Keep in mind Johonna’s post about upcoming games this week that include our nearest and dearest in International games.

I wanted to post this sometime before our first game this season but with all the bruahaha over the market, there were bigger stories. With the International break here, now seems like a better time.

We are on the eve of Moratti’s 13th year anniversary as President of Inter. Considering the relative longevity of his term as president (Only one president has more tenure than Moratti, Fraizzoli had 16 seasons under his belt) and the historical season that is continuing for Inter, I thought that a brief look at Inter’s biggest supporter’s time with the club would be in order.

Like the song says, you have to love the insanity that surrounds this club and Massimo Moratti has made it his dream to return this club to the glory of his father’s era in the late 1950s and almost through the 1960s. The era was known as La Grande Inter and Massimo was in his teens for most of it and it made quite an impression on him. Massimo was so enamored that many of those ex-Inter players were part of the club as scouts, directors and advisors for Massimo including the incomparable Giacinto Facchetti.

Massimo had a slow but steep learning curve as he slowly got a handle running the team and he faced several huge stumbling blocks in the road to his goals. I don’t want to go over his entire life in this article, but I thought that brief overview of his time as captain of the FC Inter might be in order considering the incredible amount of change and sensational history that has passed since Moratti took over in 1995.

Abandoned Hope Ye Who Were Supporters 1990 – 1994

The late 1980s saw Inter’s win a Scudetto after a relatively long period of good league but not quite good enough results. The early 1990s saw Inter reach 2nd place in Serie A early on and 2 UEFA Cup victories but storm clouds were looming on the horizon.

In 1993-1994 Inter finished 1 single point from relegation with 31 points (wins were 2 points and Inter still made the UEFA Cup as defending Champions). 1994-1995 saw Inter in 6th place barely making the UEFA Cup again. Ernesto Pellegrini “resigned” as president and Moratti took his place in the hope of injecting some optimism and cash in a club that not only saw it’s league position dip but also saw it’s richer cousins on top of the mountain.

It certainly didn’t hurt that Moratti promised to bring his wealth to bear on the team and his personality as a rabid fan/kind, rich uncle helped to repair the damaged relationship with the fans early on.

Hell 1995 – 2002

Net Spending: 335 million €
Key Players Brought In: Javier Zanetti, Zamorano, Djorkaeff, Recoba, Roberto Baggio, Adrian Mutu, Ivan Cordoba, Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Clarence Seedorf, Marco Materazzi, Goran Pandev and Francesco Toldo
Managers: Suarez (95), Hodgson (95-97), Castellini (97), Simoni (97-98), Lucescu (98-99), Hodgson (99), Lippi (99-00), Tardelli (00-01), Cuper (01-
League Position: 1995 – 7th, 1996 – 3rd, 1997 – 2nd, 1998 – 8th, 1999 – 4th, 2000 – 5th, 2001 – 3rd

The first thing that Moratti did was to inject an incredible amount of wealth into the club. Within these 6 seasons inter spent a net 335m € on transfers. This amount will account for over 85% of the net spending by the club for the 15 seasons of Moratti’s presidency present season included.

I included the names of key players that were acquired so that we can see where the money went – namely Baggio, Vieri, Seedorf and Ronaldo. Also we can see the sheer number of managers that the club went through. All in all 9 changes were made at Manager. This also would account for the bulk of the managerial changes that were made at the club. It should be noted that although the club didn’t win a Scudetto in this period, the relative position of the team did improve compared to previous seasons. In fact in the 1997-1998 Inter were the top of the table in April until a match with Juventus – complete with dodgy calls that solidified the belief of widespread Juvetus wrong doing in many players and fans – sent Inter to second place. Marco Tardelli would go down in Inter history for the worst home loss ever 0-6 to Milan with teenager Frey (Yes, THAT Frey) in goal.

Inter would win another UEFA Cup in this period (The winning goal in the final from Javier Zanetti), place runner up for the Super Coppa (ie lose the game) and Coppa Italia (ie ditto) to the same team, Lazio.

At this time in the team’s history I remember everything being very chaotic. Decisions were made to go one way and then very quickly things were scrapped and restarted in a new direction. As an outsider it always seemed to me, and I have no evidence of this, that Moratti had surrounded himself with his boyhood heroes to help him run the team. That is, that he had a group of ex-players making suggestions and he had to wade through the politics a bit. It also didn’t help that Moratti was trained in the business world, and football isn’t really a business at all yet – I would read the excellent but at flawed and anglo-centric book Socernomics for more on this topic – especially at that time. It’s getting a little better now, but back then, especially in Italy, football was where presidents donated huge sums of money and preached glory to their fans. Moratti had jumped into the deep end and needed help navigating the waters. Fortunately, help would come.

Purgatory 2002-2004

Net Spending: Profit of +2.6m €
Key Players: Fabio Cannavarro, Christiano Zanetti, Adriano, Cruz, Stankovic
Managers: Cuper (-03), Verdelli (03), Zacceroni (03-04)
League Position: 2002 – 2nd, 2003 – 4th

Hector Cuper is the Manager that started to bring all the money players that Moratti was assembling into a semblance of a team. The main indicator that the team was fundamentally better can be seen in the amount of money NOT spent in this time period. The team was considered good enough to compete and as it can be seen above, it did. In Cuper’s hands the team did no worse than third. Unfortunately for Cuper, he was in charge of the May 5, 2002 (2001 – 2002 season) game at Lazio. That day’s games would decide the Scudetto for 3 teams: Inter in the pole position, Roma and Juventus. Inter would lose 4-2 to Lazio under baffling circumstances and finished the season in 3rd place. Cuper would guide Inter to a distant 2nd in the next season and then be fired a few games into the next season.

Fan complaints and protests were at an incredible high with no help from Christian Vieri, who protested his unhappiness on the team by refusing to celebrate goals. To placate the crowds Moratti stepped down as President in 2004 and anointed fan favorite Giacinto Facchetti as the leader of the team. As the new President, Giacinto took over running the team -at least on the face of things – and allowed Moratti the chance to step back and watch a “football guy” do the job that he took over in 1995. Giacinto was probably more hands off than Moratti was, but Facchetti made the running of the team a four person task (Facchetti, Moratti, Oriali and Branca) not a hundred person tug of war.

