José "The Special One" Mourinho

Darky said:

I think, we will loan out Pele, sell Crespo. We will sell Suazo if only Quaresma comes. Otherwise Mourinho will try to use Suazo as winger.

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dont see anything from Suazo on the wing.... I really doubt if he will still be here on Aug 31

Jose 3rd press conference as Inter chief 5 part 40 minutes long in order:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZwgWkK0sIKc
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ta9U3X7x3DM
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZrpBz55UwBY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fy4-Uj4xQFk
http://youtube.com/watch?v=0FpsbDkPeLs

OK, something has to change. I am getting really worried on whether its the coach or the team when it comes to playing big name teams. JM i really hope these first couple of games, friendlies or not, are a indication of how we will play. Especially coming from someone who said we will try to win everygame. Lets hope you try to loose every game in serie A

I believe in JM and know its early, but I am very pessimistic and worried. Lets beat some big names and stop looking like idiots. haha. Even though we played well in tim cup, no goals is kinda sad.

Mourinho was overly confident when he joined, but he is probably beginning to realise that he might be in over his head now.

He wants to play a formation that would require an overhaul in the squad to play effectively. We simply dont have the right type of players for a 433, especially in midfield.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how he is going to fix it and if he can.

It's just preseason. And it means nothing.

Darky said:

It's just preseason. And it means nothing.

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What means nothing? It's preseason yes, but unless we get some new players, the old ones are the same as they are now at the preseason. We don't have many good midfielders suitable 3-man midfield in 4-3-3.

the only bright side is we are yet to see a starting lineup, and cuz that, you would have expected us to loose a bit worse (also way back in training). I mean, we have seen our starting lineups split into 2 teams and then some ha. I am looking forward to the first game with a majority of the starters.

CafeCordoba said:

What means nothing? It's preseason yes, but unless we get some new players, the old ones are the same as they are now at the preseason. We don't have many good midfielders suitable 3-man midfield in 4-3-3.

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Last season we have lost almost all preseason matches that we played in England. There were 4 matches and we lost 2, drawed 1 and won 1. We lost in Tim cup and we were pretty dreadful in other preseason games too. Players are not fit enough yet. As always, they will be hit their top form in october-december.
We have Vieira, Muntari, Cambiasso. I don't think that these 3 are inferior to anyone at least in Serie A. In 3 man midfield defensive duties are more important, because offensive duties are shared between 3 players not one AM and one CM like in 4 players midfield that we played during Mancio era.

I agree with Darky here. Our pre-season were always poor in recent years and result will not be indicative of how we will do in the Serie A.

This is only the first couple games and sa long as we started to show improvement, I think we will be fine. Plus, if our team truly cant fit the 4-3-3 systems, I think JM will not force it.

Darky said:

Last season we have lost almost all preseason matches that we played in England. There were 4 matches and we lost 2, drawed 1 and won 1. We lost in Tim cup and we were pretty dreadful in other preseason games too. Players are not fit enough yet. As always, they will be hit their top form in october-december.
We have Vieira, Muntari, Cambiasso. I don't think that these 3 are inferior to anyone at least in Serie A. In 3 man midfield defensive duties are more important, because offensive duties are shared between 3 players not one AM and one CM like in 4 players midfield that we played during Mancio era.

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I meant that the players won't change, they are the same they are now unless we get some new players. Got it? Vieira isn't going to be Lampard when the season starts, he's going to be Vieira.

There will be one DM who won't attack much, so the other two must be good and quite quick with the ball. I don't know if Muntari and Vieira will qualify, hopefully they do. Stankovic is still shit and can't do anything right, Jimenez could be a bit too risky in 3-man midfield as he's way too offensive aka too soft for that role.

CafeCordoba said:

I meant that the players won't change, they are the same they are now unless we get some new players. Got it? Vieira isn't going to be Lampard when the season starts, he's going to be Vieira.

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Er, what?

Just because Vieira wont turn white and change into Lampard does not mean he cant pick up his game and form, when it counts. Vieira might be shite now, but there is no reason why when the season starts that he, Cambiasso, Zanetti and the like cant kick into gear.

Especially with new tactics, players get more and more use to it as time goes on. We always have horrid games before the year starts where Juve normally play really well, but it means jack.

The picture might chance but the frame stays the same.

Got it?

CafeCordoba said:

I meant that the players won't change, they are the same they are now unless we get some new players. Got it? Vieira isn't going to be Lampard when the season starts, he's going to be Vieira.

