Just a quick little postette to tell everyone about the impending changes here at the Inter Offside. In addition, I though we could take a peek at Inter’s new salary load. I hope everyone is managing to get their football fix with International Friendlies and Euro Qualifiers. At least next weekend we can get back to the real thing!

Because I cant write the word “changes” without hearing this song in my head:

Now that we have that out of the way…

As many of you may have noticed over the past few months, the Offside and the World Cup Blog are slowly but surely being switched to the Disqus commenting system. Well, now it is Inter’s turn. I just got an email saying that the Inter offside will switch to the new system tonight, at about 11:30 pm pacific time. If you want to see what this will look like, take a stroll over to the Italy National Team page.

As you can see, now the comments can be threaded and sorted. If you sign up with a Disqus account, you can even get email alerts when someone replies to your comment. I know, we all fear change and this will take some getting used to, but think of it this way: now users can edit their own comments and you get a little picture next to your name! How super cool is that?

I chose the old snake badge as my Disqus picture.

So, take a moment and get a Disqus account. I dont think you are required to have one to comment, but it makes your life easier if you plan to be commenting a lot (and I know you will all be commenting!).

Back to more Inter-related things.

As the do every year, La Gazzetta dello Sport has published salaries for the Serie A teams. Thanks to some players moving on and a bit of a step-down in other player’s wages, Inter has reduced their wages from 150 million to just under 122 million euro:

For some reason, this year we dont get contract expiration dates. What a bother.

As we can see, there has been a general dialing back of wages for Inter. Eto’o, while he is still Inter’s highest paid player, has stepped down 2.5 million. Also, a couple big-salary do-nothings, Vieira and Quaresma, have been let go. Unfortunately, no such luck for Mancini or Suazo – each one of those 3.5 and 3.2 million euors are like a dagger to the chest. Talk about death by a thousand cuts, how about 6.7 million? Yikes.

Another thing one notices straight off is that Inter now has a much larger porportion of players making 1 million euro or less (16% in 2009 to 28% this year). That has to help the bottom line.

The big question now is, will Moratti offer Maicon a renewal with a wage bump this year? What do you think?

They didn’t include coaches in this list, but Inter is saving quite a bit of money there as well. Gone is Mourinho’s 10-million-euro salary, instead Rafa makes a much more reasonable… I want to say 5-ish million but I cant find a link and my memory is not as good as it should be… anyone? In any event, I remember thinking that the money Real Madrid paid to break Mou’s contract would cover all our Rafa expenses.

A couple caveats: Although Inter no longer has the highest wage bill, that honor is returned to Milan, it could still pay the wages of 8 other clubs combined. Heck, Eto’o’s wages alone would just about fund Cesena’s whole squad. Also, the numbers La Gazzetta published probably dont include bonuses. I guess what I am trying to say is, although it is a step in the right direction, by Serie A standards, it is still a huge amount of cash and probably more than we know.

So, how do you think Inter’s wages stack up?

FORZA INTER

Something else to think about… According to La Gazzetta, Inter has the 4th shortest team. Good things come in small packages?

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

As we all know, “The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for lists.” As I am an human animal, I thought I would quickly post up a couple lists. We sort of glossed over the Champions League list and I thought I would post a guide to our boys on their national teams. I know, I already missed some qualifiers on Friday, but better late than never.

First, Benitez has submitted his list of 31 players for the Champions League. It inlcudes 4 club-trained players (*), 4-locally trained players(‡), and 6 youth players (†):

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi‡, Paolo Orlandoni*, Alberto Gallinetta†

Defenders: Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Marco Materazzi‡, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Davide Santon*, Felice Natalino†, Cristiano Biraghi†, Andrea Romano†, Lorenzo Crisetig†

Midfielders: Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder, Sulley Muntari‡, MacDonald Mariga, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Amantino Mancini, Joel Obi*, Coutinho, Obiora Nwankwo

Attackers: Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev‡, Jonathan Biabiany*, Simone Dell’Agnello†

So there you go. Even the famously international Interzationale has the requisite number of locally and club-trained players to meet with UEFA regulations (whatever those may be. Their web page is not the most forthcoming). In fact, we have some club-trained players to spare! I will admit to being startled at seeing Mancini on the list, but what are you going to do? Besides, this list only hast to get us through the group stages. We get to submit a new one after Christmas.

For those of you looking for a little Inter fix this weekend, we have 15 players off with their respective national teams. I know, I missed a couple games today, but on the up side, now we have youtube highlights.

