Inter's search for a new Coach...

It is becoming increasingly clear that Leo is not a long term solution at Inter, not as a coach at least (he may still prove to be a good scout/director for us). That said, he hasn't been a bad interim coach, we have done better than what most expected near the end of Rafa's reign.

But the big question is - who should replace Leo this summer? There is talk in the press re Mourinho and Pep.... but that does not sound realistic enough. Mourinho will not leave Madrid so soon, and more importantly, without achieveing his goals (unless Real sack him, they are capable of it!)... and while Pep has hinted that his career at Barca is drawing to an end, I am pretty sure he doesn't mean so soon. Probably in a year or two, he would be silly to leave now. Capello, he ain't leaving England this year. Hiddink? He just joined Turkey, again very unlikely - he probably prefers coaching NTs anyways.

So the big question is, who are the realistic options?

1. Spalletti? Gifted tacticial, has done well at Zenit with the domestic double. But having qualified for the CL, he might want to take a shot at it with the current team he has built. Also, while his attacking tactics are innovative and exciting, he is perhaps not the best man to organise Inter's leaky defence...

2. Andre Villas-Boas? The apprentice? Mou's former assistent has had a remarkable start to his coaching career, on track to emulate his former master at Porto. He knows Inter, and most of our current stars well. And if he learnt anything from Mou in all those years, he will know how to organise our defence!!

3. Mazzarri: Has grown from strength to strength, has been considered as one of Italy's finest tacticians for some years now. And this season, what he has achieved is nothing short of remarkable. On the downside, ambitious Napoli may not let him go easy, speciallly after qualifying for the CL after so long... and Mazzarri is relatively a novice in Europe.

4. Mancio: The return of the prodigal son? He knows Inter, he knows the players, he has laid the foundations of this team. On the negative side, he might have broken his relationship with Moratti beyond repair, and he is suspect in Europe to say the least. Will Mancio represent a step forward, or a step backward?

Others: Rijkaard/Van Basten? - too milanista for me.... Lippi - no way in hell, never again!! Deschamps? Van Gaal?

What do you guys think?

Van Gaal

At least he will pull down his pants to Inter defence!

Deschamps is a good shout...was surprised when Juve didn't give him a chance in Serie A.

Only one man for the job...

Never, never, NEVER again...

Deluded F*ck wrote:Only one man for the job...

fcb wrote:Deschamps is a good shout...was surprised when Juve didn't give him a chance in Serie A.

Agree. Although Juve got their commupence for that piece of mismanagement.

Rafa

puleez.
btw, why don't YOU take him back?

I would say Guidolin, but not sure if he will leave Udinese after the season they're having. I think he has the temperament and the tactical nous to do really well at Inter.

Hlebagone wrote:

fcb wrote:Deschamps is a good shout...was surprised when Juve didn't give him a chance in Serie A.

Agree. Although Juve got their commupence for that piece of mismanagement.

Inspite of his Bianconeri past, I wouldn't mind Deschamps (perhaps the fact that he ended in poor terms with Juve redeems him a bit)... He always was the intelligent player, even 15 years ago I thought he would go on to make a good coach (like I say about Cambiasso now) - some players you just know, they got it.

Deschamps will make a good Inter coach, I wouldn't mind that at all. Also like the talk about Andre Villas-Boas (or Mourinho Mark II) - he has learnt from the best, and it shows.

Mazzarri would be perfect, but looks like he won't be moving...

Forza Italia!Forza Milan! wrote:I would say Guidolin, but not sure if he will leave Udinese after the season they're having. I think he has the temperament and the tactical nous to do really well at Inter.

Good call, I rate him quite highly as well. But in a similar fashion to Spalletti, his teams are never very organised/disciplined defensively - I suspect that may show up at the highest level, specially big european nights.

Well, Big Luciano yesterday wrote outright that our next coach will be Guardiola - and that we'll try to build a more offensive team starting with Sanchez and very probably Ganso, thanks to the influence of Leonardo-as-an-executive.
one wonders if he's indulging in having some fun at our miseries...

