The Problem

[snake]

Every year after the transfer market closes and our season begins, we start off slowly. By the time the Christmas time has come we are already off the pace. Then by January the team has started to come together, the Coach has started to figure out which lineup he wants to play, and all of a sudden we gather so much points that if the season had started in January we would practically be on top.

This is the case this season aswell,

Then you ask yourself, why is it every year it takes half a season to wake up? Well its obvious, the players have not had the time to 'gel' and the most important factor is, the coach now knows his players, that includes the old players and players who came at the start of the season. This means a formidable lineup can take the field.

Next year one wonders what will happen? Our team this year has mainly involved Veron, if he does not stay an extra season and we happen to sell some more players will we have another whole new team again and be at square one?

I asked myself a question, if we started next season with the exact same lineup we have been playing with in the past few games would we be scudetto material? I think the awnser is Yes. The team no each other well and Mancini knows what to play and how to play it. All the earlier bugs (defending) have now gone, and since January we have conceded the least goals after Milan.

If anything must happen, not more then a CB and a LB should be purchased. People talk about buying, selling and frankly its all a bad thing for the club. If we change our defence, our midfield and start with a whole new team I think we will need another half a year to get it going again.

We can only pray and hope that Mancini has an influence on Moratti so that our team remains the same as we are now.

[Gismo]

Don't worry about Moratti. Facchetti is running the show now. Moratti is only covering the debts.

Have you noticed that we don't buy players for huge sums anymore? I think that's because Moratti doesn't wanna contribute when he can't choose the new players anymore. Any thoughts on that?

And don't worry about Veron. We're gonna buy him.

[J zanetti]

Spot on! Nothing more than a CB and LB is required. No revolution is needed as we have enough quality players to challenge those above us. Facchetti has been clear regarding this matter when asked by the media. I just sincerely hope that Moratti will not influence him too much.

[InterFCAustin]

Don't worry about Moratti. Facchetti is running the show now. Moratti is only covering the debts.

Have you noticed that we don't buy players for huge sums anymore? I think that's because Moratti doesn't wanna contribute when he can't choose the new players anymore. Any thoughts on that?

And don't worry about Veron. We're gonna buy him.

if this about moratti is true..then he lost my respect.that's not right to do.

[Hammoudi]

That's not true Jo, Moratti is willing to pay any sum for a player that he likes. He said he will provide 32M for this year's budget.

[cool_cuchu]

hmm, we will buy players, that's unavoidable...
if we wanna maintain this team, we need to buy.. Veron is not ours so he will cost something..
The main team will probably the same...

it will probably look like this :

--------------- Toldo

JZ ---- Cafe -- Matrix -- Favalli

Veron --- Cambiasso -- Christiano -- Stan

---------- Adriano -- Martins

Players considered main squad :
12. Vieri
24. Sinisa

Backup but very important:
13. Ze Maria --> could play RB and RM
14. Cruz --> consistent subs
15. Carini --> very good ford 3rd goalie
25. Fontana --> very good backup for toldo

Supposed to be main squad but inconsistent :
16. Kily --> injured a lot, didnt shine
17. Van Der Meyde --> nervous, havent been able to exploit top performance
18. Recoba

Hard to find chances (good/hardworking players, actually deserved to stay but fail to compete for places):
19. Emre
20. Karagounis
21. Davids
26. Gamara

Injury machine :
22. Coco
18. Recoba

Have Family Problems at Home:
23. Burdisso


leaving us (not really first teamers, very old and end of their contracts):
1. Fontana (contract end)
2. Sinisa (contract end)
3. Gamara (contract end)
4. Coco (inter is tired of waiting)
6. Emre (he wants chances somewhere else)
7. Burdisso (leaving to sort out his personal matters)
10. Davids

probably leaving us ( I expect them to be replaced, as replacing them will not affect our squad much)
8. Kily
9. Van der Meyde
5. Recoba ???

I couldn't check inter.it. And from my memory, I could only name 26 from inter senior team. I believe we actually have 30+ players in our squad.

if my calculation is near the truth.. then we have 10 players leaving...but most of them dont contribute much to the team.. So I dont see a big deal. Even if 10 players leaving, it;s not a revolution since the main team is defined... We could strengthen some weak position... the certain one is LB (favalli is not that bad, but he needs backup or someone better than him that he will be the backup)..
WIngers, with Fiore coming, I dont see any problem replacing Kily, even if fiore is not performing, it wont be worse than having kily this season..
I dont know any VDM's replacement.. But I dont see any problem replacing him... VDM is probably improving ..

On CB, we will certainly need reinforcement as Sinisa and Gamara leaving.. as they meet the end of their contracts..

I am tired to wait for Chino.. I prefer to have peaceful moments with younger, willing to be benched striker...

so 26 - 10 = 16, we need 9 new players to keep our squad to 25..

We may have 30+ players, but only those 26 have been in my view..

players coming :
1. Kuffour --> replacing gamare
2. Alex --> replacing sinisa
3. Fiore --> replacing kily
4. simplicio --> replacng Chino


shortly, I dont see our new buys as the same as our transfer strategy on our previous seasons... We have had main squad to build around it...
last season we buy Stankovic, Adriano, Cambiaso, Veron, Favalli who has been in our main team... this season...

so, I dont see similar thing this season...
if we keep Mancio and Veron, we basically have the same main team... the frame is built...