Cambiasso, Milito, Samuel, and Zanetti. Catch them in an internation friendly against the mighty Spain in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, Sept 7, 5pm local time (1pm pacific, 4pm eastern)

Cuchu, back among the chosen.

Cordoba: Mexico v Columbia (international friendly) in Monterrey, Tuesday 7 Sept, at 7pm local time (5pm pacific, 8pm eastern – I think)

Sneijder: San Marino v Holland (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-5 with a hattrick from Klaus Jan Huntelaar.
Holland v Finland (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Rotterdam, Tuesday 7 September at 8:30pm local time (11:30am pacific, 2:30 eastern)

Chivu: Romania v Albania (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-1, Chivu didn’t play.
Belarus v Romania (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Minsk, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (10:30am pacific, 1:30pm eastern)

Dejan Stankovic: Far Oer v Serbia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-3 with a great free-kick goal from Deki.
Serbia v Slovenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Belgrade, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (11:30 am pacific, 2:30pm eastern)

Goran Pandev: Slovakia v Macedonia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-0 for Slovakia. Pandev played the whole game
Macedonia v Armenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Skopje, Tuesday 7 September at 7pm local time (11am pacific, 2pm eastern)

Samuel Eto’o: Mauritius v Cameroon (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bellevue, Saturday 4 September – no time given

McDonald Mariga: Guinea v Kenya (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bissau, Saturday 4 September – no time given

Cristiano Biraghi, Felice Natalino: Bosnia U21 v Italy U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 0-1, both Biraghi and Natalino where unused subs.
Italy U21 v Wales U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier in Pescara) Tuesday 7 September at 5pm local time (8am pacific, 11am eastern). This one is a must win for the kiddies.

Jonathan Biabiany: Ukraine U21 v France U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 2-2 with Biabiany playing roughly 30 minutes.
France U21 v Malta U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier) in Amiens, Tuesday 7 September at 5:00pm (8am pacific, 11am eastern). Also a must win for the baby blues.

Coutinho: training camp with Brazil in Barcelona until Thursday 9 September

How super cute is Coutinho training with the big-boy Brazilians?

And now, just what you have been waiting for: The Contest Entries (drum roll please)

Name…………Points..Goals for..Goals Allowed
Miki…………………78………. 68………. 30
Skyder……………..78………. 68………. 41
Mites……………….78………. 72………. 35
Nikko……………….80………. 70………. 30
Mikko ………………80………. 70………. 35
Inter Forever………80………. 77………. 30
Pedro ………………81………. 85………. 44
Maryam…………….82……….78………. 34
Yormie……………..82……….79………. 38
ronny……………….82………. 81………. 43
Thatdude…………..83………. 70………. 20
fandibong…………..83……….70………. 29
Paolo………………..83……….73………. 32
Kabir………………..83………. 78……….35
Sandro …………….84………. 39………. 22 (Sandro, is your goals for number a typo?)
Gerrymc……………84………. 74………. 48
Kirby………………..86……….79……….32
Nomad……………..86……….79………. 42
Vinod………………86……….82………. 40
vincent vh…………87………. 73………. 37
Kazaan……………87……….79……….38
Anthony…………….88……….79……….42

And just for comparison, Inter’s actual stats for the last few years:
2004/5……………..72……….65……….37
2005/6……………..76……….68……….30
2006/7…………….97……….80……….34
2007/8…………….85……….69……….26
2008/9…………….84……….70……….32
2009/10……………82……….75……….34

So, as you can see, some of you think this will be a break-out, record setting season. The highest guess for number of goals was Vinod with 82 goals. That means that Inter has to average 2.2 goals a game for the rest of the season. They better get cracking! The lowest was Sandro with 39. I double checked the email and that is what he sent me. It will be tough to get to 84 points with only 39 goals.

Well, that is about it. I will be going out of town this weekend so unless MAD gets something up (did you get my email?), you will all just have to stare at this for a few days.

Have a great weekend

FORZA INTER

And just in case you need some reminding as to who Cristiano Biraghi is:

Today is the birthday of our wonderful goal keeper, Julio Cesar. He is 31 years old still every bit a dream boat. I thought I would post a little video so we could all appreciate the full depth of his extreme yumminess. Seriously, I could eat this guy with a spoon (in a purely platonic, tiger teen beat sort of way).

Happy Birthday, Julio!

Although he had a couple hiccups last season (no one is perfect, after all), he rallied to help propel Inter to their historic tripletta. He recently won the 2010 UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year for his work in the Champions League, and it couldn’t have have happened to a nicer guy.

