Inter - Napoli (12 Feb 20) [Coppa Italia] [0-1]

[forzainter257]

No doubt there was 2 or 3 clear fouls on Lautaro than inexplicably went against him. I think twice Di Lorenzo just ran into the back of Lautaro and fell over but won a cheap foul outside his own box.

You know what though, over at the refs association, they're probably telling each other before games, "Hey mate, have a good day. Oh btw, watch out for that little Lautaro prick." People were worrying about this from very early on in his Inter career and it seems to have come true. Diving, simulation, gamesmanship, whatever you want to call it, there's no doubt he's earned a reputation for himself as a massive gamer.

In the first half, Maksimovic's arm swung nearby Lautaro's face as he challenged for the ball. There was absolutely ZERO contact between Maksimovic's arm and Lautaro's face, but what did Lautaro do? He went down to ground clutching his face. Calvarese saw that, very clearly, and had a word with him. It doesn't excuse other shit decisions, but you reap what you sow, so to speak. The refs have long since caught on to his gamesmanship and they will be VERY discriminating when refereeing him.

I remember he would simulate occasionally at the beginning of his Inter career, but then he probably learnt a lesson as he does so very rarely since then. I honestly didn't see that incident with Maksimovic. Also, there are far too many fouls on him which referees ignore.

Remember why he was sent off last time:

I mean, if this goes on, he might get fed up with it and really think of running from that league

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There's nothing sophisticated about the role of Eriksen.

Central midfielder role, drift wide

a bit, help the striker(s), become available for the side center back and your wing back. Pass the ball to Brozovic, Barella, sideways or forward. Shoot if possible.

That's about it. Nothing much to know.

Ashley Young on the other hand has become an immediate starter in a role he's barely played before and he has to learn where to position himself on both attack and defense to avoid being in a too advanced role, wary of any space opening he leaves at the back and know where to stand when we have the ball. He's still not really good tactically but since he's a fighter and can hit a decent cross, Conte is using him. Same tactical issues apply with Victor Moses who is an even more untamed horse and it's even worse when you know that he's played in that role before and there's practically no signs of improvement and you just have to pray that the defence doesn't take advantage of the acres of space he leaves wide open.


Eriksen not playing is because Conte didn't want him, pure and simple. At some point he'll be asked to feature him in the starting lineup and he'll burst into tantrums again. It's obvious that Eriksen is more fit than Sensi and is an upgrade over him. It has nothing to do with tactics or fitness levels as Conte initially suggested. It's weird that Ashley Young is Serie A ready but Eriksen coming from the same league with more appearances and less mileage is not.

I don't really get the fascination with Ashley Young. He's not even better than D'Ambrosio.​

Did you not see how Eriksen keeps on losing ball or mispassing too many times? He certainly needs to adapt to Conte's tactic.​

 

[Fapuccino]

Eriksen not playing is because Conte didn't want him, pure and simple.

Yep. Wrote this after the derby.

I feel like this dude is too smart for Conte's style of football.

Conte wants low iq workhorses. There is a reason why Conte fails in Europe. You can't outrun other teams to a CL title. You have to play smart.

 

[surripere]

best chances we had with 2 cb's instead of 3.

Yeah, 3 at the back means more time-wasting passing between the cb's in the defensive third.

 

[Guz]

Napoli's tactic was keeping eleven players behind the ball at all times, congesting their final third, and then breaking forward whenever they recovered it. One may call it basic or say they were a bit lucky (Ruiz' shot would have gone wide had it not been deflected by Barella), but at least they came up with a plan, stuck to it, and carried it out. We, on the other hand, did nothing but passing the ball around at a lethargic tempo because we lacked both the urgency and the individual skill required to make something happen.

I read a lot of criticism on Biraghi. Yes, he's not a player you'd expect to start for a team contending for the Scudetto, yet he's not the reason we lost this game. In fact, today's performance reminded me of a number of games we played under Spalletti, where there was absolutely no pattern of play to be seen, and all our offensive display came down to playing the ball wide to Candreva and hoping for the best. Tonight our whole midfield looked weak, out of shape (Sensi in particular), and unable to provide any kind of support to the strikers, who as a consequence, ended up being isolated and outnumbered by Napoli's defenders. Switching to a 4-3-3 formation allowed us to stretch their defense a bit wider, opening a few more passing lanes for us in their final third, but we never looked like we could really take advantage of them. Generally speaking, our main problem at the moment is Serie A coaches have realised that they mustn't allow us to play vertically. All they have to do is sit back, keep the defense tight and watch us struggle in search of an opening. That's why we desperately need a player who can bridge the gap between the midfield with the attack. Sensi was that player until October, but he's still clearly far from an acceptable physical condition. Eriksen is our only other viable solution, but at the moment he doesn't seem to have more than 30 minutes in his tank. Hence why I insist a coach should always have more than one game plan ready.