While all of this is going on, the team that had been at the top of the Serie A heap in the latter stages of the 1990s and the beginning of the 200s was falling apart at the seams. Juventus had in 2002 been on trial for doping its players with PEDs after a comment by then Roma manager Zeman started an investigation into the team. The team itself escaped sentencing by a technicality (a team doctor would take the fall) but the judge handling the case was incensed at this result. Soon after the trial ended, that same judge would hear wire tap evidence during a Mafia case mention Juventus director Luciano Moggi as an associate and would authorize an investigation into the team again.

Paradise 2004-2010

Net Spending: 43.1m €
Key Players: Burdisso, Cambiasso, Veron, Figo, Cesar, Mihajlovic, Samuel, Crespo, Ibrahimovic, Maicon, Maxwell, Vieira, Balotelli, Chivu, Muntari, Santon, Milito, Motta, Eto’o, Lucio, Sneijder
Managers: Mancini (04 – 08), Mourinho (08-10)
League Position: 2004 – 3rd, 2005 – 3rd*1st, 2006 – 1st, 2007 – 1st, 2008 – 1st, 2009 – 1st, 2010 – 1st

In 2004 things at Inter were definitely on the upswing. Inter would finish 3rd in the League and capture it’s first domestic Cup since the 1989 SuperCoppa. In 2005 they would do all it again – finishing 3rd and winning the Coppa. They would win the SuperCoppe that accompanied those honors.

Then in the spring/summer after the 2005 – 2006 season all hell broke loose. Accusations against Juventus not playing by the rules had been building since the late 90s but between the last stages of the season and the beginning of the World Cup, Newspapers were running with wiretap transcriptions that showed an incredible amount of – not permitted – influence that the Juventus director Luciano Moggi had over every aspect of Italian football – from television producers at TV stations down to referees in a secret phone network.

More importantly, Giacinto Facchetti lay on his death bed as pancreatic cancer had ravaged his 6 foot plus frame. The man that many had come to think of as the Savior of Inter was dead by September of 2006. Around his calm death bed the Inter family held vigil as the hurricane of accusation and embarrassment circulated the sport. The focus of the storm was clearly Juventus but as other team names came up there was a call for someone from Inter to step up and answer questions regarding the team. Early in the proceedings Moratti gave an interview that probably saved the team from any sort of taint of Calciopoli at the time. In the interview he was honest and clear about referee designator contact (there was some, but it was for information on the next crew, complaining about the last crew or friendly conversation) and referee gifts (as in Christmas gifts, usually a ham or something edible to the crew who worked your stadium). In short, he acted like the President of Inter again in public.

As the aftermath of the points deduction hit, he ruthlessly took advantage of his rivals poor luck/rightfully gained penalties and bought their talented young forward (just what Inter lacked at the time was a young partner for Adriano) who had a falling out with Juventus management in January, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Once Inter started winning domestic titles again Moratti turned his attention to the dream of winning the Champions League. Once thought nearly impossible when he started his journey, it now became the obsession. But Mancini, who was managing the upswing of Inter before the scandals hit, was disappointing in the Champions League. Fatally, for his job, he let the frustration of losing in the round of 16 again get to him and he quit his job at the press conference after the loss to Liverpool. He then pulled a George Costanza and walked into work again the next day. Moratti had seen enough and showing some on the job maturity, waited until after the season was over to sack Mancini.

Mancini’s downfall was probably a 40-60 percentage respectively of the poor Champion’s League showing and the lack of testicular fortitude shown during the “I quit” interview. The chaotic and at times volcanic dressing room probably didn’t hurt, either.

Moratti welcomed his new Manager by spending more on transfers (@50m €) than he had since the 2001 – 2002 season. Mourinho, by the time he was done, rewarded the faith shown to him by winning Serie A twice, the Coppa Italia, the SuperCoppa twice and the Champions League.

Rafa, it seems whether he wants to or not, is destined to begin the next (Last?) era in Moratti’s stewardship: Financial Rehabilitation.

FORZA INTER

The day before this game I wondered aloud about how I should approach this game. It wasn’t quite a friendly… but for all intents and purposes it was. The results of this game had no bearing on anything else we would do this season and unlike the Italian SuperCoppa, it wasn’t a team that we have a history with, so there wasn’t even that motivation. Worst of all, it came right after Cesar, Maicon, Sneijder and Milito won very prestigious awards. Without knowing absolutely, I bet that there was a lot of celebrating and feeling satisfied – two deadly things for a member of Inter, just ask Adriano.

What I am going to do is try to find some meaning from the game last night for me, assuming that we were trying to play the game as one in which the objective was to win and not use as a training period or an exhibition.

Il Brutto

Since 2004 when Mancini took over Inter, the team has been more than passing familiar with the 4312 formation. You wouldn’t know it from last night. Inter still has the perfect midfield personnel for that formation: Muntari, Cambiasso and Zanetti. You can put Mariga in there. You can put Obi in there too. One of the worst players on our roster you can put in the holding midfielder role is Stankovic. It has been done, but I never liked it and I never thought that it was effective. Stankovic has been an attacking midfielder his whole career with the exception of emergency duty. You can put him in the “1” spot as was done 2 seasons ago. He wasn’t great at it but he was adequate. You can put him in the outside of the 4231. The real problem with using Stankovic is that he’s lost a step just about every season he’s been with us. At 32 (as of this September 11th), his skill and considerable guts may no longer be able to conceal the fact that, at the very least, the World Cup took a huge toll out of him. At the worst, he’s finally hit the wall. This isn’t one preseason game talking. Last season it became obvious that he was the starting choice less and less often.

Which brings us to Chivu. Let’s not mince words here. Chivu was awful. He couldn’t pass. He couldn’t trap the ball. He was late reacting to the ball and for someone without great speed that proved fatal on a couple of occaisons. Basic stuff was suddenly too much for him. I am not Chivu’s biggest fan at fullback, but I understand that pickings are slim there. However, it is my firm belief that if Chivu stays with this team going forward, his future isn’t at fullback, it is in the center either backing up Samuel and Lucio or replacing one of them one day. Chivu doesn’t have the speed for fullback. He doesn’t have the technical ability for fullback. He doesn’t have the ability to work in space on his own as a fullback. We have a legend that made his name at fullback. Javier Zanetti may have lost a bit of speed over the last 15 seasons (and he was never a blazer to start with) but he has the other characteristics that Chivu lacks. If it looked like Chivu was having an off night – and he was having a terrible game last night from the opening whistle – I don’t see why that change isn’t made at half time. I didn’t see why it took so long to make a change at all.