Plus, did I mention? He is quite a looker:

And, a total muppet (that is, he wears his heart on his sleeve and is not afraid to show the world how he feels):

And he can totally stop a ball:

So Happy 31st Julio Cesar – I cant wait to see what you do this season!

FORZA INTER

And did I mention? He can stop balls:

Since we have the view of the market from one side (thank you MAD), I thought I would present it from the other – a view that is probably not as popular – but I feel just as valid. I cant help but feel a little frustrated at the club’s lack of foresight and almost total non participation in the incoming side of the summer market. I understand the need for fiscal responsibility and that one shouldn’t purchase just for the sake of making the fans happy. Still, I dont feel that those ideas and keeping the club competitive with a couple targeted signings are mutually exclusive. Also, what about the new coach? One has to feel for poor Rafa Benetiz. Here he thinks he has finally escaped Liverpool’s crippling economic problems only to find that he has no support at Inter either. Just like at Anfield, he is told to make do. Having to walk in Mourinho’s 50-foot-tall shadow is hard enough, add to that the total disregard for his requests by the club and it begins to feel like Benitez is being set up for failure. And Branca and Moratti aren’t helping matters. Saying things like Inter didn’t participate in the market because they dont need to and this market was a success because we retained Maicon just makes me more angry. I am willing to put up with quite a lot of double speak from club officials, but dont give me cat food and tell me that it’s pâté – that is just insulting.

Right here, at the very start, let me say that my anger and disappointment has absolutely nothing to do with the market of other clubs. This is a purely internal issue. I dont care who Milan or Roma or Juve or anyone has brought in. I am concerned solely with Inter and what this means for Inter’s furture.

Now that we have that out of the way…

The market results as tallied by La Gazzetta dello Sport:

This is slightly incorrect as it doesn’t show Obinna going back out on loan, but the numbers are probably right. Our most expensive purchase was the othe half of Biabiany while our biggest sale was Balotelli. In the end, Inter come out 48.8 million euro ahead. La Gazzetta gave the Inter market a grade of 6. They are being kind.

As we can see, Inter made some bank this market. Coutinho does not come into this tally as his contract was bought two years ago.

For anyone who has been watching Inter’s market this summer, it is clear that the club’s first priority was selling. The price was set on all the players (except maybe Zanetti, one hopes), and there was a take it or leave it stance. I got the impression that the club was not exactly happy when Manchester City and Real Madrid started haggling for players. Inter expected them to happily pony up the cash. I also think that if Milito had performed better at the World Cup, he would not be with Inter now (whether that is a good or bad thing is up for debate and largely beside the point here).

If not for the FIGC ruling, Matias Aguirregaray would be an Inter player now while Maicon would be in Madrid.

The next big blow in Inter’s summer market was the FIGC’s inane ruling that only one non-EU player could be transferred in from outside Italy. Inter had lined up a Maicon replacement from Uruguay and all they were waiting for was Real Madrid. With the ruling, that deal had to be abandoned and it became increasingly more difficult to work a deal for Maicon. It also meant that the demand for players inside of Italy increased, as lower and mid-table clubs were no longer allowed to bring in relatively low-cost South American replacements for the players they had developed and were now ready to sell on to bigger teams. With higher demand comes higher prices and many players we heard were in Branca’s notebook were effectively priced off the market. Similarly, due to UEFA’s Fair Play rules, many clubs are scrambling to pay down debts and so are trying to get top dollar for their assets. This effectively raised the price for other transfer targets (like Mascherano and Kuyt) to such an extent that Inter felt they just were not “worth it.”

I understand that it is foolish to buy players that are overpriced or “just because,” but the team (no matter what they won last year) is in desperate need for at least a striker. In the best case scenario, Inter would also pick up a left back and a midfielder. What did the club do? Not a whole lot. Rafa had very modest requests (considering). He wanted a defensive midfielder so the defense could play higher and a striker to replace Balotelli. If possible, specifically Mascherano and Kuyt from Liverpool.

Spoiled brat or not, his goals last season brought in 8 points. Who will bring home those points now?

There was a long, drawn out affair over Mascherano, in the end he went to Barcelona for 24 million euro. I dont know how much Inter offered, but according to Hodgeson, it was so low as to not even be considered a real offer. He speculated that Branca faxed the offer were “just to satisfy some manager.” They didn’t even respond because they “consider[ed] this offer ridiculous.” (and that some manager remark – ouch. Not nice, Hodgeson, not nice at all)

I think Inter also made some half-hearted attempts to bring Kuyt in, but those also felt like we were going through the motions just to say we had. Basically, if Liverpool would let them go for what we were willing to pay (which was Muntari and a small amount of cash), then Rafa would get his wish. If not, we would look elsewhere. There was talk of Sculli and Inler (Sculli even had a tearful goodbye with the fans), but for some undisclosed reason, they fell through. Similarly, Forlan came up a few times – surely he could make a difference off the bench for Inter, but Atletico Madrid didn’t want to sell him. Or at least not for what was offered.