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=262120


Deschamps ain't bad, neither is Mazzarri, even if I'm not that sure about him.
I've been a fan of him since Reggina, but all in all I'm not that impressed by his work at Napoli this year, despite the undisputable results so far.
Villas-Boas as a Mourinho reenactment leaves me cold, it's just an emotional thing tho since I've never seen his Porto.

re. Guidolin, he's got the tactical nous for sure, vast experience (even if never in the top flight), but I'm not confident about the temperament.
He always looked quite shy and nervous, IMHO he's the kind of coach that could be teared apart to shreds in Milano.


For the tactical organization/discipline issue, at this point I'd prefer a coach that tries to play ball over one that just preaches intensity and short lines.

Technically speaking Guidolin would be good, he seems to like a good passing game without risking to be reckless or naive.
I'd say that often his teams have lapses during the season though.

Spalletti also would be very good IMHO, he seems to be maturing constantly and although I rate him less than Guidolin as a tactician, he'd be much better at handling all the nasty stuff that goes with being Inter's manager.

I wouldn't mind going for him, it could be feasible unlike Guardiola which looks like a pipe dream for now.

Luciano will probably be the last guy to know what Inter are doing in the market... I have noticed that these days he just keeps repeating the most popular rumours/views just to be in the spotlight...

I am with you in your analysis, tho I would prefer Villas-Boas or Deschamps (only slightly) over Spalletti... only coz with Spalletti, we know what we will get, whereas with Villas-Boas/Deschamps we don't know how good they can get...

abundance wrote:Well, Big Luciano yesterday wrote outright that our next coach will be Guardiola - and that we'll try to build a more offensive team starting with Sanchez and very probably Ganso, thanks to the influence of Leonardo-as-an-executive.
one wonders if he's indulging in having some fun at our miseries...

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=262120

Deschamps ain't bad, neither is Mazzarri, even if I'm not that sure about him.
I've been a fan of him since Reggina, but all in all I'm not that impressed by his work at Napoli this year, despite the undisputable results so far.
Villas-Boas as a Mourinho reenactment leaves me cold, it's just an emotional thing tho since I've never seen his Porto.

re. Guidolin, he's got the tactical nous for sure, vast experience (even if never in the top flight), but I'm not confident about the temperament.
He always looked quite shy and nervous, IMHO he's the kind of coach that could be teared apart to shreds in Milano.


For the tactical organization/discipline issue, at this point I'd prefer a coach that tries to play ball over one that just preaches intensity and short lines.

Technically speaking Guidolin would be good, he seems to like a good passing game without risking to be reckless or naive.
I'd say that often his teams have lapses during the season though.

Spalletti also would be very good IMHO, he seems to be maturing constantly and although I rate him less than Guidolin as a tactician, he'd be much better at handling all the nasty stuff that goes with being Inter's manager.

I wouldn't mind going for him, it could be feasible unlike Guardiola which looks like a pipe dream for now.

Who is going to replace Gasperini when he gets fired in the next few days/weeks?

Same grey hair with so much better eyebrow...


or

if you don't want to look elsewhere...

It's all FAT RAFA'S FAULT!

Inter will win again when there's another Calciopoli - Luciano Moggi

The controversial figure has responded to an Italian politician's criticism of Juventus' management by launching a scathing attack on Massimo Moratti's club

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2011/09/15/2667166/inter-will-win-again-when-theres-another-calciopoli-luciano

Ooh!

Divine Moggi

blutgraetsche wrote:

Inter will win again when there's another Calciopoli - Luciano Moggi

The controversial figure has responded to an Italian politician's criticism of Juventus' management by launching a scathing attack on Massimo Moratti's club

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2011/09/15/2667166/inter-will-win-again-when-theres-another-calciopoli-luciano

Ooh!

blutgraetsche wrote:

Inter will win again when there's another Calciopoli - Luciano Moggi

The controversial figure has responded to an Italian politician's criticism of Juventus' management by launching a scathing attack on Massimo Moratti's club

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2011/09/15/2667166/inter-will-win-again-when-theres-another-calciopoli-luciano

Ooh!

So basically, we now need Milan to hire Moggi

Can't stand this corrupt, lying a******. Glad FIGC banned him for life.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/sep/15/gian-piero-gasperini-internazionale-inter

The Question: Should a manager use tactics unsuitable for his players?