There will be one DM who won't attack much, so the other two must be good and quite quick with the ball. I don't know if Muntari and Vieira will qualify, hopefully they do. Stankovic is still shit and can't do anything right, Jimenez could be a bit too risky in 3-man midfield as he's way too offensive aka too soft for that role.

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Nobody says that Vieira is Lampard Vieira is Vieira. In last 2 seasons we saw 3 different Vieiras- 1. constantly injured 2. dreadful- in the second derby against Milan for example 3. Controlling mf, beating his defender, stealing the ball, dictating tempo, scoring goals.

We all just hope that we will have that 3rd Vieira.

Then we have Muntari. He was at least decent during Tim cup. And it was his first game, after just 2-3 training sessions with us. I'm pretty sure that he can become our midfield leader. He have certain skills for that

Don't know about Stank. I hoped that Mourinho will get smth out of him, but it's not happening right now. We'll see

Jimenez? With 2 defensive midfielders lying deep we can use him as smth like CM. He is not so soft. He is pretty aggressive as we saw in the game against Milan before Christmas. He totally destroyed Pirlo. So, he can be used against DMs who are playmakers in their teams.

Ideal trio would be: Muntari-Vieira-Cambiasso. All of them can play in both DM and box-to-box MF positions and this will give our midfield enough flexibility, attacking and defending quality.

Darky said:

Ideal trio would be: Muntari-Vieira-Cambiasso. All of them can play in both DM and box-to-box MF positions and this will give our midfield enough flexibility, attacking and defending quality.

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Yes, true but where will Zanetti play? RB? Don't think so, and the idea of him playing in attack is preposterous. Mourinho know that Zanetti is loved by fans and he must be in first 11 aswell with Cambiasso. It means we have only 1 place in midfield, which will propably look like:

-Zanetti-Cambiasso-*****-

The question is who will fill 3rd place?
We have too many players in squad and too many midfielders. To be honest, our squad looks like football were 12-man sport, not 11. Very good that we didn't extend Cesar and Solari contracts. In my opinion we should get rid of Dacourt unless he shows some extremly good performance in 3 first matches, as we don't have more time to test him.
Personally I don't know what Figo and Stankovic is doing still in our squad. Figo is no more the player he was and his age affects his performance.

For this 3rd spot we have too many pretendents. Figo, Jimenez, Vieira, Muntari and Dacourt. I don't count this less-than-average playing lately Stankovic and hoping that Pele will be loaned for 1 year to Lazio-level club (which in my opinion is good option). So there is at least 4 players who will want to play on this position, counting that if Figo will play, then he will play as striker. But it also depends on if Jimenez will be counted as striker or not, becouse if yes, then we will have only 2 players for that position.

For me its either Vieira or Muntari and I would rather bet on Muntari as I think he is better option for us seeing his lately performance.


Problem is also as we know in attack. As we know, Mourinho wants 3 strikers, 1 very strong who will 'attack' defenders and I can't see anyone other on this position than Adriano and maybe Zlatan. 2nd striker who can play on wing which can be for me Figo, Jimenez and maybe Mancini?. And a 3rd striker technicaly strong, which for me is Balotelli, maybe Cruz and Zlatan.
This means we will see very rarely Adriano playing with Zlatan what some of us have dreamt about.

For me it looks either -Mancini-Zlatan-Balotelli- or -Mancini-Adriano-Zlatan-

So where will Crespo and Suazo play? I don't know, I don't see them on any of those positions thats why I think they should be sold. Even if there is still alot of potential in Suazo he should be sold as he doesn't suit our 433 strategy.


So the first 11 for me should look this way:

-J.Cesar-

-Maicon-Chivu -Samuel-Maxwell -

- Zanetti - Cambiasso - Muntari -

- Mancini - Zlatan - Balotelli -

But it hurts to see Cordoba, Vieira and Adriano benched.

And to mention defense. Let's hope that Samuel and Cordoba will get back to health and shape soon. Materazzi should get used to idea of sitting on the bench. And Burdisso? I don't really know, I would loan him for half a year to a club like Fiorentina as he is not that old yet, for him to get back shape, but if he will fail then we need to sell him as we don't have place in team for someone who makes so many mistakes in matches.

Yes, thats my vision of our team.

Just for the record, its very possible Jose might give up the 4-3-3 all together.

He started at Chelsea with 4-4-2 and was scraping 1-0 results. Then he finally came about the 4-3-3 a formation which really suited them, these things dont happen overnight. He might eventually come to a decision that 4-3-3 is not for us, so don't for one second think its that and no other options.

