Antonio Conte

[CafeCordoba]

I don't understand why we have to play in a way which exposes us massively in the back. If our wingbacks are shit, why are playing in a way which exposes that deficit we have? Because it doesn't translate to greater number of goals consistently (Parma match was a fluke win). I mean so that we can score many goals and don't worry about leaking goals.

 

[.h.]

I think people are being a bit dumb, to be honest, here.


Consider with Spalletti, our starting XI really was

Handanovic, Dambro, De Vrij, Skriniar, Asamoah, Vecino Nainggolan Brozovic, Politano Perisic, Icardi

Look at how far we've come now:

Handanovic, Skriniar De Vrij Bastoni, Candreva Barella Brozovic Young, Eriksen, Lukaku Lautaro

Yeah, there's a lot of work still needed, but this is a far more exciting team than the previous one. We've got Barella, Sensi, probably getting Tonali, with Hakimi coming in... Bastoni... this is an Inter for 5 or 10 years if things go to plan. We've probably got 3 of Italy's starting XI for the next decade.

It always takes time to interate and improve, and we're gonna need this window as well to clear out a lot of shit like Candreva, but the change is coming and you can see the head wind.


Mourinho's first season at Inter was a bit of a disaster, but it showed him exactly what he needed to know about the club to sort stuff out in the second season - we already see signs of that (e.g. Vecino transfer listed in Jan)

 

[junior55]

I don't understand why we have to play in a way which exposes us massively in the back. If our wingbacks are shit, why are playing in a way which exposes that deficit we have? Because it doesn't translate to greater number of goals consistently (Parma match was a fluke win). I mean so that we can score many goals and don't worry about leaking goals.

Because the only other viable formation we have is the 4312 and for that we are missing 3 midfielders.
In addition , there is no point in changing now tbh , especially when its not that we have any real chance for scudetto anymore. We have hired conte to build a winning cycle in a 2/3 years time and that is built in blocks.
This year we already built a working duo in attack , a working trio in midfield and a working trio in center defense.
Next year we need to built the wingers and add depth and looking at the mercato we are working into this direction.

We tend to forget that the only reason we are disappointed right now is because we got out of the scuddeto race but honestly at the beggining at the season we never aimed for that. If we dreamed for a while was because Conte and the team did wonders on the 1st half of the season in the league.

So what worries me now is not losing to Parma or whoever else but the drop in form from that initial part of the season.
And i mean form not results. We no longer see the combinations up front , we no longer see the fluidity in midfield and the solidity in defense , we still struggle vs pacey/technical wingers. I do believe that missing sensi and missing depth have contributed to the above but this is the things i want to hear conte and journalists speak about.
I don't want to hear Conte vice in a press interview after a fluke win vs parma , speaking about how we deserved to win or whatever. Winning now means shit , we are not going to win the league. Bulidning towards next year counts and there won't be 2 months of summer to do it anymore.

 

[.h.]

for me losing sensi is a big part of it. he was our metronome in midfield, correctly being compared to Xavi IMHO. Barella is great at b2b but he's not the playmaker we'd like him to be yet, and Brozo is hit and miss in that role, but still not bad.

 

[nurko]

Browha with two spot on posts. :thumbsup:

 

[.h.]

This is where we could be next season:

Handanovic 36
Skriniar 25 De Vrij 28 Bastoni 21

Hakimi 21 Tonali 20 Barella 23 ?????
Eriksen 28
Martinez 23 Lukaku 27
​

That's a fucking great line up. Obviously Sensi/Brozovic will be rotational starters at least as well, but with a good LWB and two extra CBs as depth (get rid of Frog and Godin), and an additional CM (e.g. get rid of Valero, Gags, Vecino, JM - so perhaps the spare CM is Nainggolan? Though he's probably too expensive for that role) we're in an amazing position really.

And to be honest, even if this team only gets to approx 3rd next year, none of us would be TOO upset - it's a developing side. Handanovic is the only person who needs replacing in the next 3 years really - Tonali, Bastoni, Barella, Hakimi, are all in the perfect part of their careers for these experiences to really propel them.


Contrast that to Juve's line up against Bologna

Szczesny 30
Cuadrado 32 De Ligt 20 Bonucci 33 De Sciglio 27
Bentacur 23 Pjanic 30 Rabiot 25
Bernadeschi 26 Ronaldo 35
Dybala 26
​

We know Pjanic's on the way out, in 3 years time they've probably changed GK, RB, CB, LB, Rabiot as well, quite possibly Bernadeschi, certainly Ronaldo, and possibly Dybala.

That's a lot of cash to spend.


