Inter in Europe

[1919]

I am making a separate thread because I don’t want the Mancini - fanatics waving the Serie A statistics left-right-n-centre in this thread.

This is about Inter in Europe.

Period.

For a club of our stature, fanbase, following, financial situations it is imperative to perform well in Europe … and do better than win the Champions League twice in its history. I agree that we had gone through a poor phase domestically thanks to Moggi as well as some eccentric management policies in 90’s and early part of 2000s, but these days we should look firmly at regaining lost ground.

 

[1919]

And, quite correctly Moratti has made it a priority … “Scudetto is an obligation, our focus is on Champions League” … or something of that tune.

But is words enough? Did he back it up with the right moves in the transfer market? Was the team strengthened enough?

Or was it strengthened keeping in mind Europe?

With the requirement for a playmaker so obvious, we signed Jiminez !! And who by the way is not even played a lot … but surely we should have looked at an established talent like Quaresma or Deco.

 

[1919]

Now on to the coach …

This is Mancini’s 4th season in charge of Inter, and he has won … yes he has. 2 Scudettos, 3 Italian Cups, 2 Supercoppa.

But all that has been in Italy.

In Europe he has won NOTHING.

16 -10 -7 … a less than 50% win record (in a knock-out competition) … and very honestly we have not got a real tough group in each of last 3 years. Some of his low points in Europe are as follows:

• Being thoroughly outplayed by Dida and Milan in the 2004-2005 edition, where we hardly created anything to threaten Milan apart from 3-4 Mihajlovic free-kicks.
• Losing to Villareal in the return leg … and losing in such a shameful manner. Not even one effort on goal in the entire match (or was it one?) A match Inter went with hardly adequate preparation against a ok-ish Spanish side.
• Loosing first to Sporting, and then to Bayern, and being outplayed in the as well. Then sneaking into 2nd round, with the lowest goals tally.
• Mestella, 2007. Another disappointment. Unable to create any impact on the game, and never really looked threatening. Sole dependency on Ibra, who was given double covering … and led to a quiet exit. (the brawl was more interesting than the match)
• Centenary Year – all the hype bout Inter’s aim of CL. And what a loose match !!! An uninspiring in fact, depressing defeat.

 

[1919]

And what is more, apart from a 5-1 victory over Valencia, 2 seasons back, has Mancini’s Inter looked as comfortable in Europe as it does against the Scudetto teams?

He clearly looks like a fish out of water … there is no fluency in the game, all the tactical planning goes for a toss, and the fighting spirit is absent collectively.

The Coppa Italia coach is now mature enough to handle the Serie A challenge, but Europe still remains out of his reach – that is my opinion.

And the facts are there.

 

[1919]

My friends, winning in Europe is much more than just winning.

With Serie A coverage being overshadowed by EPL and La Liga ones in recent years, performance in Europe is one of the key tools to sell ur team to the fans beyond the continent.

To make new fans, to earn more revenue, to become more famous. You may be the champions of Italy, but you are nobody in the eyes of a general football fans who is not keen on serie A, or who does not get TV coverage.

Europe and CL is a stage to sell your club to the world, make new fans. Ask yourself why u became an Inter fan? May be because u saw Inter on tv (these days EPL is casting a long shadow over Italian clubs) or may be because Inter signed your idol (but those big spending days are behind us)

Unless we perform in CL and Europe, the next generation of football fans will only know Inter as an Italian team - and not as a European giant, amongst Europe's elite, which is where we truely belong.

And to prevent this from happening, we must win ... in Europe. NOW !

 

[1919]

Btw, for the finicky ones, i broke up a long text in 4-5 parts just for the ease of reading ...

 

[sergiu.inter]

You are right man...everything you said is true,but unfortunately i don't see anything positive coming...i don't see a positive change this season regarding the CL approach.We lack many things and we can't expect our team to do great in the CL.
For us to be considered "giants" we definitely must play a great game and win the CL not only once...but several times in the next year,then maybe someone will take us seriously.
Look at Porto for instance...they won the CL but they are for s*** now.They can't repeat the performance and i don't think they will in the next 10years.But at least they did that...we can't even do what porto did.This is even more devastating for us INTER fans.A
And yes,we are the italian champions...but we are only that for the rest of the rest of the world.We should do something about this and we should do it starting from now.We haven't won a CL for 42 years...Jesus...many people don't live that long...I really do hope i'll get to see INTER win the CL before i die.It's a shame we can really do it but we actually don't do it.I think we need a capable staff that can work both in Serie A and CL at the same level and maintain a high level of football throughout a whole season.In order for this to happen somebody has to do smth about it...if not,we shall remain the "italian champions" calling.

 

[interista mostar]

And, quite correctly Moratti has made it a priority … “Scudetto is an obligation, our focus is on Champions League” … or something of that tune.

But is words enough? Did he back it up with the right moves in the transfer market? Was the team strengthened enough?

Or was it strengthened keeping in mind Europe?

With the requirement for a playmaker so obvious, we signed Jiminez !! And who by the way is not even played a lot … but surely we should have looked at an established talent like Quaresma or Deco.

quaresma is the best choice but, deco he is 30 we dont need him we need quaresma(23) and nasri(20) this is player for inter if we wont something more in CL ,with this team that we have its be mirricale if we trough group stage believe me and you see how el chino play for torino in this season you see he wiil be the one of best players in italian league please moratti back chino and misfire mancini
mancini is real piece of shit when i see him face i see stupid man how dont know wath do
belive me with novelino we will play beter 10 times tahn stupid mancini

 

[Waleed]

Inter in Europe = PATHETIC

enough said.

 

[Opeum]

1919, u posted here more than anyone else j/k

 

[Gasparroni]

Ronaldo Koeman stopped right now as coach of PSV Eindhoven. He just signed a contract at Valencia. Lets hope PSV will suffer this problem in the CL, that should be good for Inter!!

The striker of Fenerbahçe Mateja Kezman is injured for 4 weeks and will miss the match Inter - Fenerbahçe. Good news for us.

 

[1919]

~bump~

 

[1919]

Anyone feel like adding anything over here? or waiting till March 11?

 

[sergiu.inter]

Anyone feel like adding anything over here? or waiting till March 11?

well,truth be told,we suck in europe.i really hope this will change starting from this season ( yeah,i still believe we can get passed liverpool )
if not,something definitely has to be done in order to perform well in CL,and not only serie A,because it's really starting to be frustrating

FORZA INTER!!!

 

[M.Adnan]

Anyone feel like adding anything over here? or waiting till March 11?

More like waiting for next year.

To beat Liverpool and qualify, we just need not to let them score. I know that the team can score atleast 2 goals; we scored 4 goals against Milan and Roma in away games before.

I just hope that Liverpool set back and defend the whole time, so we can have the chance to try and create some useful chances.

 

[Alex de Large]

Jose Mourinho.

 

[cloudq]

Guus Hiddink

 

[Ziyad]

Not throwing the towel in just yet..The dreamer in me says we did it before against the same team,we can do it again,even if it was 43 years ago...

 

[rockball]

Some things are meant to be...like our comebacks against Pool

 

[1919]

Its not as if I dont dream about a comeback, but the point of reviving the thread was just to reinforce how naive Mancini's Inter is in European competition.