Anyway, we lost a game that should have probably have ended 0-0. We've already won at the San Paolo, so a comeback in the second leg isn't impossible. We'll certainly have to play much better than this, though.

 

[brehme1989]

Gattuso outplayed Conte, there's nothing more to it.

This wasn't the Napoli we know, despite their problems, playing. This was Gattuso's instructions to get an away goal and then sit back and let us torture ourselves to try and break their defense.

Calvarese definitely helped their cause by being an irritating cunt, especially towards Lautaro.

I keep seeing people talking shit about Biraghi yet he was one of the few guys who was showing a sign of urgency and tried to move the ball forward. Not his fault that we couldn't take advantage of this. Apparently that was our plan in the last 20 minutes. Cross, cross, cross.

 

[Lui]

Gattuso did nothing of the sort. Napoli were fuckin garbage. This wasnt an absorb and counter type tactic, this was defend with your life and pray to god we the sun can shine on our ass for a moment.

 

[RichDAS]

And it worked.

 

[CoolMan44]

There's nothing sophisticated about the role of Eriksen.

Central midfielder role, drift wide

a bit, help the striker(s), become available for the side center back and your wing back. Pass the ball to Brozovic, Barella, sideways or forward. Shoot if possible.

That's about it. Nothing much to know.

Ashley Young on the other hand has become an immediate starter in a role he's barely played before and he has to learn where to position himself on both attack and defense to avoid being in a too advanced role, wary of any space opening he leaves at the back and know where to stand when we have the ball. He's still not really good tactically but since he's a fighter and can hit a decent cross, Conte is using him. Same tactical issues apply with Victor Moses who is an even more untamed horse and it's even worse when you know that he's played in that role before and there's practically no signs of improvement and you just have to pray that the defence doesn't take advantage of the acres of space he leaves wide open.


Eriksen not playing is because Conte didn't want him, pure and simple. At some point he'll be asked to feature him in the starting lineup and he'll burst into tantrums again. It's obvious that Eriksen is more fit than Sensi and is an upgrade over him. It has nothing to do with tactics or fitness levels as Conte initially suggested. It's weird that Ashley Young is Serie A ready but Eriksen coming from the same league with more appearances and less mileage is not.

I don't really get the fascination with Ashley Young. He's not even better than D'Ambrosio.​

Who do you see fascinated with Ashley Young? Most people are just happy someone is there to take Biraghi's place. Biraghi wasn't too bad in the first half, but then there was a play where he had acres of play to run into and he decided for a backpass to Bastoni, at which point the fans started to boo.​

 

[Joker]

No Vecino no party

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No Vecino no party

 

[tonyclifton]

At least we will go to Naples win the intention of playing to win now, no?

 

[Jane The Virgin]

Serie A >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> UEFA and then trillions of miles away - coppa.

Fuck coppa. Go with all primavera team in Napoli.

 

[Campione]

Realistically, Coppa is our best way to win something and I would not ignore it.

 

[Sassuolu]

Meh we were a little lacklustre, Lukaku felt a little off but Eriksen did light up a spark when he came on, Lautaro was also off the pace but when he did that turn and run my jaw dropped, he's such an amazing player when he wants to be. I think Moses had a very good game too.

Honestly after the derby it's kinda predictable that the team would be a little tired physically and energy wise it was a tiring even watching it. We have an immediate opportunity to bounce back on Sunday, I'm glad we had a game to buffer the derby high so that the team can wake up and smell the coffee because we cannot have another terrible first half versus Lazio.

In the end Napoli play well in big games, their goal was scored by one of their better players who made the difference but I think it's amazing how a team that thrashed us last season and has a better starting 11 than us was shitting themselves in the last 20 minutes wasting time and doing every dirty trick in the book just to win.

 

[Glass box]

The fucken irony when Napoli or Milan could end up with a trophy this season and we may not. But worst is if rube wins the Coppa.

I think we're done in this competition.

 

[Sassuolu]

The fucken irony when Napoli or Milan could end up with a trophy this season and we may not. But worst is if rube wins the Coppa.

I think we're done in this competition.

I'll take a CL spot over the Coppa every single day of the week.

 

[Glass box]

I'll take a CL spot over the Coppa every single day of the week.

Is our CL spot at risk at this point? No, we can have both.

 

[PHM1605]

Just skip the useless Coppa and Europa League to avoid unnecessary stamina consumption. Stamina = points in the league. Yeah I know any trophy is still better than nothing but the prize isn’t worth the risk.

 

[firmino]

coppa italia is just 3 matches, 2 now, so it is worth the stamina, at least imho.

 

[Glass box]

coppa italia is just 3 matches, 2 now, so it is worth the stamina, at least imho.

Trophy is a huge boost for the team.

Elimination is a downer.

Coppa trophy > elimination.

But we choose elimination so here we are.

 

[Sassuolu]

There's a second leg and we're playing Lazio on Sunday that's why I Coppa should not be a priority.