Our line up probably has more potential than any Inter team I've seen since I've started being a fan of the club, unless you count Kovacic, Dodo, Taider, Belfodil and Jonathan as potential. It's not guaranteed success yet, but it's a damn sight better than whatever free agents we can find like Palombo, Kharja, and all the rest of that shit as we used to have.

 

[brehme1989]

You started being a fan in 2013?

 

[.h.]

You started being a fan in 2013?

No, more like 2000. We were a great team in 2010, but it was always going to be a short lived team, with no real room for growth/development. Prior to Mourinho everyone here remembers the 3 DM wonders of Mancini physically grinding out results and relying on Ibrahimovic to give us a chance of victory...

I loved the Adriano era, but there wasn't anything like a well rounded overall team in the way we have now - we have amazing potential across the board. Dont get me wrong, some great players, but we relied quite heavily on prime or just past prime - thinking about, for example, Veron, Cruz, Vieri, even Materazzi, Mijhajlovic, etc.

This is a highly potential focused Inter right now - I'd love to see average ages of starting line ups in the last twenty seasons?

 

[brehme1989]

The early 2000s shouldn't look much different in terms of ages really. Talking about 2001-2 to 2004-5.

 

[.h.]

Age wise perhaps, but I'd argue we've got more potential now.

Dont get me wrong, we had some great players - obviously Seedorf, Ronaldo, Adriano, Recoba, etc, but I personally feel more confident about our current XI from the potential rounded side.

Just to be clear, I'm talking about some 'average potential per player' metric - I'm not taking it away from Ronaldo or Adriano, as an example.

I would just say that 01-02 squad, in terms of the 'potential' players, did largely disappoint. Dalmat, Recoba, Emre, Sorondo, Seedorf (at Inter obviously) all massively underperformed to what we were hoping for.

Clearly time might tell if that happens again with Barella, etc.

I cant remember the last time I looked at Inter and thought we genuinely had one of the best young CBs, maybe two CMs, and strikers in the world. That's pretty fucking incredible (and probably one of the best young RWBs now too)!

 

[Luka]

The coach opted for the system, he wasn't forced to use 3-5-2, which we hadn't used in 5 years, after a complete roster overhaul and without much success anyway.

Yeah, yeah deffinitely. It was his choice and he owns the change. But I look at it differently. If he could achieve his first half of the season (while Sensi was there and injuries didn't cave in which surfaced our piss poor bench) with the wingers like that I think we can look up with high hopes for next season once those wingback transfers materialize.

But you're absolutely right that nobody forced him to change formation to 3 at the back, but tbh I don't think we would grab so many more points had he went with 4 at the back if the same injuries woes occured.

 

[.h.]

Yeah, yeah deffinitely. It was his choice and he owns the change. But I look at it differently. If he could achieve his first half of the season (while Sensi was there and injuries didn't cave in which surfaced our piss poor bench) with the wingers like that I think we can look up with high hopes for next season once those wingback transfers materialize.

But you're absolutely right that nobody forced him to change formation to 3 at the back, but tbh I don't think we would grab so many more points had he went with 4 at the back if the same injuries woes occured.

For the squad we had, had we kept Perisic, we'd probably needed to have signed another like 3 players to give us enough depth anyway.

 

[forzainter257]

I don't understand why we have to play in a way which exposes us massively in the back. If our wingbacks are shit, why are playing in a way which exposes that deficit we have? Because it doesn't translate to greater number of goals consistently (Parma match was a fluke win). I mean so that we can score many goals and don't worry about leaking goals.

I am not Conte, but here is my 2 cents:

If I am firm about the formation I am going to stick to I would implement it regardless of what players I have. By doing so I will be able to see ins and outs of the formation, where to improve, players who are not matching the tactics and who I need instead. That's what I guess Conte is doing, i.e. slowly building his machine. Conte is not Pioli who you hire to coach the players he has and just solve some short term goals. We hired Conte for a project, like Liverpool did with Klopp and it takes time to achieve something worthy.

Also note that we cannot sign players quickly before we get rid of the ballast we have been collecting in the past years and they are goddamn hard to sell. Probably the management told him to try some loanees (Biraghi, Moses, Sanchez) for this season and when the club manages offloading the unneeded players, he will have the players he wants which is happening now according to recent news

 

[.h.]