[snake]

Im sure Mancio is a smart coach, and he will know he only needs...

A left back
A centre back.

[Pravesh]

hmm, we will buy players, that's unavoidable...
if we wanna maintain this team, we need to buy.. Veron is not ours so he will cost something..
The main team will probably the same...

it will probably look like this :

--------------- Toldo

JZ ---- Cafe -- Matrix -- Favalli

Veron --- Cambiasso -- Christiano -- Stan

---------- Adriano -- Martins

No 2 DMs' plz and thanfully, Mancini has also already stated it.....
Veron in the right wing, yet again ?? If Vieri stays with us, it could be stg like this:

Stankovic/? -------- Veron ------- Cambiasso ------- Stankovic/?

[cool_cuchu]

well, Pravesh.. I am not saying that 2 DMs is mancio or my favourite formation... I am just making up formation from players who play the most time under Mancio... Whom I see them as first teamers...

Looking at the players fielded, we can see that mancio is lacking in wing options (I consider it as an option if the player in that position can perform at least like Favalli has this season).. Veron and Stan should be center midfielder, but they have been played a lot.. on wide position

in Mancio's perfect world, the squad would be like this :

Main Formation:

------------------- Toldo

J Zanetti -- Cordoba -- Matrix -- Favalli

VDM/Winger --- Cambiasso -- Veron -- Winger

----------- Adriano -- Martins


Player Options for The First Team:
12. Vieri ---> You'll need a player his calibre to rotate with your first two striker or when you deploy 4-3-3

13. C Zanetti --> if mancio decides to play more defensive role or having many striker upfront, he can also play in cambi's position, give manco tactical option

14. Stankovic --> can play in Veron's position or play wide as a tactical choice

15. A very good tall CB --> no CB can play all the time, Matrix is good enough, but we need someone (or tactics) to handle set pieces situation
or even if we play with three backs.. (I will love it if we can get samuel, I am with ZZANG on this)

Backups (they wont play as much as the main team, but they are essential elements for our success):
16. Ze Maria --> backup for RB and RM , very good players and give mancio tactical options (he must stay with us next season)

17. backup for LB or Favalli could go here if we can get someone better (I dont think we can get an obvious transfer target for this one)

18. A backup CB --> fast defender, he basically will sub in for cordoba, or play with him when we are facing two fast but not tall strikers..

19. Cruz or A backup striker --> someone like Cruz is just perfect, I am just not sure we're keeping him..

20. Kily or a backup LM, if Kily can improve he can go to the main team or become a backup he is willing to do so..

21. Carini or Cesar --> excellent Backup for Toldo

Young Backups (just like backups but they can be our future main team), willing being benched and playing less... with smaller squad, their chance of improving is much better, we dont rely on them too much. They will play as much as Davids, Emre, Karagounis have this season

22. A Young Fast and Tall CB
23. A Young AM or versatile midfielders --> give an option in tactics, but he wont play much.. --> Zicu
24. A Young Striker --> probably Vucinic, Pinilla, Eli or Zicu (I like rubinho, but he wont be with us)
25. A Young GK (Carini or Cesar)

WIth these we have compact squads, there are several options for those kind of players in our payroll and avaliable players in the market... If Emre can be considered as a young CM/AM that would be great.. I think he's too good to be called a young CM/AM..

Some players still have big chance for 1st team (Kily and VDM)..

I am removing all injury prone players coz we could not rely on them...

I am not too crazy in signing big in the middle or upfront, coz we have Veron and Stan there... If we are releasing one or Selling Vieri/Martins/Adriano then we can sign someone like Owen, Raul, Ronaldo , Gerard, Ronaldinho or Totti...

The keywords of my thought on this squad I lay down here is :
- No Revolution (Continuity)
- Optimizing the squad (make them happier)
- Sliming down the squad
- Give more chance to inter young players
- Continuity ( no significant changes on key players or tactics)
- More Options to reach Mancio's ideal squad..

I remove financial constrain on this, even if we can spend big, I still want our team to be like this...

[snake]

No 2 DMs' plz and thanfully, Mancini has also already stated it.....

Mancini actually said, and actually did do it.

he said he will play with 2 dm's against the tougher teams, and he kept his promise (thankfully) against Sampa, juve, milan, Porto.

Luckily we played with 2 dm's.

but for the rest its not the case.

[Pravesh]

No 2 DMs' plz and thanfully, Mancini has also already stated it.....

Mancini actually said, and actually did do it.

he said he will play with 2 dm's against the tougher teams, and he kept his promise (thankfully) against Sampa, juve, milan, Porto.

Luckily we played with 2 dm's.

but for the rest its not the case.

When did Mancini say that he would use 2DMs' against big teams ??
He just said that he prefers to play with just one DM partnered by Veron, anyway, I don't mind if we play with 2DMs' sometimes. .....

Mancini played with 2DMs' against Sampdoria coz Veron was out and also it wasn't that important game.

I do think that Mancini would always use Veron and Cambiasso in the middle even against big teams if the players are fit. I GUESS !!