Internazionale appointed Gian Piero Gasperini who has a tactical outlook ill-suited to the squad. The result so far is three defeats out of three

Jonathan Wilson

Three games played; three games lost. Already Gian Piero Gasperini must be fearing that that distant tolling of bells is meant for him. He was, in truth, always an odd fit for the Internazionale job, just as Marcelo Bielsa, who was interviewed before him, would have been. Gasperini may not be quite such an idealist as the Argentinian but, like him, he has a clearly defined preferred style of play. Imposing that on an established squad of players, many of whom have the egos that come with success, is never easy even if it is desirable and, given the pressures inherent at a club the size of Inter, the demands for instant success, it may not even be possible.

Bielsa at least seems to have recognised that. He is a brilliant exception, a man so wedded to his philosophy of the game that his main question when he applies for a job is whether he will be able to apply it unopposed. He spoke to River Plate and to Inter, and ended up at Athletic Bilbao, a club with an equally idiosyncratic approach. One point from two league games (plus a home draw against Trabzonspor in a Europa League play-off that was abandoned after Fenerbahce's expulsion from European competition and Trabzonspor's subsequent elevation to the Champions League) suggests an awkward start, but at least he has begun better than Gasperini, whose first three games have brought three defeats.

Gasperini's Genoa played a vibrant, exciting style of football in a 3-4-3. He is wedded to that. That's what he's good at; it's what he does. To appoint him and expect him to play something different is akin to signing Niall Quinn and expecting him not to play as a target man. Inter's squad, though, doesn't look suited to the system.

I confess I assumed when Gasperini was appointed that it meant Wesley Sneijder was on his way, for he is a player who doesn't readily fit into the midfield four. Nor does he fit on to the left of the front three, which is where Gasperini has tried him so far. Sneijder, in fact, is a confusing player, because he seems to have turned himself into an anachronism. In the final months under José Mourinho, he played at the centre of the trident in a 4-2-3-1, a very mobile, modern attacking midfielder, a creator – perhaps even a playmaker - who was prepared to drop back and play a little deeper if required. Then he scored five goals at the World Cup and seemed to believe he was a classic number 10. He had played at times as the one in a 4-3-1-2 under Mourinho – although notably in the earlier, less successful part of the season – and spent the majority of last season in the role, something that contributed to the fatal narrowness so thrillingly exposed by Schalke 04 in the Champions League.

Gasperini as good as admitted Sneijder's unsuitability to his tactical shape by leaving him on the bench for Sunday's 4-3 defeat to Palermo, only to bring him on midway through the first half to replace Mauro Zárate. Diego Forlán, another who seems unsuited to the 3-4-3 – and less explicably so than Sneijder given he was signed after the appointment of Gasperini – switched from left to right, and Sneijder spent the next hour chugging unenthusiastically and ineffectively up and down the left, then drifting infield and looking the dazzling player he can be.

When he and Forlán did cross paths in injury time as both wandered into the centre, the possibilities of the combination were apparent. It was a Sneijder pass to Forlán that brought about the corner that led to the penalty that restored Inter's 2-1 lead, and Sneijder then laid in the Uruguayan to score Inter's third. Having two such intelligent players working in tandem, surely, is a must, although when Sneijder, having begun on the left of a 4-3-3 against Trabzonspor, switched into the centre after 12 minutes, creating a 4-3-1-2, it had little effect.

Only the two wing-backs, Maicon, who is injured, and Yuto Nagatomo, look a natural fit for the 3-4-3. The 3-4-3 shape was being questioned even before the defeat to Milan in the Super Coppa. Inter's owner, Massimo Moratti, last month said that he thought Gasperini would "eventually change" to a back four, but that seems the wrong way round. Surely a new coach should take the existing squad and mould them gradually towards his ideal, whether by coaching or transfer activity, rather than taking his ideals and gradually diluting them? That, of course, is assuming he has an ideal; some coaches – Fabio Capello, for instance – are almost entirely pragmatic, fitting the system to the players rather than the other way round.