Il Cattivo

Which brings us to Rafa. First I want to say that as far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on Rafa. I don’t watch the EPL and frankly I don’t trust a whole lot of what the “EPL experts” say about players and managers. So, over the whole season I will make up my own mind about Rafa. I know that there are those of you who have watched him at Liverpool and I respect your opinion on him, but I want to make up my own mind about him.

Anyhoo, I’ll list how I feel about the Manager’s performance:

1. I could have understood how we might have approached this game as a way to get players who weren’t used in the Italian SuperCoppa 5 days before some work. It would have rested the group that played Roma – which I would have argued was the strongest available for the game against Bologna – and it would have allowed us to see how Mariga, Obi, Biabiany and Coutinho can handle themselves in a Europe like match.

2. I also could have understood how we might have approached this game with all guns blazing. It’s the only European trophy that we don’t have. It would have been nice to look good in front of other countries, especially after we took so many honors individually at the drawing on Thursday. Plus, it sends a message, that we aren’t taking life easy now that we have accomplished a goal that eluded us for so long.

3. But we didn’t do any of that. I don’t think that the team prepared as well as they could have if this game was something that they thought they NEEDED to win. And 3 days before we start the most competitive league in the Big 5 Championships in Europe we were pissing away the energy and the morale of the very group that we are expecting to be up and raring to go on Monday Night. It just doesn’t make sense to me.

What’s interesting is what he will do now. If this were our old manager he would make a comment in earshot of a microphone to get the attention on him and save the players from having the pressure and glare on their shoulders.

It’ll be interesting to see how Rafa handles this.

Il Buono

Unfortunately this is the smallest section. The Good of last night consists of one and a half men: Samuel Eto’o and Maicon. Samuel Eto’o was the best player on the field for us last night. He dropped back into the midfield to get the ball when he wasn’t getting service. He took defenders on and he made some very nice chances out of absolutely nothing. If there is one player on this team who made it out of the World Cup with their desire still attached it is Samuel Eto’o, who perhaps feels that he hasn’t been the overpowering player in the last 12 months that he has been for the great majority of his career. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and it goeth before the fall of man, but it’s a great motivator for a football player.

Maicon, perhaps for the same reasons that Eto’o has come back raring to go, had a pretty good game. He went forward well and was the catalyst for most of the paltry few attacks that we managed to scrape together. I don’t see him as fault for either of the goals but he needs to step up the intensity.

Honorable mention goes to Goran Pandev, who when he came in was actually proactive and able to complete a pass or two. He also managed to hold onto the ball long enough to get a penalty called for us. That it was poorly taken and saved isn’t his fault.

For A Few Dollars More

Inter may have performed a minor miracle and squeezed more than a nickel out of Roma. After months of repeating the price for the centerback/fullback and an offer from at least one other source, it finally dawned on the red and yellow team that we weren’t fucking around. Roma had to double their first offer (and offer half again their best) in order to finally come close enough to Inter’s price. Just for the record, I called it about a month ago. With Burdisso gone and Obinna on loan – again – we have Mancini, Suazo and Rivas to go. At this late date, I doubt that we will have the pleasure of saying goodbye to any of them.

What we should come to terms with is that there may be no new signings this summer outside of Castellazzi, Coutinho, Biabiany and Mariga. These might be it. I am sure that many will be upset about this, but that’s the way it is and we should get used to it. On the plus side, next summer many of you can look forward to many new signings. Unfortunately, next summer I think that I will be too busy saying goodbye to some old friends to enjoy it.

FORZA INTER

Many of us here at the Inter Offside and many more Inter supporters around the world are somewhat shocked and disappointed at the slow market that has been made by Inter this past summer. Although it’s hard to find fault with the commitment of money that Moratti has made to the team since he gained control of it 15 years ago, many people like the thrill of signings and new faces almost as much as the games themselves.

Personally, I prefer the actual games to the transfer rumors but there is always a charge of anticipation when the team signs a player that you really think will work out. And there is always the worry that the opposition will catch up to, or pass your team up because of their new signings and our relative lack of roster movement.

But let’s get something straight, if there is money to spend, if we CAN find someone at this late date and improve the team (case in point), then I say spend it. I will side with improving the team, if we need to and if we can afford it, every time. But if we are in a crunch, then I can deal. I just don’t want to wake up one morning and see that the fired coach in a year is saying, “I told them I needed more players…”.

But the rules are changing, both figuratively and literally. The money that is being thrown around and demanded may finally be more than the market as a whole – and Inter in particular – can bear. These are just some things that I have been thinking about lately regarding the market doings – or not doings – mostly from news and some comments that I have been reading.

1. We already have too much dead weight. There are five players that Johonna in a previous post declared as must sell: Burdisso, Suazo, Rivas, Obi and Mancini. I agree with all these names. Burdisso, as I have already mentioned, will be dealt with after the SuperCoppa, the only question is how. Roma hasn’t endeared themselves to Inter these past 4 months or so and Moratti/Branca have decided to do the smart thing. If Roma want him quickly, then pony up. If not, then we will have to see. It may be that he leaves for free next summer or it may be that we let him go for the Roma bargain price right before the window closeswhen he is going to be forced to play catch up. Suazo we will take a bath on, I can’t see any way around this. No one will pay his wages and no one will pay a high fee for him. Rivas might have to go out on loan again, but then what? He’s marketable only to smaller clubs but you can’t get blood from a stone – none of them have any money. Mancini will require a pry bar to leave before his contract is up in 2013.

2. We just don’t need that much. Moratti thought that this team was competitive last season before we bought Sneijder. He was right, Inter was competitive then. And Inter is twice so now. To be honest we have the talent on the roster right now – barring a rash of injuries – to compete for Serie A, the Coppa and go deep into the Champions League again. Am I suggesting that we will WIN all three again? Not in the slightest. But we have a good team.

Are there positions that could use improvement? Absolutely, but then there are such on every team – even Barca. The trick is to keep them at a minimum and to try to cover them. We NEED another fullback. We could use both a better centerback reserve and another, all around midfielder.

Frankly, the left fullback position can be manned by Chivu and Santon (assuming he’s healthy) and we have reserve midfielders… they are just getting a little oldish for my liking. The lack of a serious centerback sub – I am just convinced that Cordoba and Materazzi are too far past it – worries me.

3. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a mini-overhaul next season. If Rafa proves worth bringing back in July 2011, these are the players that would have only 1 season on their contracts (if I get these wrong please let me know in the comments): Lucio, Cordoba, Chivu, Samuel, Suazo (if we don’t perform a minor miracle and get rid of him), Materazzi and Orlandoni. These players all have contracts ending in 2012. 3 of these 7 players could very well be retiring, freeing up around 7 million in wages – Materazzi, Cordoba and Orlandoni. One would think that Samuel, Lucio and Chivu would be renewed at least one more season to see the transition of the defence.

So knowing that there could be a lot of changes next season, it could be management’s position to make all those changes at once with younger guys who are cheaper. We know that Ranocchia is coming next season and he will likely earn less, at least initially, than Cordoba’s 3.5 million €.

4. With the roster not filled up with new signings we are getting a lot of looks at some of the young guys that the team has invested money on in the past. Mariga, Coutinho and Biabiany have been the highlight of the preseason for this team to me. All three of these guys are under 23 years old – Mariga is the gandpappy at 23 and Coutinho is the baby at 18. 5 years or so ago Inter completely remodeled their youth setup from the scouts to the masseurs. When Mourinho came in they did it again, only this time they included the infrastructure (like heated fields, flat screens in meeting rooms) and inclusive training. With more players in the setup and better facilities maybe that might lead to more graduated players coming up through the system to either be used on the field or sold at huge profit to competitors. Either way works for me.

5. Perhaps most important of all, is the UEFA Fair Play Act. I am not entirely sure on the numbers but these are the ones that I have. Last season, Inter entered the campaign expecting to lose something like 150+ million €. This season with modified business model Inter look to be expecting to lose @70ish million €. There is a lot of mystery in these financial reports. I am not sure if cup winnings are tied up in these budgets or not. But there is one thing that looks obvious to me, the fastest way to trim the budget is to cut players, transfer fees and salaries.

At this point, Inter have spent only 10 million € in transfers for the 3 players we brought in (Castellazzi, Mariga and Biabiany). Selling Mario for 30 million € and generally making a further 10 million € profit from the Mercato help. Removing several high salaries from under-performing players like Quaresma and Vieira (between the three of them is another 10 million € in savings from wages that hasn’t been replaced) and actually getting a small fee (too small to count IMO) from Quaresma (yay!) definitely helps morale if nothing else.

We don’t know yet if there will be another transfer in – Kuyt is sometimes rumored close sometimes far – but It’s obvious that Inter will try limiting the wage and fee hit by also offering players. And unless there are more sales, I can’t see that player transferring in. I can’t see Inter spending another 20+ in fees this summer, unless they get what they are asking for from Burdisso, manage to get rid of Suazo and – oh rapture! – agree to a settlement for Mancini’s contract like Adriano did. Without the revenue from those players I think that any attempt at an agreement between Liverpool and Inter will be protracted perhaps too long.

Fanbase Satisfied?

But if there is a good time to stand pat, for the club, it’s right now. There is a ton of goodwill towards the team at the moment. It would almost – I said almost, alright? – be acceptable to have a down year with no changes to the roster. What’s a down year? A down season would be only competing (Champions League place) in the Scudetto and Coppa and final 8 Champions League. That would allow upsetting but not quite moped dropping behavior from the faithful. Would that be the sack for Benitez…? I am not sure.

Update

It seems that Zanetti and Chivu who had knocks are progressing faster than expected, which is good news. But better still, it seems that Santon is ready to rejoin the team in training again if unsubstantiated rumor can be believed.

Also unsubstantiated is that Mascherano is ready to go to Barca. How they can afford to pay his fee considering their financial imbalance is humorous to say the least. However given a choice, I would have wanted Mascherano over Kuyt. Given a better choice, I would have taken Galloppa –who is perfect for the 4231 – before he wrecked his knee and covered him in bubble wrap until the start of the season. Has anyone seen Alessandro Diamonte lately? I thought that he had promise at one time. Has he lost it all playing in England?

I will be very disappointed if he doesn't play quite a bit this season.

FORZA INTER

In other words, it’s a typical game with Roma.

More after the break

First the broad strokes: Roma shouldn’t have even been allowed to play this game. This is supposed to be a game between domestic Cup winners and Roma won absolutely nothing last season, as usual. It can only be poetic justice that they come away empty handed.

Totti should have been suspended from this game. But in an action showing us all exactly who is protected in Serie A (Totti made claims to newspapers this summer that the refs were protecting Inter, something that got Mourinho suspended multiple games last season only he said it about Juve which should tell you something else). Totti started the game from the kick off. Last season, in the losing effort from which Roma’s ass backwards inclusion to this game came from, Totti was red carded for a pansyesque and cowardly (read: typically Roma) move and was supposedly banned 4 games of the Coppa Italia variety. Which one could argue this is, being called the SuperCoppa and the Coppa Italia being a requirement to play in it.

So let’s recap. Totti makes comments that Inter personnel get suspended for with no punishment. Totti is supposed to be banned for 4 (this is too light a sentence, like Juve and Calciopoli, the FIGC are lacking balls here) Coppa games, of which participation in this game stems. And he’s on the field starting the game. Only in Serie A.

On to the game itself: Inter dominated possession, play, attack runs in the enemy penalty area and goal scoring chances. Outside of last gasp efforts terminally late in the game, Roma only had 3 real efforts on target at goal. One was a counter attack that Lucio made an error getting back letting Riise poke the ball past Cesar and was badly out of position for. The other was a free kick.

Inter penetrated several times into the Roma penalty area and came away with 4 legitimate goals of which only 3 were counted.

For the first goal, Pandev took advantage of a Vucinic mistake – what he was doing in that part of the field was some part of a master plan no doubt – I just wish I could understand the genius reasoning that this was a part of. Vucinic was about 2 meters from the end line by the corner flag and tried (I can’t emphasize the word try enough here) to make a back pass – some would call it a weak cross – half way across the field to the goalkeeper in front of Pandev. I am no Roma aficionado, but even I could tell you that Vucinic could list his defensive abilities on the back of a postage stamp and still have space left over. But it happened and it counted… the same can’t be said for every goal that Inter scored in that game.