This guy could help a bit. And at 4 million euro, it would be a steal.

On the last day of the market, rumor is that Real Madrid offered Rafael van der Vaart to Inter after a deal fell through, but Moratti had his heart set on Forlan or Aguero so said no deal. Let’s be clear here: van der Vaart went to Tottenham for 8 million pounds, about 10 million euro. Real Madrid gave Inter a 6 million euro coupon to use towards the purchase of a player as part of the settlement for Mourinho. That means Inter could have gotten a creative attacking midfield option for an outlay of 4 million euro. How is that not a good, fiscally responsible deal?

So where does that leave Inter? In my opinion, in a very precarious situation. The failure to act over the summer in any meaningful way means that not only do we have a new coach who may well feel abandoned by his management, but many of the fans are unhappy, at least one of the players feels let down, and Inter’s biggest asset (and a large part of our recent success) – our fabled depth – is no more.

This is not depth, this is mediocrity.

Inter’s starting 11 right now includes all three of our legitimate striking options. Suazo is still on the books largely because his salary in relation to his skill makes him unsellable. He is, for all intents and purposes, a 3.5-million-euro-a-year door stop. He didn’t make the Champions League list and and I hope he doesn’t see the field this season. Quite simply, he is not good enough and the fact that he has become an option demonstrates just how disastrous this market truly was. Inter’s only real off the bench forward is Biabiany. Last year with Parma he played 29 Serie A games and had 6 goals and 3 assists. He shows a lot of pace, but doesn’t have Balotelli’s physical presence and has no European experience at all. Basically, he may be someone to work in now and then, but as of yet, he doesn’t appear to be a game-changer.

In the midfield, we have a ton of players, but not a whole lot of real options. For creativity, there is Sneijder, Thiago Motta, Coutinho and arguably, Stankovic. Of those four, really only Sneijder is, for want of a better term, “world class.” Deki was and has his brief moments, but cannot be counted on. Thiago Motta could be but cannot stay healthy long enough to make a real impact. The knee injury that kept him from playing at Barcelona has come back and he will be out at least until October. After that, who knows. I think it would be a mistake to rely on him. Coutinho is very very young and has even less experience than Biabiany. He needs at least a season (probably two) to find his way. So, if Sneijder picks up another ankle injury during his time with the Dutch NT this weekend, the only option is Stankovic. If that doesn’t send a shiver down your spine, I dont know what will. By the way, I know that technically Mancini is an attacking forward/winger, but that man is even more of a waste of space than Suazo (also for 3.5 million euro). He is an embarrassment to the team and I am gobsmacked that he was included on the CL list. Joel Obi fits somewhere in here as well, and while he shows promise, I dont know how much actual responsibility he is ready for.

He has exactly 36 Serie A minutes. Let’s not crush the kid under the weight of our expectations. Give him a few games until you dub him the next great thing.

Defensive midfielders are a bit more tricky. Since we didn’t get a leftback or the defensive midfielder Rafa wanted, everything hinges on Santon’s and Maicon’s fitness. With both available, Zanetti would be free to partner Cambiasso in the midfield. Between the two of them and Mariga, I think we are pretty well covered. The only problem is, Santon’s fitness and play level are, at this point, a complete unknown. If Zanetti has to cover more in defense, that means most of our depth in the holding midfield role will have to come from the newley promoted Nwankwo. Once again, depending on a first-year youth player is an awful lot of pressure for the kid.

Inter’s defense is old. Under Mou, that wasn’t much of a problem but with Rafa’s new mystery system (of doom), it appears the defense will have to cover a lot more ground. Hopefully, Rafa will realize that this plays exactly to our weaknesses and not at all to our strengths. With Chivu stranded at left back for who knows how long, our youngest central defender is Lucio (May 1978) followed closely by Samuel (March 1978). Neither, though, are particularly boyish although both are still more than capable. Should anything befall either of them, though, there are only the old stand-byes of Cordoba and Materazzi – and in this case I do mean old – as backup. Either (or both) are ok for a game here or there, maybe even an appearance off the bench, but the thought of having to rely on either for any meaningful amount of time makes my stomach churn. I shudder to think of what will happen should Rafa get it into his mind to try his old rotation policy. Things look a bit better with the addition of Santon to the squad. Should that ever happen, Chivu could be used as cover for the central defense and we would not have to worry that Materazzi will inadvertently break someone’s leg.