As it turned out it took Gasperini just one league game to move away from his 3-4-3. Seemingly preparing the ground for his change of shape against Trabzonspor, Gasperini said that he thought it natural to play three at the back against a team that operates with two forwards, and four against teams who play with three (by which he clearly means those who play with a lone central striker, however advanced their wingers are). That thinking is entirely orthodox: Rinus Michels believed his sides should always have one defender more than the opposition had forwards, and Barcelona's use of a back three against Villarreal followed the same logic.

What is a little puzzling about his claim is that, before last night, he had employed a back four in only 20.4% of games since taking over at Genoa in 2006; it also raises the question of whether, had Palermo set out with the 4-3-2-1 they used last season rather than a 4-4-2, they would have played a back four. Even in Italy, in which variants of 4-3-1-2 remain the most common system, significantly more than one in five teams play with a lone central striker. This, fairly evidently, was a response to criticism.

It failed. As the Gazzetto dello Sport noted, the change of shape brought a reversal of faults. "Messy, reckless, exposed and beaten 4-3 on Sunday," its report read. "Ordered, immobile, lacking ideas and defeated 1-0 tonight. Which one do you prefer? It's like choosing between a stomach ache and a headache."

Order, though, at least is a start; the immobility and lack of ideas were perhaps down as much to anxiety after the disappointing start as to any intrinsic failing. What the shambles in Sicily – and it was a shambles; Palermo were far more dominant than the 4-3 scoreline might suggest – exposed was that certain key individuals are not the players they once were. Júlio César has slipped from the supreme standards he set two to three years ago, and admitted a measure of responsibility for the third and fourth goals; the third, in particular was a worry, stemming from his strange habit of going for even relatively low balls with the outside arm in the dive (ie, the left as he dives to his right).

Lúcio, meanwhile, has never been quick, but has come to look slow, something that was evident in the Copa América, in which Brazil's 2-2 draw with Paraguay was just as much to do with his failure to cover Dani Alves as with the right-back's adventurous positioning. In theory a three at the back system should help him, allowing him to get on with marking and winning headers with an extra player to cover, but Gasperini's interpretation of the 3-4-3 is Dutch in style; it's not a libero and two markers, but three defenders spread across the pitch, with the wing-backs more midfielders than attacking defenders. Lúcio was poor against Palermo, and it was his hesitation in pushing out that led to Ondrej Celustka's winner.

More generally, given the age and general lack of pace among his central defenders, Gasperini may have to reconsider how high up the pitch his back line, whether a four or a three, plays. His style at Genoa was based on hard-pressing and a high offside line; at Inter his defenders are so slow on the turn that they look vulnerable to any ball over the top.

Again, given the make-up of the squad, you wonder why Gasperini was ever appointed. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with his 3-4-3 or his high-tempo style, but tactics do not exist in isolation; they must always be fitted to players, opposition and circumstances. There is no "best" system or formation; although there are styles of play that, thanks to other developments, become outmoded. It would be wrong to say that it makes no sense for a coach to have a preferred system, but there must always be a compromise between theory and resources.

An obvious interim solution would be to use Sneijder as a playmaker in a 3-4-1-2, which would restore Forlán to a more central role, but this, surely, is the case of a bad appointment. Giving Gasperini, a man stylistically antithetical to most of the squad, the job made sense only if Moratti was going to give him time to oversee a long-term evolution. Undermining him by publicly questioning his tactics almost before he had begun is bafflingly self-destructive.

bluenine wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:

Inter will win again when there's another Calciopoli - Luciano Moggi

The controversial figure has responded to an Italian politician's criticism of Juventus' management by launching a scathing attack on Massimo Moratti's club

http://www.goal.com/en/news/10/italy/2011/09/15/2667166/inter-will-win-again-when-theres-another-calciopoli-luciano

Ooh!

So basically, we now need Milan to hire Moggi

Can't stand this corrupt, lying a******. Glad FIGC banned him for life.

Yes, but he's right.

The Winner:





Good appointment, he'll steady the ship and the best thing about Ranieri is that for all the mocking he got for being a "tinkerman" and "loser" the flipside is that it means he's not a stubborn ideologue - he will just find the right formula for the players he has and give them their confidence back. Not that they'll pick up any silverware, but there's a real danger of Inter missing the CL altogether now that Serie A only has 3 places.

I'm sure, given their start to the season, that Inter fans will settle for finishing runners-up.