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

[PHM1605]

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

2 matches with exhausted players can cost you 6 points in the league. And it worth a Europa league ticket at max.

 

[andrejZGB]

Reality is that the whole team was emotionally drained form the Derby win, and add to that this is for Napoli only chance of wining trophy this season so they went all in yesterday. So considering any win in Napels will do us good it is not so bad result after all + Napoli plays away much better then home, and our away record is among the best one in Europe.

So with all that I have high hopes for return leg, any win would do us good and fuck me but I believe we can score 2-3 goals there, with Handa back in goal sholud not concede over 1.

 

[Ronin]

2 matches with exhausted players can cost you 6 points in the league. And it worth a Europa league ticket at max.

It's also worth a title, something which we haven't won in 9 years. We need at least a title to get the snowball moving.

 

[Kramerica Industries]

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

Well, that ship's already sailed then, I guess. Conte rolled the dice on playing most of the regulars with only two days in-between the derby and this game, knowing a tough away game is ahead against a rested side, and it didn't work. Whether it was a gamble worth taking or not, can't fix anything about it now. Just gonna have to hope for a good performance in Rome.

 

[Universe]

Exactly. It's worrying that we gambled on using most of our starters and it failed to pay any dividends whatsoever.

As Cafe mentioned, Napoli were able to take home the big result while expending extremely little energy. They sat deep, comfortably absorbing pressure and weren't even pulled around much due to our lack of movement or pace.

Even though they lost the ball several times trying to play it out from the keeper, we lacked any kind of cutting edge or intensity in capitalizing on such mistakes. Regardless of their current situation or coaching changes, everyone knows Napoli possess highly technical players. In the times they did get it right, they managed to evade our high press, move the ball up the pitch quickly and attack into vast space. It reminded me of our first half at Camp Nou and it again made me consider our current form and tactical setup.

That said though, despite our execution being close to non-existent, we had the right set up today - contrasting with previous dogshit performances (Cagliari, Atalanta, Fiorentina, 1st half vs Milan.) We played the ball out from deep, got further up the pitch and tried to move the ball around patiently. The reason it didn't work was our inability as a team to accelerate our attack and create space when necessary. That, coupled with some very poor individual performances from our key attacking players (Sensi, Barella, the forwards.)

Now, we spent our best players for zero reward and we have a hugely difficult match at the Olimpico. TBH, even though we beat them, and even though our victory came before Lazio's insane streak, they were still much more threatening than us in the reverse fixture. I think they have a better squad for the 352 and they've been playing it longer than us. I'm curious to see how we deal with this rampant Lazio side, that too at their home no less.

 

[ElDuccio]

Thinking again about the game, i think we only wanted to avoid a away goal. If you see our game (specialy in the first half) all we did was holding the ball, avoiding Napoli to conter and try to not run much by making long balls. We never tryed the fast pass, always played safe passes. Conte wanted probably to safe energy after that Milan game and before the Lazio game. A 0-0 was a good result for us, or a lucky 1-0. It was not a problem of system or mentality, it was exactly how the game should be. It also worked in the first half, Napoli never had the opportunity to pass our defenders while we had 2-3 good chances to make a goal.

It was not a bad decision as long we will win on Sunday. And hopefully win at Napoli too in 3 weeks.

 

[thatdude]

That Fabian Ruiz goal showed why we need a real DM. Guy waltzed right through our midfield right outside our box.

 

[Universe]

That Fabian Ruiz goal showed why we need a real DM. Guy waltzed right through our midfield right outside our box.

I'd kill everyone on this forum for a Cambiasso. It's actually very often that opponents have space about 20m away from our goal. With the way we're set up, the flanking CM's are either too high up or out wide, and Brozovic is the last line of defence before the CB's. And pulling the CB's out of line to come forward and make challenges is a last resort.

It's the same thing as the Calhanoglu shot which hit the post, and many, many other half-chances that we always allow opponents in games. For as much defensive work as Brozovic does, he's not and will never be an outright defensive DM. He's a CM who can defend, but one who likes to slide into tackles and make flying blocks. While his all-in challenges can be great at times, it can also be pretty easy to juke Brozovic as we saw in those two instances (Ruiz/Calhanoglu).

