@Mnassar, I'm not a Mancini hater but at the same time I'm not a lover of his managerial style. What I'd like to question about your post is point 1 'we had one of the best halves in the first half'... What exactly was so good about it ?
The pressing and intensity of the team was without a doubt impressive. Off the ball they 'looked' fantastic. But ! Once in possession, there was simply no real structure or fluidity in the attacking third. They simply relied far too much on individuality to orchestrate any real opportunities (which there was only one) and the long balls are too ineffective when you consider Icardi had to wrestle against some very strong & experienced defenders.
This type of attacking build-up is a lottery, sometimes you may get away with a moment of brilliance but that is simply not a reliable or good enough plan.
It's quite evident that it doesn't work when you consider that we haven't scored a single goal in the opening 30 minutes of a game this season yet we continue with this hard pressing starts to a game.
Juventus was splendid defending that first half. Pushed Inter wide all the time and aside from the Brozovic 'fuck-it-i'm-gonna-have-a-crack' attempt that hit the bar, Juventus had absolutely no issues with dealing with our attacks.
Sorry, but it's gonna take a hell of a lot more to make me believe we were 'great' in that game.
Dude, no one is saying this Inter is a finished article, or even a great team yet. I am sure most of us understand that we are far from that. There are a lot of issues to resolve, specially in attack which like you said is still completely based on individual moment of brilliance - which good teams can defend against most of the time.
But please also take a look at where we are coming from. We have been broken for 5 years now. We have lacked badly in all components of a good team specially in the last 2-3 years. So far this season, we seem to have made a couple of steps in the right direction:
1. No more defensive leaks: Last season we leaked 48 goals. Sometimes it looked like our midfield did not even exist as the opposition would stroll unopposed to our end of the pitch. This season we have only conceeded 6 in 8 games, and half of them can be attributed to a bad start against a technically superior team. The midfield intensity, and technically better defenders have done that. What is more impressive is that we have done this while playing a higher line of defense.
2. Intensity: I like this word. It accurately describes a very key element of a successful team, and it relates directly to a winning mentality. Our intensity has been as low as our morale in the last 2-3 seasons. Even a few odd spells of good intensity were lost immediately as soon as things started to go wrong. This season seems different. The intensity we showed in that first half yesterday reminded me of the Mourinho days. Its even more impressive that this comes against the defending champions, and soon after we got a trashing. If we can just keep this up for rest of the season, that in itself will be a solid achievement.
Yes, there are numerous areas of improvement. But this season is just 8 games old, and we have a lot of new players. It takes time.
A bit of realism: It is unfortunate that this Inter revolution (assuming it is the real one, and not another false dawn - its still too early to tell) has coincided with a revolution across many top clubs in Italy. Roma, Napoli & Fiorentina seem to have considerably improved, and their starting point was much higher than ours. Juve have a slow start, but only a fool would write them off - they spent more than anyone else in upgrading, and I still think they have bought well (and had the luxury of investing for the longer term). Milan had a similar revolution as Inter, with a similar starting point, and their start to Serie A is more on expected lines than Inter's (I actually expected Inter to start like that). But they will improve once their attackers start gelling better (and Menez comes back). Lazio were at a higher starting point than Inter, and they went for continuity just adding some depth. So 7 good sides, only 3 will make the CL. The odds are stacked against us.
At the moment, I rate Roma, Napoli & Fiorentina above us. And Juventus too. While Fiorentina are a surprise, the other 3 were very much expected. Which is why I have been saying for 3-4 months now - I don't think Inter are the favourites to qualify for the CL - Juve, Roma and Napoli are. We might qualify, specially if these 4 teams go far in Europe, but we are the underdogs and not the favourites to qualify. Hence I get annoyed whenever someone suggests that the coach should be sacked if we don't achieve CL qualification because we spent so much money. As if Inter are the only ones who were spending money or getting stronger this summer. Or as if the starting point does not matter. Or that sacking coaches and starting over really has worked well for us so far!
We need to see how our team progresses over the season. At the end of the season, we need to evaluate how much we have improved or worsened from Mazzarri's team. Not just in terms of our position in the table, because that is relative, but in terms of our play. It may take more than a season to get back to the level Inter should be at.
Finally, for people who are saying we were shit yesterday - please get real. We were equal to Juventus yesterday, and that in itself is an achievement these days.