There are no easy or predictable results for Inter as the club and our players are basket cases. The way we played at the beginning of the season has faded to memory and almost feels like a mirage. After reading through this thread and the thoughts of fellow posters, I cannot help but feel that we regressed with little to no way out.
In earlier pages, one poster expressed the view that despite the results, we are on the cusp of something special. I have thought about that statement and can understand why the poster stated as such because we are right there and just need to execute and finish. But that "just need to finish and execute" is no small feat for us. Eighteen dropped points from games that we have been leading is a shit load of missed opportunities and testament to the task at hand. If you need to be further convinced, we have been doing this all season. However, it has become more pronounced and ridiculous in the second half of the season against supposedly lesser opposition.
Inconsistency and continued disappointment have become our norm. just like Juventus, churn out the results, regardless of how poorly they are playing, Inter shit the bed and drop points. As much as it hurts to say this, we can not deny it guys: Inter are born losers, a laughing stock. Our present squad can not play itself out of that status because of the burden that comes with history and the club being shit for the last decade and an inferiority complex that ensures that we fail to kill off games because we do not think we deserve it.
What fixes or corrects the mentality of a playing group? Winning: winning when it is expected, winning when it is unexpected, winning in the face of adversity, winning when a team has played so poorly that they do not even deserve a result. Presently, Inter do not do any of the above, and on occasions when we do prevail, most of the shit that we have to overcome is self-inflicted.
What are our options? buy more world class players? Add depth to the bench? Get rid of all the dead wood? Personally, I feel that adding world class players to the eleven and adding depth to the bench makes little to no difference when the whole squad is suffering from an inferiority complex and can not take the next step. We are talking about Bologna with ten men and Sassuolo, not the Champions League and not teams performing at the pinnacle or European football.
Regarding getting rid of the dead wood, we talk about that around the clock. Every summer, we dream about starting a new season without the likes of Ranocchia, Candreva, Valero, Asamoah, Vecino and Gagliardini, Mario and Perisc and yet all of the named shitters are still here doing 5/8s of fuck all or will return to the club at the end of the season. Just on that point, I read an article on the weekend when Asamoah stated that being an Inter player takes a lot of sacrifice. After reading the article, I honestly cannot remember when that cunt last played for us and wondered what he is sacrificing. Our club has a culture of excuses, continually takes missteps, and self-sabatages and no amount of "training" and "hard work" is going to correct that.
Just on Conte, 18 dropped points is huge. If those results had all gone our way, we would comfortably be sitting at the top of the table with a lead on Juventus. Or at the very least, be competing at the top of the table for the Scudetto. That statistic is a double edged sword. In one way, it highlights our potential and where we could be. In another way, as is presently case, it highlights our fragility and the manner in which we are underachieving. I am grateful that Conte has brought us to this point. But right now, we are going backwards and are on the slide as we keep making the same mistakes without any rectification.
In one way, I feel Conte is responsible. For example, why not select Sanchez ahead of Martinez based on their respective form? Why make substitutions so late in the game? Why continue to select Eriksen when he under performs and does little to no defensive work? (Just on Eriksen, pretty corners and set pieces are not enough. By purchasing Eriksen, Marotta jumped on an opportunity but he effectively purchased a player that does not fit the scheme our coach wants to play and essentially hoisted on the coach a formation/selection problem that will play itself out regardless of whether the player is in the eleven under performing or sitting on the bench. It's an added head fuck we did not need. And even now that the formation has been changed, one strong appearance every three games is not enough for him to be an automatic starter nor does it justify the formation being tweeked to accommodate an under performing player that never got over losing the Champions League last season). Eriksen's acquisition is a good example of Marotta having the best intentions but the club self-sabotaging the vision and long term efforts of its coach with an ill-fitted player, regardless of how talented he is.
The blame for where things presently stand is on the squad. Regardless of who Conte selects, they should be able to put away a team like Bologna, playing at home and against ten men. The same goes for the result against Sassuolo. It does not matter what angle you approach our present problems, it ultimately comes down to a playing group that can not and fails to continually execute and finish.
One last thought: how did you guys feel when seeing the photograph of Bologna's players celebrating the win? It fuckn made me angry to the point that I wanted to smash my computer. But it also highlighted two points: (1) notice how happy they are? It shows how important the three points were for Bologna; (2) Conversely, the lack of a reaction from our own players over the course of the season indicates that it means nothing for them as they keep making the same mistakes and have no ability to learn and rectify a reoccurring problem. I very much understand what Conte meant when he stated that a good starting point would be for our players to feel even 1% of the anger that he is feeling. For me, that is a telling and insightful comment because it indicates that the players are not responding. They do not have the competitiveness of their coach, his intensity or anger nor do they feel the anger and frustrations of their supporters. And if that does not motivate them, I do not know what will.
Personally, I feel that cannot be taught or coached. Players either have it or they do not. They are either committed professionals with a hunger to make it happen at any cost (think of our treble winners who rose to the occasion) or they are pretenders. For the upteenth time this season, our players have shown that they do not have it in them and that has nothing to do with Conte and everything to do with a comfortable playing group who know they can play like shit and still be selected for the next game because there are so few viable alternatives to take their spot.
kay:
