Are we ready to rumble?

[Tommi]

Just my few cents...

Where will our new player´s play or will they, where would the older one´s fit in or will they?

We all know that we have bought too many world-class players and that we´re now forced to sell some. Loaning players or selling player like Brechet won´t help us a lot financially. We should sell some higher caliber player´s that we wont necessarily need anymore. At first thought three higher caliber players comes to my mind.

1. Kily = If/when we buy Cesar (please buy Jankulovski, please!), we dont need Kily anymore. We have more than good back-up´s for Cesar in case he´s injured. It doesn´t help that Kily is going to play at Olympics either.
2. Adani = We really don´t need him anymore. It´s sad to let him go, but it´s best for him and his future as a player. Even without buying Mihajlovic he should´ve been sold. He will never get a chance to be a regular when we have players like Cordoba, Cannavaro, Burdisso and Materazzi in our team.
3. Van der Meyde = I dont think he´s good to be honest. He´s highly overrated. I rather sell him. He was poor at Euro2004, he´s been poor at Inter, he was average at Ajax (only few quality matches there). He´s so overrated around here. Sell him for a good price and still we have plenty of options we could use.

Below you can see a list that i think will be used as a first choice players and their back-up´s. First mentioned player will be a regular and second one will be his back-up, third one (if mentioned) will be a back-up for a back-up player. You´ll see (1) (2) etc...next to central defenders, central midfielders and strikers. Those are the picking orders that Mancio will use (not a facts, just my opinions). Example: Cannavaro is first choice central defender, Cordoba is second choice etc. Confused? Better not.

GK: Toldo = Fontana = Cordaz

- Nothing has changed here. Toldo will still be our first keeper. Let´s hope he won´t be as inconsistent as he was in last season.

RB: J. Zanetti = Coco = Ze Maria

- You may wonder why i think Ze Maria is just a third choice for Javier? Because i really do believe that Mancio will use Ze Maria more as a right winger than a right back. Mancio has used Coco in Javier´s place and i do believe that he will be Javier´s first back-up. I may be wrong tho, i may be wrong...

CD: Cordoba (2)= Burdisso (4)

CD: Cannavaro (1)= Materazzi (3) = Mihajlovic (5)

- I believe that Cannavaro will be our leader in defence. It could be Materazzi as well, but i dont think he will be in our starting eleven. Cannavaro has been the leader at the national team and done a good job. It´s still unclear if Mancio will use two midget´s (no offense to any dwarf´s) ala Cannavaro & Cordoba or does he prefer one midget with one wall ala Materazzi & Burdisso? Cannavaro and Cordoba are both too good to sit on the bench tho. Difficult choice for our new coach. Who will Mancio prefer, Materazzi or Burdisso? If i could choose, i would pick Burdisso over Materazzi. Burdisso is such a classy guy.

LB: Favalli = Coco = Pasquale

- Favalli will be a starter, no doubt about that (right Jimmy?). Coco will be his back up too. We will see a lot more of Coco in case Javier or Favalli is injured. Coco may be used more in the last minutes of the match(es) when we need to defend our lead.

RW: Stankovic = Ze Maria = J. Zanetti/Van der Meyde

- This should not be a surprise to anyone. Stankovic has shown what he can do and he will continue to do so. Ze Maria is his back up and he will be used in case Stan-the-man is injured or we need to defend our lead (just like in Coco´s case). Sometimes we may see Javier to take this spot as well. Van der Mayde will not play much if at all.

CM: Veron (2) = Emre (3) = Cambiasso (5)

CM: Davids (1) = C. Zanetti (4)

- So many choices, but so few spots. Cristiano career at Inter is in jeopardy. I don´t think we will sell him, but he will have a hard time finding some playing time. Where would he fit in when we have players like Davids, Veron, Emre and Cambiasso. Even Emre will have a hard time finding a playing time. We see that we really have changed when even Emre won´t be a regular. I´m quite sure that Davids and Veron will be our regular´s whenever they are available. I think Cambiasso will be just a fifth choice of Mancio, but i hope he will use him more. Cambiasso is great, talented fighter. Oh man we have a good team!

LW: Cesar (he will come) = Karagounis = Recoba

- It´s only matter of day(s) when Cesar will jois us. Then we can wave goodbye to Kily. Cesar will be a regular, that´s a fact. Karagounis is his back up (in case we dont loan him out) and Recoba could play there as well. Dont forget about Emre either.

FW: Adriano (1) = Recoba (3) = Cruz (5)

FW: Vieri (2) = Martins (4)

- I rather not talk about this much since you guys tell me that i´m biased ´cause Vieri is my favourite. Let´s just say that i do believe that Mancio will mostly use Adriano-Vieri pair in front. Adriano is a classy classy player and he will be our saviour for years to come. Vieri still has few years at highest level in front of him. This pair will do a lot of damage in next season. That´s guaranteed! Someone already mentioned that he don´t think that Adriano & Vieri are so similar than everyone has talked about. That´s true, they are not.

Did i forgot any players? Yes i did. These players i didn´t mention could be sold/loaned/whatever:

Adani = So sad to see him go, but it´s better for him. He deserves to be a regular and at Inter he would never be. Sell him Inter, dont just cancel his contract! Wake up Inter! Use your management "skills" and sell players like other teams do!

Sorondo = Adios!

Pasquale = Loan loan loan

Farinos = By-bye

Kily = Should be sold if/when we´ll buy Cesar

Lamouchi = Adieu

Van der Meyde = So-so-so-sold

Zicu = Haven´t seen him much, but i prefer to loan him out that he could get some experience.

Choutos = Haven´t seen him play. At least i dont remember seeing him. Maybe sell/dont even buy (i read we might be able to cancel his contract?) or loan him out policy would be best.