For the second goal – which wasn’t counted – Eto’o dribbled the Roma defense, again, and made a square pass to Milito, once the keeper was commited, who put the ball in the net. However the flag was up for offsides. Here’s the problem with that: Eto’o was on replay shown to be in line with the defense at the top of the penalty area when he received the ball – that is, he was onsides. When Eto’o passed the ball to Milito, Milito was past the defenders… but behind the ball, that is, he was onsides. Sooooo… like I was saying, typical Roma game.

The third goal (second that was counted) was straight forward. Milito dribbled the Roma defense to the end line, crossed to Eto’o who beat the keeper and #77 (it’s the Roma defense, obviously whoever this is isn’t worth remembering) to the ball and tapped it in near post.

The fourth goal (third that was counted) was like the first. Taddei tried to dribble the ball out of his own end and got as far as Eto’o before he was dispossessed of the ball (that is, he got exactly 4 steps before he let the ball get away from him and it rolled to Eto’o’s foot). An Eto’o give and go with Sneijder to 16 meters from net. A near post shot with the keeper going the wrong way completes the move.

What is the best part of this goal? Sneijder nutmegs Mexes on the final pass. Priceless fun. Remember the Coppa game in May when Mexes and 2 friends couldn’t stop Milito from scoring?

In between all of this was the typical fare… Roma players falling at the slightest of touches and then crying foul or penalty shot. Their fans were acting classy as always, finding new ways to express themselves since they couldnn’t find someone’s ass to stab in the away section who wasn’t similarly armed. Menez rolling on the ground. Menez rolling on the ground again. Menez rolling on the ground again, longer, no one caring yet. De Rossi looking like he’s going to cry, like he’s sad to lose a game that he’s only participating in because they won’t let us play against ourselves. Totti was shouting at the ref because Samuel shielded him off the ball while Totti pushed and slapped Samuel, the latter to his face – obviously Samuel perpetuated the most heinous of sins and played good defense against Mr Petulant. Ooooooooh the horror! THE HORROR!

Here’s the best part: Ranieri is already making excuses (quick, Where is the most dangerous place on the planet? Between an excuse wielding Ranieri and a camera) that it was Roma making mistakes and not Inter being better. I have 2 things to say to this: A. Roma making more mistakes is a function of Inter forcing decisions – in this case, bad ones B. Roma only scored because of an Inter mistake… why should only their mistakes be excused? C. some one should tell Ranieri that the better team is the one that makes the fewest mistakes… duh.

Analysis: What does all this mean? Not much. This is still too early in the season for Inter who are traditionally slow starters. This was the team that one might construe as the “starters” or main contributors, but the truth is that there is a newish system to learn and the oldish muscles, especially on the defenders, need time to get up to speed. I bet that the dressing room after this – the first real 90 minute action for the full starting group – will be rank with that unique smell that always reminds me of mintyness on steroids and words like “liniment” and “icy hot”.

More practically, we saw a much more attacking Inter. Inter played the vast majority of their game in the Roma end. There was a lot of flanking attacks and smart crosses on the ground, to someone, usually coming backwards slightly to the penalty spot vicinity. Our wingers were more than a match for the Roma fullbacks and as a result the center pair was forced to stretch to cover creating space. Defensively we made some errors that Cesar and Roma’s general inefficiency covered up. Chivu doesn’t look really ready yet, although his salute to the Roma crowd was great and completely warranted. Despite that, he has me worried, I mean he doesn’t look right. Lucio and Samuel will need some time like they did last season. Remember that we had “moments” like this early on last season too… the word Sampdoria comes to mind. Despite some “experts” here on the Offsides calling Cesar all washed up, he looked pretty good to me, like he wanted to erase a bad World Cup experience. Maicon was gifted acres of space on the right – I can’t fathom a game plan that starts with, “let’s give Maicon free reign…”

Eto’o looked washed up and we should sell him immediately. He was completely unmotivated and selfish. He caused a stir and had tantrums all over the place as he started the game on the right instead of being in the middle like he wanted. That kind of player we just don’t need. Oh and he was Man of the Match. “Sylvester” on the other hand missed what should have been goal #5 (#4 that was actually counted) on the night. More like eye of the pussy… cat.

As far as Benitez goes, the team looked motivated and prepared. The defense looked a bit shakey at times having to handle more responsibility but the attack looked competent and sharpish. I can’t ask for much more than that from the coach in his first game that “matters”.

Next up… what? Another Cup game, already?

FORZA INTER

Not much to say about the friendly other than the fact that in the first half we looked like we were outclassed; no ifs, ands or buts – and Eto’o still got a goal, I might add. Late in the second half, when we brought on many of the World Cup players we looked more our old selves and started to pressure the Greeks, earning a goal and not giving one up.

Things to take away from the friendly:

Positives

-Coutinho has had 2 very decent outings for us in 2 games.
-Biabiany has shown in 2 games that he can play out wide effectively.
-Mariga has looked like a super athletic beast as a centrally located defensive midfielder.
-Cambiasso looks in shape and in form. Remember that a year ago he needed knee surgery.
-Eto’o wanted to play near the front of the goal more and when he did, he scored.
-Santon had a run out.
-I like the way a lot of the kids played – with heart and effort – even if they lacked experience and technical skill. Names that come to mind: Natalino, Nwankwo and Alibec.

Negatives

-I am not a big believer in this team playing a straight 442, which is what it looked like we played for some of this game. I don’t think we fit it well.
-I thought that, as much as I love him, Marco was done last season. He looked very slow last night.
-Ditto Orlandoni. But it’s a Catch 22. Vivano, rightly probably, won’t come back to be an understudy at this point. I don’t think that we need Belec wasting away as the third keeper either. I see us getting another goalkeeper this time next season.
- I feel very reassured that the youth project that was installed several years ago around 2005 is really close top bearing us fruit, I just wish that we would trust it a little even if it meant playing these guys in the Coppa and putting them on the bench or in the stands on game day. A lot of those kids playing last night would run themselves to death for a chance to play in that shirt for a season. On the other hand, the quality jump from the first half to the late second when the internationals came on was immense.

Update

There have been a lot of transfers of youth players that I have been trying to keep straight in my head… which makes it so unsurprising that I have failed so utterly.

Below is an update that I have grand illusions of reposting when something changes, but looks like our story thus far in the 2010-2011 season. Any additions would be helpful in the comments, but please leave a link, otherwise enjoy.

