As the dust settles from the fallout of last week’s controversial Derby D’Italia, the Nerazzurri come back home to host struggling Empoli this afternoon.
Stefano Pioli will rue the fact that while this might have seemed like a straightforward match at home, it’s become complicated due to the suspensions of Mauro Icardi and Ivan Perisic. Despite the squad’s depth being sufficient to cope with the absences, it is always less than ideal to step on the pitch without your two best attacking threats.
It will be interesting to see what mentality Pioli will try and instil in his players; hopefully we can see the high intensity and aggression that’s marked Pioli’s Inter without any impatience or edginess as a hangover from last week.
Team News
Dominating the headlines will be the suspensions of Icardi and Perisic, and while the Italian press expect Rodrigo Palacio and Eder to be straight swapped in, fans of Gabigol won’t be too wishful if they want to see the Brazilian starlet make an appearance in some capacity during the match.
Probable Inter line-up (4-2-3-1): Handanovic; Ansaldi, Miranda, Murillo, D’Ambrosio; Kondogbia, Gagliardini; Candreva, Banega, Eder, Palacio (C).
Stats
Last Season: Inter 2-1 Empoli
Last 10 Head to Head: Inter have beaten Empoli in eight out of their last ten league meetings. The last time Empoli managed to get the better of the Nerazzurri was way back in April of 2006.
Player to Watch
Joao Miranda: known to be one of the de facto leaders in the squad, lots will be resting on the veteran Brazilian’s shoulders this week, not only in marshalling the defence, but also that his teammates put the Juve loss and its aftermath behind them.
Officials
Referee: Domenico Celi
Assistants: Dobosz, Schenone
Fourth Official: Crispo
Additional Assistants: Doveri, Di Paolo
Prediction & Authors Note
Prediction & scorers: Inter 2-0 Empoli with Eder and Barbosa scoring.
Author’s Note: the best case scenario in this game will be a professional no-nonsense display where Inter show maturity and the right mentality to compete at the highest level. A clean sheet will also be a very important accomplishments.
I love Eder, forever Eder forza Eder.
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It will be 3-4-2-1. Handa, murillo, medel, miranda, candreva, gaglia, kondo, dambro, jmario, eder and palacio
No I really don’t think so… it’ll be 4-2-3-1 with Kondogbia and Gagliardini in the middle and Mario in front and Eder on the left and Candreva on the right and Pala on top…. maranda and Mendel at t
why do u hate gabriel?
Don’t think he hates him, but Gabi really showed much the few minutes he have played – at least not when it comes to play at the top alone… Pinamonti should play in stead of him if it comes down a choice between them over Palacio!
dude..i was kidding ….i was just asking a silly question like some noobs always expecting Gabriel play even when he’s not ready
Oh okay – my bad!
I dont hate gabriel. Why would i hate him? He didnt even have enough game time. How can i hate someone who doesnt even show his skill
Wow, now it’s official! How did you know?
terrible prediction , WE ARE NOT CONCEDING ANY GOAL!
Barbosa scoring? Nice prediction.
lol ya, he will probably get 5 minutes of playing time if he is lucky.
Its much more important to give old man Palacio and that useless fvck Eder playing time, than to develop and give match practice to a 30m€ investment.
Mindblowing stuff really. Its Empoli at San Siro ffs, its the perfect chance to play some youngsters.
Its not like Eder and Palacio are guarantees for goals anyways. Eder has 4 goals 1500+ serie A minutes for Inter since joining for crying out load.
Agreed.
We already made mistake. If 2 coaches said he is not ready probably he is just average player. We shouldnt buy him in the first place when we failed to land g. Jesus. 28 mil go away just like that when we could invest that money to get 2 good fbs
3 coaches (de Boer, Vecchi – who could have played him without any one questioning him because he was only a stand in) and Pioli…
Enough with your ridiculous strawman conclusions dude.
Not playing in one game with Vecchi is hardly relevant to anything.
Just pointing out hat it has been 3 coaches that hasn’t played the boy and seen him in training at an everyday training basic and none of them has wanted to give him playing time – he arrived in August and now, in the middle of February he still hasn’t played more than 35 minutes; conclusion: just not good enough!
He will never be “ready” if he doesnt get any playing time. Remember Coutinho? We are talking about a 20 year old player here who has played 35 serie a minutes, yet you are already making silly conclusions.
Pioli has the pressure of reaching the CL (which is far fetched anyways), thats why he wants to rely on experience, which in most circumstances is understandable and logical.
But in this case, that logic is completely misplaced as Eder and Palacio are terrible players who by no means are guarantees for goals. There is no reason not to give Gabigol or even Pinamonti a start since the experienced alternatives are simply just so bad.
I dont know man. Pioli is the coach. He knows the best for the team. If he still doesnt give him enough playing time i think there is something about it. Just my opinion though
Eder is not useless
I think he will after 60 minutes of agony with Palacio up front
Pala will work his and the defenders socks off and then when they are tired Gabi could enter…