This Sunday 14 February 2016 Inter travel to Florence and the Stadio Artemio Franchi to take on Fiorentina in a crucial clash in the race for Champions League qualification (kick off 20:45CET).
Inter come into this game on the back of dropping two points last weekend away at Serie A’s bottom club Hellas Verona in a 3-3 draw. It’s hard to know where to start about the negatives in the game, it was that bad but I will start with the goals conceded by Inter which all came from set plays and it seemed like the Nerazzurri really missed Joao Miranda, who was suspended, for his awareness and instruction when it comes to zonal marking.
Also evident is that midfielder Felipe Melo is a red card waiting to happen every time he plays so it’s a good thing that he misses this game against one of his former clubs due to suspension.
Inter really need a new defensive midfielder at the club as Marcelo Brozovic and Geoffrey Kondogbia don’t cover the defence quite like Gary Medel does, not only that but the Croatian and Frenchman are better going forward. It really does beg the question, will Assane Gnoukouri ever get a chance?
Another negative remains the Nerazzurri’s delivery from wide areas with Alex Telles and Yuto Nagatomo particularly poor with their crossing in Verona.
The one shred of positivity from the game was Inter’s character in coming from 3-1 down to get the draw, compared to previous years were the Nerazzurri would have lost the game.
The result against Hellas has put to bed Inter’s outside chances of winning the Scudetto however there is a major fight going on for the last Champions League qualification place with Fiorentina(3rd), Inter(4th) and now Roma(5th) separated by just two points coming into this weekend’s round of fixtures.
Inter are missing continuity in their performances and against a rival in Fiorentina, Roberto Mancini and his players will know there is no place for mistakes as this is a must win match if the Nerazzurri are to get out of their slump and challenge for Europe.
Paulo Sousa’s Fiorentina come into this game unbeaten in their last four Serie A games (two wins, two draws) including last time out against derby rivals Bologna 1-1 after having Mati Fernandez sent off for two avoidable bookings.
As well as things have went so far on the pitch for La Viola, off the pitch Paulo Sousa has had a spat with the clubs owners this week over their transfer strategy during the Winter mercato with crunch talks to take place in the lead up to this game.
After thrashing Inter earlier this season 1-4 at the San Siro, the Florentines will fancy their chances of getting maximum points again against a Nerazzurri side that haven’t won in Florence since 2014.
Here is the Inter team news and probable line up as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport at the time of writing this article:
Samir Handanovic starts in goal with Danilo D’Ambrosio on the right. In central defence Joao Miranda returns from suspension to partner Jeison Murillo with Yuto Nagatomo favoured over Alex Telles at left back.
There are two plans for the formation the team will take. If Marcelo Brozovic starts then Inter will use a 4-3-3 formation with Gary Medel and Geoffrey Kondogbia alongside the Croatian in midfield.
If Brozovic starts on the bench then there will be space for Jonathan Biabiany on the right alongside Medel and Kondogbia in the central positions with Ivan Perisic on the left in a 4-4-2 shape.
In a 4-4-2 Inter would start the striking partnership of Eder alongside Mauro Icardi. In the 4-3-3 formation Eder would play on the right with Perisic on the left with Icardi in the central striking role.
Probable Inter line up (subject to change): (4-4-2) Handanovic; D’Ambrosio, Miranda, Murillo, Nagatomo; Biabiany, Melo, Kondogbia, Perisic; Eder Icardi(c).
Bench: Berni, Carrizo, Juan Jesus, Telles, Santon, Brozovic, Gnoukouri, Zonta, Palacio, Ljajic, Jovetic, Manaj.
Some Stats:
Inter have faced Fiorentina in Florence on 78 occasions in the Serie A records with La Viola leading the stats with 27 wins to the Nerazzurri’s 19 wins with 32 matches drawn.
In the overall Serie A records (home & away), Inter lead the stats with 65 wins to Fiorentina’s 42 wins with 50 of the 157 matches between the sides drawn.
Inter’s last win against Fiorentina came on 15 February 2014 at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in a 1-2 success with goals from Palacio and Icardi.
Since that Inter win however Fiorentina have won their last three games against the Nerazzurri.
After going through half of the season without conceding a headed goal, Inter have now conceded 4 headed goals in their last three games.
Player to Watch: Samir Handanovic – Inter’s player of the season so far. The Slovenian will be fired up for this game as he looks to make up for his performance against the hosts earlier in the season.
My Prediction: Fiorentina 1-1 Inter
Scorers: Bernadeschi(Fiorentina), Eder(Inter)
Officials: Referee: Paolo Mazzoleni Assistants: Costanzo, Passeri
Fourth Official: Dobosz Additional Assistants: Celi, Mariani
Author’s Note: Despite my prediction of a draw both sides will be doing their utmost to win this game with a resurgent Roma under Luciano Spalletti starting to pressure Inter and Fiorentina for third place. Inter’s problem will be stopping La Viola from scoring as the Nerazzurri have conceded eight goals in their last three matches against Fiorentina. However I do have a feeling that Inter could spring a surprise here.
Forza Inter!
Rodrigo Palacio better not be starting!
I don’t see a positive result from this coming. I fear we will be battered and bruised this game to go along with the batterings we’ve already been taking. I’m intrigued to see a 4-2-3-1 formation with the usual suspects in defence (Nagatomo Miranda Murillo Telles) Medel and Melo at CDM and, a front 4 of Jovetic at CAM, Ljajic and Eder out wide and Icardi at ST. Jovetic is a trequartista and can be fantastic starting the plays from deep. Eder, Ljajic and Jovetic can all cause some damage and a rotation between the 3 of them behind Icardi through out the game will keep the opposition defence on their toes. Aside from that, I see a draw if we are lucky. Fiorentina are in form and we seem to be suffering from the 2nd half of the season syndrome like 2012-2013 and 2013-2014.