Will this boy ever come back to us? Or has his body betrayed him?

And for the record, Nelson Rivas doesn’t count. For some reason, he turned down a move to Cessena on the last day of the transfer market. For what possible purpose, I dont know. He is not on the CL list and if I never see him in an Inter jersey again, it will be too soon.

Keeper is the one position I actually feel ok about. I am thrilled with Julio Cesar and I think Castellazzi still has a lot of catch left in his hands. That is, we have some actual cover here. Depth even. Yay!

Holy Cow! The club actually plugged a whole with Castellazzi’s purchase. Good for you, club. Now tell me again why we didn’t get a forward.

Ok after all that, you can see why I am just a little worried. Sure, we have some good players. Yes, they will most likely do at least alright in the league. Do we have the depth to mount a legitimate challenge again for the treble? Probably not. I am not at all convinced we even have the drive to win the league this year – which isn’t too much of a tragedy considering the last 5 years. I know that bothers many of you, but I cant help but think that the cold, hard truth is that between losing Mourinho and Balotelli, and hamstringing our new coach, we just will not have what it takes. I am not complaining, simply stating what I believe to be the truth. The sad state of affairs that sees players like Mancini actually making our champions league list is proof enough that real depth is a thing of the past for Inter. A poorly timed tackle or two on key players will see this whole squad come down like a house of cards.

Poor guy. Out of the Liverpool pan and into the Inter fire. I bet he isn’t smiling any more.

As for Rafa, who knows what that will do to him. Rumor is he is angry and I dont blame him. He may be perfectly adequate, but he is not a miracle worker and given that he will not even be afforded the opportunity to actually try his tactics (apparently we dont have the correct players), it sure looks like he is being set up for failure. Not to mention he was leaving a financial meltdown at Liverpool to come to a team where I would bet he thought he would be supported. Instead, he is in a very similar situation but with even less power. At least at Liverpool he could actually choose the players they wouldn’t bring in. At Inter, he cant even do that. I legitimately feel badly for Benitez. He isn’t known for being, well, a winner, and here he is being asked to start from two paces back. Not nice, not nice at all. I wonder if he will quit or stick it out and take the abuse (because the press will hammer him if he doesn’t win).

Look, I understand that Inter is in debt and we cannot go on forever spending. I applaud that the club is finally doing something positive for its financial future. At the same time, you cannot hope to actually win anything without moving forward, even if that move just provides the psychological boost the squad (and coach) require. The roster we have right now has about 13 players – 15 including Thiago Motta and Santon – who are good enough to challenge at the top. That leaves very little wiggle room. I would argue that when it comes to forwards that leaves no room at all.

I am ok with aiming for the top 3 in the league and maybe the quarterfinals of the champions league (and that is if we are lucky). What I am not ok with is having the club tell me that everything is moonbeams and roses and Inter is the strongest team in Europe so I should just sit down and smile like a good girl. Inter was the strongest team in Europe, but in football, things change quickly and teams must either keep up or they will be left behind. Dont talk down to the fans by telling us that no investments were made because there were none that were up to snuff or that keeping the players the team already owns is the same as investing in the roster. There are players that would and could help, and were available at a good price, they just weren’t exciting enough for Moratti to changes his plans of paying down as much debt as possible to comply with the new rules. Which is a great plan. I dont need big-name signings, but I do want honesty from the club and realistic goals. We had a great run and now it is time to hunker down and pay the price for all that glory. I get it. Just dont insult my intelligence by telling me otherwise.

Win or lose, I love this team. And hell, you never know, I could be 100% wrong. It has happened before.

FORZA INTER

A little Tripletta juice to help us get through the dry times:

In this article I am going to attempt two things at once. I am going to recap the Bologna game and I am going to talk a little about Inter’s transfer season. They do share some connections. Both are disappointing on the face of things, both are nothing to worry about and both results are more of a good thing than a bad thing – but this doesn’t appear to be the perception by the supporters. Nevertheless I am sure that we will talking about the transfer season in depth in the week to come.