Goalkeepers

Julio Cesar
Luca Castellazzi
Paolo Orlandoni

No changes here lately, thank the gods. We said goodbye to Toldo and brought in Castellazzi from Sampdoria on a free.

Defense

Javier Zanetti
Walter Samuel
Lucio
Ivan Cordoba
Marco Materazzi
Chriastian Chivu
Nelson Rivas
Davide Santon
Maicon
Burdisso

Burdisso and Rivas returned from loan spells. We are anticipating the potential sales of Maicon and Burdisso. Honestly, I don’t see us selling Burdisso before the SuperCoppa for obvious reasons. I could be wrong, but why make things tougher on ourselves? If we were smart we would wait until the 31st.

Midfield

Esteban Cambiasso
Dejan Stankovic
Sully Muntari
Thiago Motta
Wesley Sneijder
Mariga MacDonald
Joel Obi
Mancini
Coutinho

This is the going to be the area of the team that is going to have the biggest upheaval this season. We loaned/sold/terminated Patrick Vieira (In January, I am not sure if it was considered this season, 2010-2011, or last season, 2009-2010), Ricardo Quaresma and “lost” Luis Jimenez in the envelopes. I expect more changes here.

Forwards

Mario Balotelli
Diego Milito
Samuel Eto’o
Goran Pandev
David Suazo
Victor Obinna Nsofor
Kerlon
Jonathan Biabiany

We obviously have more than we need here. Mario is rumored to be gone, obviously and I think that we can count on at least one more sale, perhaps David Suazo. Maybe Obinna is slated to go too, but who knows. If we have the idea of playing the 4231, we are going to need wide players and attacking players, which Obinna can play, kind of. Kerlon might be edging towards the “mistake” classification. If he is, then it’s a small one since he didn’t cost us too much. I like Biabiany from what little I have seen.

The Transfers

Full transfers in:

Rafa Benitez- Free
Luca Castellazzi – Free
Mariga – Parma – redemption of co-ownership, fee 4.75 m€
Jonathan Biabiany – Parma – redemption of co-ownership, fee 4.75 m€
Coutinho – Vasco da Game – Full ownership 3.8 m€

Rafa settled his contract with Liverpool so that he could sign with us without a fee. Castellazzi was a free transfer. Coutinho cost Inter 3.8 in 2008 where he stayed at Vasco de Gama until this summer. The other half of both Biabiany and Mariga cost 9.5 million Euros together. I have no idea how much they actually cost separately.

Co-own in:

Andrea Ranocchia – Genoa – Co-ownership (Stays at genoa for the season) Mattia Destro loan with option for co-own goes the other way (Worth about 3.2m€)

Full transfers out:

Jose Mourinho – Real Madrid – €16 million of which we only got 10 as of right now.
Marko Arnautovic – Loan ended – Twente sold to Werder Bremen.
Ricardo Quaresma – Besiktas – 7.3m€
Luis Jimenez – Ternana – redemption of co-ownership, 3m€

Co-ownerships out:

Viviano – Bologna- Co-ownership renewed
Rene Krhin – Bologna – Co-ownership (Lorenzo Paramatti goes the other way)

Loans out:

Belec- Crottone, Loan

The Money

+10m€
+7.3m€
+3m€
-9.5m€
-3.8m€=
+7m€

The youth sector is a bit murkier since the news isn’t as widely distributed and the amounts are so much smaller there is less shock value and therefore fewer headlines. In getting these all together I collected information from fcinternews.it, Inter.it and ForzaInterforums.com.

IN:

Geremy Lombardi – Parma- Co-ownership
Andrea Lussardi – Piacenza- Co-ownership
Matteo Columbi – Piacenza – Co- ownership
Marco Davide Faraoni – Lazio – Free transfer
Salvatore Russo – Frattese 2000 – Free
Giuseppe Maiorono – Scula Calcio Franco Della Monica – Free
Francis Boateng – Sarnico – Transfer
Mihai-Alex Manolache – Liventina Gorghense – Transfer
Isaac Donkor – Padova – Transfer
Simone Benedetti – Torino – Co-ownership
Lorenzo Paramatti- Bologna – Transfer – Krhin goes the other way.
Scappi Federico – Reggiana – Co-ownership

OUT:

Alfonso- Chievo- Renewed co-ownership
Riggone – Chievo – Renewed co-ownership
Solini- Chievo – Renwed co-ownership
Donati – Lecce- Loan with option for co-ownership

Manuel Canini – Cesena – Permanent?
Luca Caldirola – SBV Vitesse – Loan
Andrea Bavenna – Portogruaro – Co-ownership
Andrea Mei – Piacenza – Co-ownership
Luca Tremoloda – Piacenza- Co-ownership
Dennis Esposito – Padova – Loan with option buy
Juri Joppan – Spezia – Co-ownership
Samuele Beretta – Pavia – Loan with right to buy 50%
Attila Filkor – Milan – Outright sale*
Christian Daminuta – Milan – Outright sale*
Marco Enzio Fossati – Milan – Outright sale*
Lorenzo Degeri – Cremona – Co-ownership
Aiman Napoli – FC Crotone – Loan with option for Co-ownership
Mattia Destro – Genoa – Loan with option for Co-ownership
Michele Rigone – Foggia – Loan
Alen Stevanovic – Torino – Co-ownership
Mattia Ellia Desole – Milan – Outright
Luca Silligardi – Bologna – Loan with option for Co-ownership
Alberto Gerbo – U.S. Triestina Calcio Spa – Loan with option for Co-ownership

*Sales of these three to Milan total @ 6m€.

So all I can tell from this mess is that we co-own out more than we co-own in and we don’t buy for cash if we can send someone the other way – usually not permanantly. Considering the 4 sales to Milan outright I would suggest that the primavera can pretty much pay for itself and that the club is making enough off of it to keep it going. Any help in this area is appreciated.

Another point about our loans/co-owns out… the majority of those clubs mentioned above are Serie A and Serie B. This is an advantage for the club because a. if we keep them they are getting nice, high level of competition experience or b. other teams are going to be enticed by the high level of competition experience and will buy them.

Conclusion

Right now, Inter are making a profit on the mercato. The club doesn’t have to, as there is a budget to spend, but it’s nice to know that there is a concerted effort to be conscientious. The youth sector seems to be paying for itself and the senior squad finances seem to be well in hand. We are still in a holding pattern though. I don’t doubt that we can get by with late arrivals, but wouldn’t it be nice not to do something at the last minute for a change?