Ventola = Same thing as in Adani case. I love him, but he will never be used as much as he wants or as much as i want. He would only play some Coppa matches if he stays and i dont think that´s enough for him.

If/when we buy Cesar (i prefer Jankulovski tho) and sell/loan/whatever these 10 i mentioned, that would leave us 25 players. That sounds pretty good. Sounds too good to be true tho. I bet we just cancel few of these contracts and loan few. We do like we usually do, screw things up. I guess we are so rich that we could do that year after year.

Financially we dont seem to know what to do, but now (at last!) our team looks a-w-e-s-o-m-e! We really don´t have any weak links like we used to have. Now everything looks like it should´ve looked years ago...on paper! It´s just a matter of time that we´ll this a-w-e-s-o-m-e team at the field as well, only a matter of time ´till Mancio will get this team to work.

So, let's get ready to rumbleeee!!!! (Listening: *Eye of the Tiger*) Or should i continue writing this messy "preview". I believe we are ready! We better be!

I´ve been Inter fan for over 15 years and i never been this optimistic about our chances to win something big, and i mean BIG. This will be our year, this WILL BE our year!

 

[cool_cuchu]

very nice man, I like your preference for each position...

forza inter...

 

[CafeCordoba]

Thank you Don Tommi! That was a very good one.

I agree with you most of your thoughts but...

Van der Meyde: It's maybe true that Mancini will use Ze Maria after Stankovic and over VDM but I would still keep the Dutch. In my opinion Andy has potential and if he gets at least some minutes next season he could put a competition at the flanks. But if Mancini won't trust him at all it's of course hard to prove anything. Still he's just 24 (or 23) so he has a lot of years to improve. I would keep Andy.

LW: I fear that Mancini won't use Emre much at the central midfield. Of course these our thoughts are all just speculation. I hope he will use Emre at the middle but he has been playing now just on the left flank.

That Cesar thing is confusing me. He is a very good player indeed but it's stupid to gather ALL the time (Veron, Davids, Ze Maria) quality players when we already have them at the same positions. And then it's sad when Kily has to go cause he worked really hard last season (had motivation to defend).

Ventola: You must really be a Ventola-fan (after 15 years of supporting..) and you want best for him (minutes vs Inter ?) but I would keep him if could get rid of Cruz (Lazio?). I started to admire Ventola when I become Inter-fan few years ago and I'd really like to see Ventola still wearing the Nerazzuri shirt. But maybe he truly deserves more than to be a fifth choice (like Lele Adani).

Those were just my additions to that Tommi's very good article, not maybe particulary disagreements.

 

[Mikkel]

Great article..
and I also think that Adani and Ventola deserves more then just sitting on the bench.

I hope that Inter will sell them... I wish them the best luck in the future.

 

[Jimmy]

Pretty much my opinion before the season has started as well. Although, I can still confident in that Coco within time and match-fitness (remember that that was the bet ), he will get that starting left back position. He is simply better than Favalli as far as I´m concerned.
That Favalli will start the first month or so, is a given.

I also believe that it will be Cordoba and Cannavaro in central defence. They did play very good with eachother when Cuper was the coach and didn´t have any problems with tall strikers. If Canna can fix his tibia problem, I don´t see a reason for why the two best individual defenders won´t play with eachother.

Cesar is sadly still a hypothetical question mark. I agree that if he comes, he´ll be the starter and that perhaps Kily will leave. But IF Cesar won´t come, I will hand out a warning that I think Kily will actually be a starter for us. Unless Mancini might use Emre out of position after all. Doesn´t sound very comforting that pretty much three of our four starting midfielders are played out of position, in that case. Davids is playing a role this season, that he hasn´t done before. But I don´t think it will be a problem for him.
The problem is if Stankovic will be satisfied playing an entire season on the flank, and if Emre can adapt to a left wing position where he was less successfull in his first season with Inter.

These are the only question-marks in the lineup. The central midfield is already settled and so are the two strikers. It´s gonna take a God damn miracle if we can bench Vieri without him going beserk.

 

[Gismo]

That was just one of the best articles I have ever read.

:star::star::star:

I only disagree that Canna will be ahead of Materazzi in the pecking order. It seems Canna hasn´t played that much in this preseason so far. I could be wrong but has Mancio ever played with two short CB´s?

Also I have a hunch that Cambi will outclass our dear "The Hammer". :stuckup: It is rare to see me cheer a Real player...

 

[Stefan]

Brilliant article tommi.

 

[Handoyo]

Tommi and Jake back on track. What more can I say? :star:

I won't be behind you guys. :stuckup: I'll post an article about our transfers soon.


Handyo

 

[Ari]

Very nice job..

abut the midfield:

Cesar-Davids-Veron-Stankovic

is def much stronger than

Stanko-Davids-Veron-VDM

VDM will stay but with time he will be dropped on the bench. Emre is player who may be first back-up player for LM and Veron's positions. And Coco is going to be starter after couple months..

 

[Mikkel]

One thing is fore sure our midfield is mutch strunger then last season.

AVM,Almeyda,Emre,Kily. :frustrat:

now

Stankovic,Davids,Veron,Cesar.

Now we finaly have a lot of attacking options. And a player who can link the defence and midfield together..Davids :dielaugh: .

I'm looking forward to the opcoming season...I can't wait to see our new guy's in action.

:dielaugh: Forza Mancio :dielaugh:

 

[Riku]

It seems Canna hasn´t played that much in this preseason so far.

Could it be because he`s injured?

Anyway, good article Tommo :thumbsup:

 

[Gismo]

Well if he is still injured he shouldn´t play much.