My Inter Player of the Match – just for being out there on the field at the opening whistle. I don’t know if anyone can tell yet, but I really appreciate players who work hard and remind people that this is a contact sport:

Highlights

Pagelle

Cesar: Julio wasn’t bothered after the 60 minute mark when Di Vaio essentially got tired of running 50 meters sprints for an hour. He was in perfect position for a header to go right to him for close range – which proves how important having good positioning is. 6.5

Zanetti: He didn’t make me forget about Maicon on the attack but he was a much better defender. He made one or two trademarked runs in the second half. It was a very decent showing. 6.5

Lucio: To continue from last season, Lucio gets caught out of position at times. But he has to listen to Cesar (they got their signals crossed once) and he has to stop deflecting incoming balls right to the top of the penalty area. He needs to stop this because: a. if he’s deflecting them there that means that he’s not there to guard the area and b. if a bad guy is there, it’s the shot at goal with the best angle at either side = better % chance of hurting us. 5.5

Samuel: If this game is any indicator he is still our best pure defender. He’s hard to beat when he’s on your case and he’s not going to be shoved aside. Tough, gritty and good. It’ll do. 6.5

Chivu: Not as bad an outing as he had against Atletico, but not great. He’s got everyone thinking about Santon’s knees. 5.0

Mariga: Wow, did I think he just stole the show. Eto’o was more dangerous up top. And Coutinho made some nice moves, but Mariga was everywhere. He defended, he passed and his movement! He even had a decent shot that went just wide. When he made a mistake he busted his ass to make it better. He’s young and he’s going to have rough times – especially if he doesn’t curb the temper but I hope that we have the guts to keep him on the field. 7.0

Cambiasso: Cuchu doesn’t look like he up to speed yet. There were glimmers and he still bossed the midfield, especially when Mariga showed his lack of experience and he passed himself into a corner – Cuchu was there to bail him out. But the shot taking was… ugh. 6.0

Sneijder: He got a phantom caution and then he got the snot beat out of him. He better be ready, because if this game is any indication he’s the target that everyone is going to try to injure to stop us. Other than that, he had a decent game. He almost scored on a free kick that took a miracle to save. Toughness and good passing count a lot with me. 7.0

Pandev: Not the best game that I have ever seen Pandev have, but even still he manages to dribble into the box and put pressure. Too bad he didn’t do anything when he got there. I thought that he was rightly subbed @60 minutes. 5.5

Eto’o: The strongest forward that we had yesterday. He took 2 guys every time he looked at the ball and still was very, very dangerous. Had the best shot of the night that looked like it bounced off Viviano’s head and then off the crossbar before Viviano even registered the shot. He had another shot that looked like it was off just a bit before hitting the side netting. 7.5

Milito: It was a forgettable night for Diego. Time and time again you could see that the mind knew what to do but the body wasn’t following directions. He probably could have been subbed before the 80ish minute mark but I couldn’t argue that it needed to be done. The commentator on my feed was going crazy when this happened, which goes to show how little they know. I really can’t think of too much positive that he did all game long. 5.0

Coutniho: I rarely grade the subs, because by definition they have less time to do their thing. But Coutinho had a very promising 30 minute-ish showing. He crossed the ball for Eto’o’s amazing Viviano’s head/crossbar miss and he worked with Zanetti go give a credible attack on the right that wasn’t happening with Pandev yesterday. 6.5

Analysis

There was a lucky team and there was a dominant team. It just so happened that they weren’t the same team on Monday. Inter carried shots on target, shots off target, possession and corners. We just couldn’t score. Sometimes it happens like that… especially on opening day. I won’t bore you with yet more stats that you have already heard, but we draw often on opening day. It doesn’t mean anything. There are 114 points to be had this season over 38 games. No one will break 100, so everyone will drop points here or there. The important thing is not to lose too many and to keep calm.

I saw some positive things on Monday. For instance we were brave enough to use our youth with a game on the line. That would never have happened with Mourinho in charge. Santon initially saw the field in a Coppa game and because Mourinho had no other option. It was just a happy accident he was good. Since we are using our youth, maybe that means we will get to see Santon again some day.

Another positive thing was that we played better in the second half than we did in the first. Whatever was going wrong in the first half, Rafa was able to make adjustments. We were clearly better coming out of the dressing room and switching out Pandev for Coutinho and NOT Stankovic was smart and done at the right time. Milito has been off his feed and I have no problem with his substitution.

Here’s another positive for you – how about that game from Viviano? He was very good, probably the sympathetic vote for MOTM. The 24 year old keeper has been on Inter’s books for a year and a half now, since Jan of 2009. He was a part of Inter’s preseason in 2009 (here if you hadn’t seen it) but he doesn’t want to sit on the bench waiting for an injury and I don’t blame him a bit. One day he might be the keeper for Inter and the National Team, like another recent Inter legend.

