we sell him, since Dybala is said to be 50 millions why can’t Icardi get sold for 40.
Hernanes sucked, he resumed the play he had against Udinese in the last thirty minutes. Not once he hit on target, that would be understandable from Guarin. Hernanes is over, just let him in the bench. There is no hope he will be a key player to us ever.
And once again midfield is the problem, as soon as he pulled Brozovic out we lost possession and Chievo became more dangerous. At least hold on to 3 midfield Mancini. U could have pulled out Brozovic and Hernanes get in, Gnoukori and Kovacic. Take out Guarin or Palacio, get Shaqiri in.
And Mancini gets out from the dressing rooms 5 minutes earlier. That means he didn’t have much to talk to his player during the break. And why on the earth playing JJ on the left flank when u have Santon who is ten times better than him. He keeps the best fullback in the bench. What coach plays with 3 central defenders in a defense of four ???
If Santon would be on the game i’m sure the game would be a lot more efficient, probably it would be a win. Our attacks were all coming from the right wing of D’Ambrosio. It’s not that hard to defend when the opponent attacks from the same area always is it ?
If it wasn’t for the love of Inter i would long gone got enough of this shitty playing. But still Inter is above every shitty game and every shitty player unworthy of Inter shirt. I just hope we get back as soon as possible.
Forza Inter !
Have u ever played chess?
Well said -written actually- bro.
medel is not good enough again small team
i think gnokouri deserved than him on this match
Handa
d’ambro-vidic-rano-Santon
Kovacic – Gnokouri/Brozovic – Hernanes
Shaq
Palacio/podolski – Icardi
I think so too, in the two games when he played the midfield looked way more stronger than without him. His positioning is excellent, cold as ice always while Medel is not bad but he runs like a pitbull, and pitbulls aren’t so smart aren’t they ?
Medel chases the ball on and on and most of the time gets it and when the opponent is good he just keeps running again without succeeding. Gnoukouri starts the ball to the wingers and the attacking midfielders way faster than Medel. Only in one of the games Gnoukouri had 5 interceptions i haven’t checked the other and his passing accuracy was above 90 percent, can’t quite recall it exactly. His play is the prove of it and the stats are.
We might have disagreed re. Hernanes, but am delighted to see a fellow interista acknowledge Medel’s shortcomings and question his place in the side.
With the exception of countless toothless lateral passes that a child could complete, needless fouls/bookings, the occasional meaningful recovery, and mindless ball chasing that opens up our defense, I fail to see what Medel provides.
He might act as foil for the counter, giving our other mids license to push forward aggressively, but more often than not, our defenders are the ones who actually clean up the counter, and rarely do our forward transitions work effectively.
With Medel, we are a man down going forward, and if anything, only slightly benefited against the counter. His role is redundant, and we’d be wise to employ a more conventional, balanced midfield that works together to move the ball forward as well as defend.
Hernanes IS a key player for us. A large part of our recent form is down to his quality as a trequatista. I’d still argue he is our most creative player on the ball and we’d be mad to let him rot on the bench as you suggest. Instead we must utilise his unique skill set. We’re demanding too much from, completely relying on him to play the final ball. He needs support from the other midfielders.
Come on man, he had six or five shots at least and not one of them in target and for his passing skills he sucks. He always delays the game somehow. Like one interista brother said we need someone like Sneijder who can open the game with the first touch of the ball not like Hernanes who crowds himself and in the end does nothing.
The midfielder’s duty is not only to shot every time he gets the ball it’s feeding attackers with passes. And as for our recent form we have been winning only in the last two games so its not that he did some wonder. Even Lazio and teams like Genoa have had a better winning streak than us.
You keep referencing the number of missed shots against Chievo, as though it’s representative of his usual performance. It was an exception. We struggled to unpack a regimented Chievo with 8 men behind the ball, and were ultimately resigned to difficult, long-range, low-odds shots executed with little space. Naturally, the accuracy of these types of shots will be far less than usual.