FORZA INTER

A few days ago our new Coach had a few words to say about the topics highlighted. I will admit it appeared we had another Leo like “Yes Man” or “Company Boy” in the ranks but after reading his thoughts and words I have to say I am impressed and maybe, just maybe, this is the type of progressive breath of fresh air this team need to move forward. For the record talk is cheap, very cheap, but if the results come and the players buy into what he is selling this team may be readying itself for a bright future. While I harbor no intentions of anything above fifth place, if he can get this team playing with balance and firing on all cylinders then a poor year is a blip on the radar for potential future success. I am putting my thoughts/responses directly below his:

ON HIS FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
The reception I received was excellent. The lads showed amble willingness to work yesterday and that’s what counts. I liked the relationship in terms of respect amongst the players because I believe that respect is essential to work with great calmness. It will therefore be equally important for everyone to work in this way on a daily basis.

Respect for me equals good team chemistry and with good chemistry a team can be dangerous. You want to know that when the going gets tough a teammate will have your back and then deficits don’t seem insurmountable because of the bonds formed through respect. I LIKE IT.

ON THE PRESIDENT AND OBJECTIVES:
President Silvio Berlusconi did not put any pressure on me yesterday. He decided to speak yesterday and put out his idea. I was there as well for the journalists, but only the president asked me a question.
Yesterday, the president has shown great practicality and I think this is a quality that must characterize this team. What counts are the results and we must do everything possible to get them. If there will be teams that deserve more we must be equal to them, we are not here to suffer at the hands of our rivals.

I am simply going to focus on his statement, “What counts are the results and we must do everything possible to get them.” Very nice, a win is a win is a win, and in the end when your hands on the title no when remembers if you won pretty or ugly. I admire this mentality and hope that he can follow through on that in getting results. I also liked the bit about not being here to suffer at the hands of our rivals, sounds like a guy who has a bit of edge and no intention of rolling and being embarrassed by teams like Inter and Manchester United, hope he can deliver on that talk!

ON RONALDINHO AND WHERE TO PLAY HIM:
I do not think there is any doubt about the technical quality of Ronaldinho. He is an amazing player who is world-class, but in football today skill alone is not enough . It is necessary to build a balanced group and the strength of a team is that everyone must make themselves available to the group to get a good result.

Ronaldinho is a player who can become dangerous when he is playing out wide against a marker if he can come inside and get into a deeper position. He has a lot of qualities that can make the difference. He needs support from the team but equally he must make himself available to the needs of the team. Yesterday, he was a jet-lagged and not in the best physical condition. I only spoke to him for five minutes and I told him he was a very important from whom I expect a lot. Even the top players have to be in good shape if not excellent condition. You have to be in good shape to play and just like the other players if you are fit then you can show your skills.

I won’t say a word, Allegri has said it all already…

THE GAP WITH INTER:
I have a deep squad. This group still has a lot to give even if there are players who are over thirty years. At the same time, however, there are several young players. When we have everyone available we have the quality to do well.
What about the gap woth Inter? Last year Milan were a point off Inter, but then various incidents halted this pursuit. I believe this team can do very well, and achieve important goals and at least be in the top three and go as far as possible in the Champions League.

Perhaps alluding to his planned youth integration? I have always like Coaches who blend youth into the first team as opposed to throwing a Primavera squad into the Coppa Italia and watching the old men flounder on the weekend. Why not give both teams equal opportunity for success and in turn build that confidence for the players chosen. Can’t see I agree on the quality to do well, but maybe he sees something in the youth…

ON PATO:
Pato is a lad of twenty. He is an amazing player that I think he still has a lot to improve on. He has so many qualities, both physical and skill-wise that even he realises this. A boy of twenty needs to grow as a man but also as a footballing phenomenon. Due to its characteristics Pato can play off a front man, can do everything.

Have to agree with him here as well, Pato does have a lot to improve more mentally than physically. His recognition skills seemed to get worse last season but Allegri seems to recognize his ability to “play off” a striker a trait that I think can make Pato lethal. Hopefully he is deployed that way and the success, assists and goals come in bunches!

ON THE DRESSING ROOM:
“I have to understand as quickly as possible how everything works here Milanello: from the players, staff, doctors, chefs, from the kit-room. Everything you need here at Milanello is important because if the team gets results it is the due to the merit of everyone from the kit-room to the president because it takes cooperation and respect from everyone.”

Actually like this statement too, you will never hear anything like this out of Jose Mourinho, because Jose believes that every success is his and his players. This goes back to chemistry and Allegri seems very aware of it and making sure everyone feels like they are playing a part, hope this continues.

ON HIS METHOD OF WORKING:
“It would be presumptuous of me to turn it all around and take a team that last year worked hard and was fighting for the league six games from the end of the season. Leonardo did a good job with the whole group. For my part, however, there may be different ideas. The current squad is more or less that of last year. Every season, however, is not the same and even the players themselves can change their performance from year to year. I will consider things game to game. It is a group that has won everything there was to win but has remained an ambitious group who still want to do well and know they have won a lot through skill. They won both through quality and because they have worked on it, for one and another and for the coach.”

Would have liked to hear a bit more about his “different ideas” but I guess we will wait and see for those. As for his, “considering things game to game” could we see a dynamic Milan capable of coming out in various formations/tactics to capitalize on the weaknesses of opponents!? That would be quite the turn from static XMAS Tree and 433 game in and game out. I am very interested to see how that pans out.

LEONARDO:
“I have great respect for Leonardo because besides being a good coach, he has demonstrated what he did at Milan last year that he is an educated person. I met him at the current coaches meeting and talked in general not specifically about Milan, but if another opportunity arose I would gladly talk to him.”

Not sure if I want the old coach talking to the new coach? Thoughts? On a personal basis I talk A LOT with various Coaches to get ideas, scouting, or anything else they are willing to share, but have never had the chance to speak to a predecessor, odd…

THE TEAM’S STYLE:
“Milan have players to play in different ways. Compared to the squad I had available at Cagliari, here at Milan there is a lot more technical players, more quality. Now there are still the Internationals such as Pirlo, Huntelaar, Thiago Silva, Zambrotta and others to arrive. I certainly do not intend to throw away the work of previous years, of Leonardo and even Ancelotti, but I intend to use it as a way to put forward my own.”