A negative of this game is that we don’t look physically fit yet. If we needed more game time we should have gotten it. If we needed more time on the field we should have gotten that too. The World Cup is a hard thing to train around but it has to be done… even if the rest of the team has to train without those players.

But this is where we really miss Mourinho – after a tough game that everyone is freaking out about. I don’t think that Mourinho was a great chalk talk guy and I know from watching practice that he wasn’t running the training. But what he did was to take the pressure off the players. And there is a lot of pressure on them right now. Why there is pressure, I have no idea. We have been the dominant team in Italy for several seasons. Even if we have a down season… it won’t be the end of the world and it doesn’t mean that we won’t ever be good again. It’s not like we don’t have the money to fix anything we need to.

Mercato

Get a blue shirt, damn it!

All of which brings me to this Mercato. Believe me I could and will spend a lot more time on this later in the week. People need to calm down about the lack of signings for this summer for a bunch of reasons.

1. We have a good squad right now. It’s not just good… it’s top 3 good. We should compete for the 2 trophies at home and we should do okay in Champions League. Should. Nothing is written is stone and bad things happen. But looking at this team, we should be at or near enough.

2. We have made signings. They were complimentary signings, not big name splashy signings. But they increased our depth, quality and decreased our age. Apparently the team age is important for some reason. We have only one player who could possibly take the field in either the midfield and 2 in the attack who are over thirty. The defense is old as hell, but then defenders play older. Like goalkeepers do… everyone should know that. Plus that’s also why we bought Ranocchia – which everyone forgets about. If he can prove that he’s recovered from his knee problems The Frog Man Cometh… next year. Plus… I am willing to bet that there is a player who came into Genoa this summer who will be ours next season, kind of how Cesar came to Italy through Chievo, for a price, only to be transferred to Inter later on.

3. Randomly buying players to make a new coach happy is one of the classic blunders. The most famous of which is “never get involved in a land war in Asia” – but only slightly less well-known is this: Don’t ruin your team for 4 years because of a Manager who only stays for 2. Or am I the only one who remembers the fact that Mourinho – you know, the guy that all of you are pining for like a dead parrot for the fjords – HAD to have Mancini. 3 summers later, Mourinho is gone, but Mancini is still here. I read that people are blaming Branca for this… should we be praising him for learning his lesson?

To be continued… later.

FORZA INTER

I think the true test of a team is not how they handle success, but how well they are able to pick themselves up after a defeat. Well, with the start of Serie A nigh upon us, I hope the team can find the strength of character to pick themselves up and get on with winning. Lets put the cup loss behind us and look to the future. That second star isn’t going to win itself.

What: Bologna v Inter, Serie A opener
Where: Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, Bologna
When: Monday, August 30, 8:45pm local time (11:45am pacific, 2:45pm eastern)
How to Watch: Live on Fox Soccer or find a stream: MyP2P, Rojadirecta, Ustream, and ATDHE.net

Since I have to work all day Monday, Kirby was kind enough to offer to host the liveblog on his site, the ESPN Soccer Blog for Inter.
Maybe he will have more luck than I did for the Super Cup.

So, here we are at the start of a shiny new season. A blank slate, if you will, on which to emblazon our name on. And it all begins with Bologna. Last year, Inter won this match handily, with goals from Milito, Balotelli, and Cambiasso. Zalayeta pulled one back for them, but in the end, it finished a comfortable 1-3 for Inter.

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THEM

This is actually a pretty interesting tie to start the new year with. On the face of it, it seems like an easy start – Inter hasn’t lost to Bologna away since 2002 – but I firmly believe there are no gimmes in the Serie A. Plus, with their change in ownership this past summer, the connections between Inter and Bologna are stronger than ever. A quick look at the roster shows a fair number of familiar faces:

• Emiliano Viviano (GK), co-owned by Inter
• Luca Siligardi (MF), on loan from Inter
• Riccardo Meggiorini (F), Inter youth product
• Rene Krhin (MF), co-owned by Inter

So, in some ways, this game is a family affair.

The big news out of the Bologna camp is that they have let their coach, Franco Colomba, go. And just two days before the season opener. No official word on who the new coach will be, but their youth team coach, Paolo Aiello, and goalkeeping coach, Franco Paleari, will sit on the bench for tomorrow’s game.

This could go either way for us (and them). Sometimes there is a bit of a bump when a new coach comes – everyone tries a bit harder, there is renewed optimism. Other times, though, the players are out of sorts and a bit confused with the new ideas (sound familiar?) and things need some time to really click.