Even a player of Sneijders quality, left to himself, would have struggled to find incisive passes to our forwards against Chievo. What was needed was a more dynamic, cohesive midfield effort, where all 4 mids worked together to stretch the Chievo bus to find an opening for Palacio or Icardi to fill. Instead we persisted with the ‘counter’-oriented yet slow style of build-up play which ultimately left Hernanes with too much to do. We became too predictable and suffered as a result.
A player with Sneijder’s quality would have broken their defense somehow, either with scoring or assisting. My point is that Hernanes was wasteful in the ball, he didn’t do anything productive with it. He was going all on his own and sucked at it.
I think it’s a shame to even mention Sneijder with Hernanes in the same sentence. I never was optimist when we bought him and it turned out that i was right. I got my hopes a bit high these last games about him yet he managed to prove me wrong.
Like we said above Inter needs a player in Medel’s position. That can play defense and start actions really fast cause as u said we indeed are a man short in attack with Medel. And also we need a midfielder who can pull the strings of the game. Kovacic could be like that tho he is taking too much time to mature. :/
Sell icardi? are you mad bro lol?.. he is the youngest player to be competing for the top scorer in Serie A. Dybala is good but not 50mill worth, even so icardi is definitely more proven player than him.
For this match specifically, inter needed 4 attacking players as seen in a 4-2-3-1. The three players behind the striker and the striker himself, will present more attacking force into a defensive team like chievo. So if one or even two players out of the attack were not in the game or out of form, then the other 2 might be in it. Its basically more options and more possibilities of scoring. To be honest, i cant wait for this season to end and get players needed for a more competitive inter.
I totally accept Icardi is way a more proven player than Dybala but what i’m saying that Icardi will always miss a key pas in every game if not more. Key passes that could win us games.
Even the best attackers are known for setting up chances when them their selves are too behind the goal or are crowded. But Icardi always manages to waste chances, look at the one versus Juve, versus Roma,versus Udinese and now with Chievo.
With his money we could get some top proven expert, even someone like Benzema. Imagine that and now Benzema is a joy to have in the team because if u have watched him carefully play, he doesn’t only score goals but almost in every game he starts an action or assists. Being an attacker means u have to sacrifice sometimes, cause the defenders keep an eye on you and then come the wingers and the attacking midfielders and BOOOM they score.
I agree also with the formation, he should have gone all in like against Roma since we don’t have anything to lose except we have everything to win.
very very good analysis!! My memory does not serve me well in which match this happened, but I have seen icardi this year with glimpses of starting an attack in one or two matches. Although your absolutely right he does not have the experience to give those key passes, or maybe does not attain the vision. Osvaldo is the player who had that vision, I’m sure you remember kovacic impeccable lob-goal. That pass osvaldo served kovacic is intelligent in so many levels,but mainly it tricked opposing team and gave right amount of space for kova.
Of course i remember it 😀 This is exactly what i was trying to point out. I didn’t even have to mention Benzema at all when we had Osvaldo which we all have seen him playing.
An attacker has to have those qualities, it is a must. All great attackers had them. The brazilian Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Milito and lots of others.
Glad we worked this out 😀
Forza Inter !!
Benzema is more creative player than Icardi, no doubt about it. But he wasted much more chances than Icardi. Task number one for every number nine is to score, not to create chances for his teammates. For that part every team have midfielders and wingers. Benzema is 27 and have 15 goals in Primera Division, playing for one of the strongest offensive teams in the world Real Madrid. Icardi is 22 and have 18 goals in Serie A, playing for terrible Inter with defensive minded coach like Mancini. Meanwhile Benzema have 10 assists, Icardi 5! And if you believe that there’s 1% chance Benzema to leave semifinalists in Champions League Real Madrid, to playing only in Serie A with Inter and cut a few times his huge salary, must be huge daydreamer!
I was not saying he was going to come in the summer, i was saying that if we get a nice offer for Icardi we should sell him because he is not that God u making him to be.
Benzema has played for Real Madrid 279 games and has a total of 133 goals that means he barely had two games in a row without scoring, the stats tell that not me.
Look also at his overall stats with 447 played and 214 goals which still means what i said above.