Not sure we can call Silva an International yet, and surely KJH’s lack of World Cup minutes will take him off that radar as well! Pirlo was injured and Zambrotta was, well, old and slow, so I wouldn’t hang my hat on our “Internationals” quite yet. No doubt Thiago has quite the future on the World’s stage, but the real question becomes is he serious when he says “others to arrive.” If so when????

ON THE TRANSFER MARKET:
“Right now I’m pleased with the squad I have available. If someone were to leave, the club will replace him with a player who can play for Milan.”

“Right now I’m pleased with the squad I have available.” First mistake, wouldn’t it be easier to honest here…oh wait the idiots in charge don’t listen anyway…

ON THE OBJECTIVES:
“What I wish is that this team plays good football, with good intensity, and is convinced of what it can do. To achieve significant results there must be other components, not just one. We need belief, technique, intensity, all these are important things. Winning is never easy, but we must start with a belief and the belief that one can and must do their best. This is the starting point.”

So I think Allegri agrees that a scudetto is a tall order. I would also like to think that with a team at this advanced stage of their careers, belief should be second nature. Hell, Oddo and Kaladze believe so much they may even think they deserve starting spots!?!?!?! Bottom line he is appearing to be realistic, and hopefully many of us are too, I just hope he has a chance to prove himself and not fired at the first sign of trouble. We need continuity not some disastrous Coaching carousel for the next few years. I do like the part about intensity though, it is not a word you hear often in Italy, there is not much Italians do with intensity (ever go to the bank or supermarket in Italy!) so it was refreshing.

Another season is closing in upon us and as with every new training camp my mind is always cast backward to those who are not going to be starting the new season with us. In this case, we are moving on without Francesco Toldo.

Just, as I was told in the Eighties, every rose has its thorn, so too does every new beginning start with an ending. Toldo decided sometime in March that this was going to be his last season in harness which is why the club acted so fast at the very start of the transfer season to secure the services of Castellazzi from Sampdoria.

First some background. Toldo was a Milan youth product by way of Montebelluna. After finishing his stint in the Milan academy, Milan loaned him out to Verona, Trento and Ravenna before they – incredibly – gave him his outright release in the summer of 1993.

He hooked up with Fiorentina and became their man between the sticks for eight seasons where he won 2 Coppa Italia, a SuperCoppa and popped his Champions League cherry.

In 2001, one season before the dark days of bankruptcy for Purple Tough Guys, he transferred to our few, our happy few, our band of brothers. In the nine seasons that he spent here in Black and Blue (or rather in Silver and Black since he was the keeper) he managed quite a loverly trophy cabinet: 5 Serie A titles, 3 Coppa Italia trophies, 3 SuperCoppa trophies and of course the Champions League’s Big Eared Cup. Toldo was the starter upon arrival until 2005 when Julio Cesar took over netting at least one very important goal in the process. However, since Cesar held Toldo in such high esteem Cesar refused to take his #1 jersey from him. Now that Toldo has officially hung them up, Cesar for the first time will wear #1 in an Inter jersey.

Even relegated to the bench Toldo has made his presence felt. He’s the first one that Zanetti runs to, to celebrate a big win or a goal. Not only do these long time colleagues have great respect for each other but they also know that it’s a way to link the players on the field to the players on the bench. Since gaining time on the field is hard when the squad is so packed with talent, both Zanetti and Toldo wanted to make sure that the whole team was celebrating their successes. Toldo, who spent whole seasons on the bench since losing his spot to Cesar, would always be the first up to celebrate – if he wasn’t resentful then no one had the right to be.

Toldo capped 8 times in the U21s starting in 1993 and 28 times for his country in the Azzurri, his first coming a mere 2 seasons after Milan booted him to the curb in 1995. Toldo’s journey in the Azzurri wasn’t smooth, however. The mid to late 90s through the
‘oughts saw a glut of goalkeepers make it to the International stage in Italy. Toldo hit the International scene when Pagliuca was at the height of his powers in the mid 90s and when Peruzzi was making waves toward that direction. After Pagliuca and Peruzzi left the International scene there was a brief Toldo or Buffon tug of war before Buffon became the undisputed starter for the National Team while still at Parma.

After all that, despite not being the first or even the second choice keeper for Euro 2000, his performance was a major reason that he was a whisker away from being the 2nd Italian Keeper celebrate winning the Euros, saving several penalties during the tournament.

In the video below, notice how Toldo bailed out Mr. Nesta who didn’t make life easier for his keeper despite it being his job, sorta.

Now that he’s a free man, Toldo has, like Luis Figo before him, has found a way to still be instrumental to the club having been brought on in an ambassadorial role for Inter Campus, the incredible charitable juggernaut that Moratti has brought to Inter during his time as President. Like so many before him, Toldo found a second family at Inter and is eager to stay on with the club.

Some excerpts from an interview just after he announced his retirement

“For now, I’ll limit myself to the fans who were close to me even in the difficult moments, to my sons Alessandro and Andrea. And above all to my wife Manuela. If it’s difficult to be a footballer’s wife, it’s almost impossible to be that of a goalkeeper.

“I decided to stop two months before the end of the season. I said to myself that if everything went how it was supposed to, I would like to start a new life. I told Marco Branca that night in Madrid.

“I would have seen out the final year of my contract. I also received offers this summer, but I no longer had the desire to pull on any shirts that weren’t Inter’s and Fiorentina’s. Now I will start again working for the Inter Campus.”

Despite this decision, I will keep working with Inter for the grassroots project Inter Campus, and I will try to improve the club’s corporate image. I didn’t expect Inter to become a second home for me but that’s what happened. As soon as I arrived here I had a positive feeling.”

His best matches, “Holland-Italy, Arsenal and Fiorentina, Valencia (was this Benitez’s team?) and Inter. Apart from one where I made a goal against Juventus.

The strongest defender with whom he played: “Cordoba. A phenomenon. Physical strength, elevation and anger. ”

“I had two periods. Before and after Calciopoli. Facchetti and Moratti had led us out of trouble, building a winning team that could win, but the external factors did not allow that to happen.”

Harder to digest the defeat at the European 2000 or May 5: “The latter. Not worth it to dwell on it because it was shown that this championship was distorted.

Finally Toldo was asked to reveal the names of the most lethal strikers he had faced in his career. “Batistuta, Ibra, Del Piero and Montella.”

FORZA INTER