Inter1- fiorentina 0 a goal by icardi. Forza inter
4:4:2 is a good choice.
Peresic and Biabiny on the sides would have to work like robots to help choke Fiorentina.
Not to mention the central defenders and midfielders will have to be ruthless.
Eder and Icardi will be good for a goal.
Borja! Shut him down.
I pray for good counter attacks, because fio will be dominating this game..
I’m Waiting mancini magic(lucky) here.
I hope we get it back but I think the team did very well at the 1st half of the season but now they lack confidence from losing. A win today will change the rest of the season in terms of mentality.
Milan won, we won’t make EL..
pray how much u like but borja-ilicic are too clever for our players 2-0 fiorantina next for EL and mancini out
Hopefully we can win this match !!!
FORZA INTER!
Inter Win 2-1
I pray for the wi tonight…Roma already won their game and are in front of us for now,Milan is leading against Genoa and are now just 2 points behind…if we are to start wining it must be tonight..
no ljajic and melo in starting 11 again….mancini super vision…
that’s not the official line up.. it’s just some prediction from the author..^^
It’s clearly labelled as a probable line-up subject to change from la gazzetta dello sport at the time of writing 🙂
Melo is suspended
I m sure inter win, without the twin M, melo mancini 😀
Fio-Int 3:1 (hope Im wrong)
i doubt we can score even once because we lack creativity….but otherwise i also think we will loose….maybe 1:0 or 2:0 three will be too much but if we receive another red card who knows maybe even more than 3…
What would the aftermath be if we lose, the pessimism of interisti is already terrible
not anopther 3 again please be positive if all inter fans like this then it’s thoughts become power and become reality we should think positive
I was almost right. When I look how we play I cannot be positive.
even our players didn’t think positive
i pray to the football gods to please let inter win today
they(football gods) help us a lot till now, mancio was so lucky in first half of the season so i think that whats happening to us now is well deserved… we cant continue playing without clear idea and aim to win the game without even create a clear opportunity to score, so far we win with 1:0 just because we defend ourself and wait for mistake to the opponent which is pathetic having in mind that we even defend ourself against small teams!!! we are missing Good coach…u cant put four attacking minded players and say we are gonna play attacking football if u dont train that ,we all saw what was the outcome from his decisions!!! he do that because we all blame his 4defenders and 3 dcm lineup so he decide to put more attacking players and same shit happened…he will not leave at the end of the season we will fire him and have to him the compensation again which is shame having in mind our financial situation which is terrible and we are desperate for money… since trohir arrival we doubled our debt…. the debt of inter only to trohir is more than 100mln….
4-4-2
Handa
Santon-Murillo-Miranda-Telles
Perisic-Medel-Kondo-Ljajic
Icardi-Eder
Perisic shoukd stay super sub I think, that’s what he’s best for I feel
Also naga should start, sounds crazy but he’s been decent
Maybe he can take santon’s place, but I don’t want to see Telles on the bench.
Yeah at right back, if santon was in form then he should play but not after the performance in the derby. Telles of course
http://outside90.com/inter-a-team-lacking-identity-and-direction-under-mancini212/
Inter a team lacking identity and direction under Mancini
Inter lacking direction under current boss
did we have identity before this under mazzari?gasperini?benitez? we lost our identity since 2011
yes, but is NOT AN EXCUSE FOR MANCINI.
the coaches you named didn’t work two years in inter without any result and the most important _
THEIR WISHES FOR BRINGING NEW PLAYERS WERE NOT FULFILLED by cheater moratti as mancini’s wishes have been respected _ he has been given players according to his “plan” and we can see he has no plan at all, only confusion in his behavior.
We won against Napoli, we can win against Viola too.
We also lost 3-0 to Juventus, MILAN ffs, and 4-1 to Viola. Anything can happen. We can win with comfort like vs Napoli in the cup, but if we fail, we usually crumble hard, like 3-0 hard.
melo, melo, melo, melo …….
that can only mean;
kalinic 2 goals.
it’s about UCL or EL we should fight and win this game with “over my dead body” mentality and please bench that drunk gambler guy whos trying to be new stankovic but ended up as new guarin
LOL..XD.. he’s in his bad period..^^
guaro not as bad as he
We will never reach CL unless Mancini stops with his tactical confusion. The team is new it´s true but it doesnt help changing formations and players every game. As a coach you have to have a fixed starting eleven and one base formation. You cannot just shift from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 to 4-2-3-1 and changing 4 to 5 new players for every match. Look at Napoli for an example. Sarri plays exact same team and formation (4-3-3) all the time and same for Juve (3-5-2). Everyone knows who will start for this teams. We only have had 4 regulars (Handa, Miranda, Murillo and Medel) and now lately Icardi too. And the worst part is he thinks he is such a tactical genius during press conferences when reporters ask him please name 5 players who will start the game. And he always says Handanovic, Murillo, Miranda and Medel. He only changes the fifth player. Sometimes he says Ljajic, sometimes Perisic lol.
lmao jubbe played 4-4-2 last night
Cause he is out of CBs my friend. Both Chiellini and Caceres are out injured. He was forced to change.
Melo is suspended for this game.
The difference between inter and Roma or firenze is: Inter draws carpi and hellas where others win that Matches..the First Season half made us believe Inter is stable but we forget this Team is 90% new..
someone who make it unstable is mancini himself. always win one goal and stay as capolista in half season remain a mistery how it could happened. maybe the true antagonist for inter is lazio.