I agree with h2o on this one. We can easily turn to any formation as versatility of our squad let us do that. Mourinho is not afraid of experiments. So, be ready to see any, even most incredible and unbelievable formation.

For example: he can only one winger on left, one half forward and one striker(Mancini, Zlatan, Adriano) and Maicon as right-back with his constant runs forward.

Azzkikr said:

Mourinho was overly confident when he joined, but he is probably beginning to realise that he might be in over his head now.

He wants to play a formation that would require an overhaul in the squad to play effectively. We simply dont have the right type of players for a 433, especially in midfield.

It will be interesting, to say the least, to see how he is going to fix it and if he can.

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I think this is a spot on post. Mourinho could have won the Champions League and World Cup for all I care but that is not going to make an ounce of difference when Serie A starts. He has essentially inherited a team that plays 4-4-2 or a derivative of that formation. In my many years of following Italian football, I can not recall a team that has won a championship using a 4-3-3 formation. The truth be told, I think that was okay for Mourinho in the Premier League, but Serie A is totally different. The emphasis in Italian football is on tactics and the likes of Spalletti, Prandelli, Ancelotti and Ranieri are a great deal more intelligent than tacticians in the Premier League.

In my view, using a 4-3-3 formation with the players that are presently on our books is a flawed tactic and simply will not work.

In light of the above, I may regret saying this but something tells me that when the season starts we will have a better appreciation for the work Mancini did for us over the last three seasons.

lol i can't believe you guys... Mourinho is a pro and he's obvouisly not dumb. He would of prepared his ass off fo serie A. He knows how it works so have faith in his system cause he is a damn good coach... we will win serie A. I'm honestly glad he's doing something different =)

Darky said:

I agree with h2o on this one. We can easily turn to any formation as versatility of our squad let us do that. Mourinho is not afraid of experiments. So, be ready to see any, even most incredible and unbelievable formation.

For example: he can only one winger on left, one half forward and one striker(Mancini, Zlatan, Adriano) and Maicon as right-back with his constant runs forward.

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Given the difficulties our players are having adapting to a new system, namely a 4-3-3 system, how can you say that we can "easily" turn to any formation?

I believe our players lack versatility and if they are struggling to adapt to playing a 4-3-3 formation, then all signs are that they will struggle with other formations.

Puma said:

Given the difficulties our players are having adapting to a new system, namely a 4-3-3 system, how can you say that we can "easily" turn to any formation?

I believe our players lack versatility and if they are struggling to adapt to playing a 4-3-3 formation, then all signs are that they will struggle with other formations.

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During last season we were playing 4-3-1-2 most of the time. Or at least tried to play when all of Stank, Figo, Jimenez were not injured.

I'm not coach or great tactician. But i think there is no big difference between 4-3-1-2 and 4-3-3 regarding the build-up and playmaking. We will still have 3 midfield players: 1 DM and 2 CMs or smth like 3CMs that interchange duties during the game as Hiddink used in Russian NT in the last Euro. So, all that we are changing is that 1 player who plays in front of midfield. We change him with winger and voila. In fact that "1" was most inefficient player in all of our games. No matter who it was: Stank or Jimenez. Jimenez shined when we used him as supporting forward/winger. So, maybe Stanks bad form is not only because of this, but because Vieira and Cambiasso took too much space in our midfield and their is no place for AM.
We already used Zlatan, Mario and Jimenez as half-forwards during last season. Now we just need player like Quaresma who can play well either on right or on left wing.

All this is big IMHO. And there are certain IFs that will change things:
1. Arrival of Quaresma/or different winger
2. If Mourinho will use 2 wingers and 1 striker or 1 winger that changes flanks, one supporting forward and striker
3. If Adri will hit his top and Zlatan will be fit.
4. If Muntari will become our midfield leader and/or Vieira will get his form back.
5. How will our first official games go.

P.S. Pre-season shows nothing. We will know everything after couple of games
P.P.S. I was the one who promised that we will regret the fact Mancio is not our coach anymore. Now i pray every day that i'm mistaken.

Puma said:

In my view, using a 4-3-3 formation with the players that are presently on our books is a flawed tactic and simply will not work.

In light of the above, I may regret saying this but something tells me that when the season starts we will have a better appreciation for the work Mancini did for us over the last three seasons.

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I can't belive. We're starting to have "Mou out, Mancio in" people already after 1 lost and 1 draw 45 minutes friendly matches. Amazing.