I am not Conte, but here is my 2 cents:

If I am firm about the formation I am going to stick to I would implement it regardless of what players I have. By doing so I will be able to see ins and outs of the formation, where to improve, players who are not matching the tactics and who I need instead. That's what I guess Conte is doing, i.e. slowly building his machine. Conte is not Pioli who you hire to coach the players he has and just solve some short term goals. We hired Conte for a project, like Liverpool did with Klopp and it takes time to achieve something worthy. Also note that we cannot sign players quickly before we get rid of the ballast we have been collecting in the past years and they are goddamn hard to sell. Probably the management told him to try some loanees (Biraghi, Moses, Sanchez) for this season and when the club manages offloading the unneeded players, he will have the players he wants which is happening now according to recent news

yes exactly this. If you make a decision to go with a project, the only time you can ditch it is if its a disaster or doesnt pay out after 2-3-4 years. Liverpool wasn't built in a season, and Conte is trying to implement radical change.

Bear in mind at Inter the radical change is even harder than Liverpool:

* We have semi-professional (at best) medical and management structures, if you consider that mountain healer FARCE with Shaqiri
* We've burdened ourselves with a lot of cheaper (fee) players but given them decent salaries
* Because of our short term-ism focus, we've ended up with a lot of players who aren't highly desired in the market, and thus are hard to offload with high salaries


Liverpool have taken 4? seasons to get to this point.

 

[Javier'sSon]

Found it odd to have Godin on the left and DDA on the right.

 

[brehme1989]

For the squad we had, had we kept Perisic, we'd probably needed to have signed another like 3 players to give us enough depth anyway.

We were saying this for 2 seasons already whilst Perisic was around.

 

[CafeCordoba]

yes exactly this. If you make a decision to go with a project, the only time you can ditch it is if its a disaster or doesnt pay out after 2-3-4 years. Liverpool wasn't built in a season, and Conte is trying to implement radical change.

Bear in mind at Inter the radical change is even harder than Liverpool:

* We have semi-professional (at best) medical and management structures, if you consider that mountain healer FARCE with Shaqiri
* We've burdened ourselves with a lot of cheaper (fee) players but given them decent salaries
* Because of our short term-ism focus, we've ended up with a lot of players who aren't highly desired in the market, and thus are hard to offload with high salaries


Liverpool have taken 4? seasons to get to this point.

Yeah you have a good point. Maybe it's this short-term focus Inter lives constantly (media pressure etc) in that puts the immense pressure to everyone at the club and surrounding it.

Sadly COVID19 puts us in a position where we have like non-existent preseason for the 2nd season with the new players. So there will be immense pressure to improve our quality of the game massively, on the fly. I say massively, because it looks almost complete horse shit for the past 6 months.

 

[.h.]

Yeah you have a good point. Maybe it's this short-term focus Inter lives constantly (media pressure etc) in that puts the immense pressure to everyone at the club and surrounding it.

Sadly COVID19 puts us in a position where we have like non-existent preseason for the 2nd season with the new players. So there will be immense pressure to improve our quality of the game massively, on the fly. I say massively, because it looks almost complete horse shit for the past 6 months.

I'd say everyone is being equally penalised, but given how we've restarted after the COVID break, I'm not confident that statement is true!

 

[rfU]

I am not Conte, but here is my 2 cents:

If I am firm about the formation I am going to stick to I would implement it regardless of what players I have. By doing so I will be able to see ins and outs of the formation, where to improve, players who are not matching the tactics and who I need instead. That's what I guess Conte is doing, i.e. slowly building his machine. Conte is not Pioli who you hire to coach the players he has and just solve some short term goals. We hired Conte for a project, like Liverpool did with Klopp and it takes time to achieve something worthy.

Long project or not, the objective of every coach every season is to win games and finish as high up the table as possible. That means playing your best and in form players, playing to their strengths and adequately preparing the team for all games. i didn't see evidence of any of that yesterday. I saw an inter bereft of ideas, players out of position and uncomfortable, our opponents confident and running riot and our defence exposed time and time again. With Atalanta just a point behind and 10 games left to play this was not a game we could afford to lose. None of us were expecting a perfect performance given injuries, etc, but we shouldn't be playing at a serie B level. Unacceptable for a club of like Inter. I know we say this every other weekend, but this was one of the worst Inter performances I've seen.

As the highest paid coach in italy and as an experience, title winning coach/player we should expect much more from Conte. If our only tactic is Kaku hold-up plays and endless crosses, then Conte isn't going to win a trophy with Inter.

 

[Adriano@10]

This is where we could be next season:

Handanovic 36
Skriniar 25 De Vrij 28 Bastoni 21

Hakimi 21 Tonali 20 Barella 23 ?????
Eriksen 28
Martinez 23 Lukaku 27
​

Is tonali that good? Imho brozo would clearly be ahead of him and so would sensi if he s in good form....

Have not seen tonali that often though