The club has called up 20 players for their opening match:

Portieri: Lombardi, Lupatelli, Viviano.
Difensori: Cherubin, Britos, Esposito, Garics, Moras, Portanova, Rubin.
Centrocampisti: Casarini, Della Rocca, Ekdal, Elia, Mudingayi, Siligardi.
Attaccanti: Di Vaio, Gimenez, Meggiorini, Paponi.

Unfortunately, Krhin is still suffering from a little injury he picked up this summer and is not expected back for a couple weeks. Still and all, considering our recent form, this group might just be enough for us. (I am really truly trying to stay positive, I promise)

They do know they are not allowed to actually carry the ball in games, right?

US

Benitez has called up 20 players of his own:
Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Castellazzi, Orlandoni.
Defenders: Cordoba, Zanetti, Lucio, Materazzi, Samuel, Chivu, Santon.
Midfielders: Stankovic, Sneijder, Mariga, Cambiasso, Obi, Coutinho.
Strikers: Eto’o, Milito, Pandev, Biabiany.

The big absence here, of course, is Maicon. Apparently, he took a knock to the knee in the Atletico game so is not available. Still, with Branca rumored to be in Madrid, it is fueling all sorts of speculation that his sale will be our August surprise. Only time will tell, but at this late date and after all the assurances that he was off the market, that would sure come as a punch to the gut. Thiago Motta is still out with recovering from surgery. Expect him out at least a month.

We can do this, I know we can.

Benitez had his usual presser today, where basically the press hammered him for losing the Super Cup, asking just what he was going to do to turn the team around. Basically, he just begged for more time and pointed out that Inter often have a slow start to the season, saying:

“Losing is never good, but I am secure in the reaction of my players. We know that the beginning of the season is always difficult, we had some examples of that yesterday. Inter are a team that, over the last three years , never started the season in the best way has always needed time. I believe that in this sense, having lost their last game would give an extra motivation because now we are here to do well against Bologna.”

Ok, so we need time and to change a few things. Any idea what we need to change or how long it may take? Nope. No idea:

“We don’t know what is the time we need to change things and we do not know how much we will change. We will begin by improving the little things and see if little by little, we can improve even large ones, but at this point we think above all of winning. How should we do this? By placing in the field the qualities that we have because it will not be the from that makes the difference: what will make the difference is our mentality, the intensity and the concentration of the players because if the coaches are good to do something, the difference is always made by the players.”

I dont know what he is trying to say with that last bit (”…perchè se gli allenatori sono buoni per fare qualcosa, a fare la differenza saranno sempre i giocatori“), but I think it is clear that we need a new attitude. I really hope that Rafa has the chutzpah to make that happen.

There is a bit of good news, though: Santon seems ready to play again. Also, there is some speculation that Coutinho will get his Serie A debut tomorrow (although Rafa says that he is young and he will not put Coutinho under pressure).

Is Coutinho ready for Serie A?

I will not lie, I am hoping for a bright start to the season – certainly at least a draw – but I just do not understand what Rafa wants this team to do. I dont understand how he can inject pace into the legs of our aging back line. It is all well and good to have a system you think can win, but if you dont have the players to execute that plan, you can’t force people to be something they are not – like being 8 years younger than they are.

All of this means that I dont have the first clue who Rafa will start out there tomorrow (anyone want to venture a guess?).

Julio Cesar
Santon? Zanetti? Lucio Samuel Chivu? Santon?
Mariga? Stankovic? Cambiasso
Eto’o Sneijder Pandev? Coutinho?
Milito?

I just dont know.

On the plus side, Bologna may be the perfect team to set the squad back on their feet after the disappointment of losing the super cup. They are good enough to give us trouble but perhaps will be in enough disarray that the team wont need to kill themselves in order to win. In fact, I am officially turning this frown upside down. This will be a good game for Inter. The team will play well and we will all feel a lot better about the season to come.

Everyone on board with this? Good. Because I want nothing but the positive-ist of vibes for this, the happiest of thoughts. We fans are going to use whatever mojo or psychic energy we have to push this team. What other choice do we have?
I’ve got spirit, yes I do. I’ve got spirit, how about you?

Dont forget about the Liveblog for the game on Kirby’s blog.
And if you haven’t submitted an entry for my contest, you have about 7 hours to get that to me before the contest closes (midnight, pacific time).

FORZA INTER

In other news, Sneijder thinks the team needs a new player – not the best news. Sounds like he is worried. Not good not good.

And Javier Zanetti won the Gaetano Scirea career achievement award. Great news, well deserved.