And yes he plays for one of the strongest sides in the world but he has C.Ronaldo for which the whole team plays. And believe me he doesn’t waste chances more than Icardi. Icardi’s conversion rate is awful.
If Icardi had a better conversion rate he would have solved a lot of games for us. And don’t forget the whole game is concentrated on him meaning that he gotta use his chances well or create chances for others.
Just watch the game against Roma he at least had 4 chances and then he scored. Even I with that number of chances eventually would score. He is good, he perhaps can be better but he ain’t that outstanding attacker all making him to be, not now at least. Even Dybala gets more interest from other teams than him. Come on guys !!!
If Icardi was this good, we would be hearing about offers going only higher and higher but he’s not so deal with it.
Seems like he is relieved with not playing in Europe next season, so he can focus 100% on the league. I agree. We don’t need Europe next season – as well as for the sake of not thinking about FFP
Except we need money from it. And at least EL to increase the chance to attract good payer
yeah
This Inter needs a player who could pass. Kind like Sneijder
Amin to that brother, we really need that most than anything.
Oh Sneijder! I miss him so much but who knows maybe Kova can get his place on the team
It’s not Kova, but Guarin!!!
Kovacic is lack of shoot power as well as passes. Inter need a player like Mario Gotze or Juan Mata.
mancini is delusional in a sense , current form matters and guarin brozovic are not in a good form . and also when did we attack in the middle ? it seems that our formation is a 4-1-3-2 rather a 4-3-1-2 . no penetration in the middle of the field and overlapping and underlapping runs and slow build up .
how can you break up a 8 man defense having no movement in the box ?
and i expect you to field the best possible 11 againts Chievo. given how inconsistent Serie A teams are this season no one can blame Mazzarri if we won’t reach any of the european spots, it is all mancini’s fault who had many many opportunites to live with, yet he failed – as always
I’m not defending mancini but honestly 4/24 shots on target really sounds like the players suck…
well, that is his fault aswell in my view. Palacio -apart from 3-4 good games in March- is a deadweight this season, i like his mentality but he can miss anything this season, so first of all i’d bench him and give regular playing time to Puscas/Bonazzoli
then there’s JJ as left back, he already tried Campagnaro as RB, what the flying fuck is wrong with this guy?
Guarin can do anything on the pitch, he is going to be in the starting 11, no matter what. Gnoukouri did very well (given his age and experience) againts Milan and Roma, then he’s out of the team becauase Medel is back – like he’s any better compared to the youngster
and i don’t even start with the Kova/Shaqiri situation, i see from time to time many ppl ‘attack’ Kova because of his attitude but for the love of god, he won’t do a miracle in 15 minutes, and i totally can get why he seems frustrated (not to mention the kid has more skill than the whole squad combined) – same goes for Shaqiri
so after all, in some way 4/24 shots on target is Mancini’s fault, because the players on the pitch think they can do whatever they want without punishment (=finding themselves out of the starting 11), and he clearly can’t motivate the team againts ‘smaller’ sides
and btw, who the hell is Sylvinho? i mean i know who he is, but why on earth is he our assistant manager? there’s just so many things wrong with this team i could write my dissertation about it
Lol I never said I was defending mancini… Sadly I couldn’t see the game because of college. I think mancini’s biggest mistake was the midfield -obviously that trio (guarin brozo and medel) are just possession with no attacking prowess.. shaq has been going through a rough time so I understand why mancio isn’t using him but NOT using Kova and gnou is the biggest problem. I read an article on santon from two weeks before is that he has been having physical problems which is not surprising because he has been playing non stop ever since coming back from that injury in the BPL
“Today may have been a bad day but the team did what the had to do and I cannot complain.”today we had a bad day???how about 5 bad years??only 4 shots on target and you cannot complain???i must go and check my eyes,because it seems that i and mancini didnt see same match
Don’t wonder, Mancini is happy when we somehow manage to not concede. We desperately needed win against ten mens defending Chievo, but he starts with Juan as a left back, defensive minded Medel, Brozovic and Guarin and only one Icardi in the box.
That’s what is really freaking me out!!!!