 

[YoramG]

Apart from being pissed at the way in which we lost this, I don't think it's too big a deal.

Yes, we played a few too many starters but it's not like it was a particularly taxing game, and I think Conte has given them a day of rest today regardless. We got more minutes into Eriksen, Moses, Sensi, D'Ambrosio and Sanchez, and gave Lautaro a game to get back into the swing of things after his suspension.

I'm positive we'll see a much better performance on Sunday and we'll beat Napoli in the reverse fixture. We're sitting on something like 9/11 away wins and are unbeaten on the road, so it seems we may favour away fixtures anyway.

 

[PHM1605]

It's also worth a title, something which we haven't won in 9 years. We need at least a title to get the snowball moving.

That so-called "title" isn't significant at all. Let me prove...do you remember how many Coppa Lazio has won in 9 years (without using Google)? No one care about it except the own fans.

And you also see, despite winning CoppaS, nothing moving for Lazio

 

[Universe]

Should be 2.

But that's way too harsh a take. I guarantee if we win the Coppa Italia you'll have a big fucking smile all over your face as will every other Interista on the planet.

Now the SUPERCOPPA is more in line with what you're saying. But a Coppa Italia is a great achievement (as is a UEFA Cup btw,) even more so when you considering we've been a joke for the best part of a decade.

 

[brehme1989]

The Coppa used to be a snubbed competition until the early 2000s. It was amateur hour in the 90s, not many teams gave a fuck.

Roberto Mancini made it cool again and Mourinho took it to the next level with the Tripleta and Agnelli has ever since tried to rig everything in Italy in order to be able to achieve one of those for his little birdshit mafia club.

It's a trophy and it's important to win it. Especially if we beat Juventus in the final, something we owe them with 2 losses in 2 games. One of which deprived us of a 1965 Tripleta (would have been the first ever in European football, Celtic managed that in 1967 by beating us in the EC final) with a referee on a mission. An infamous Coppa Italia final that Juventus doesn't want you to know about.

It should be enhanced imo as thus far you barely play 5 games to win it. Teams should start earlier and have a forced away game to a Lega Pro team so that they get to have a big game for recognition and financial boosts (look at how happy Pordenone was to play against us and now they're onto their Serie A promotion hunt) and we get to rotate much more.


But while it's a trophy, it's always been considered a consolation award in Italian football. But times are different now. We need to win as much as we can, deprive Juventus from more stolen trophies and send a message that we're back for good.

I trust we can beat Napoli away again, especially with an early goal. Lautaro usually delivers within 10 minutes after kick off when we need a goal. Let's hope he keeps it up.

 

[PHM1605]

Should be 2.

But that's way too harsh a take. I guarantee if we win the Coppa Italia you'll have a big fucking smile all over your face as will every other Interista on the planet.

Now the SUPERCOPPA is more in line with what you're saying. But a Coppa Italia is a great achievement (as is a UEFA Cup btw,) even more so when you considering we've been a joke for the best part of a decade.

Not really. I would smile only if we get full points in the adjacent Serie A matches. Please check the schedule. After this match we get Lazio. After Coppa final we get Napoli and Atalanta. The return leg vs Napoli will be between Juventus and Sassuolo. Expect our starters to press non-stop in those incredibly hard matches is unrealistic (and I am not considering injury yet).

The consequence has began to ignite. Barella has just been a shadow of himself due to fatigue...and he played 90'.

 

[Ronin]

That so-called "title" isn't significant at all. Let me prove...do you remember how many Coppa Lazio has won in 9 years (without using Google)? No one care about it except the own fans.

And you also see, despite winning CoppaS, nothing moving for Lazio

In a greater scheme of things, sure, it won't mean much. But it's something that the teams & the fans need, mainly to know that they're heading into the right direction.

Lazio is competing for Serie A this season, which is something, having only 2 Serie A titles to their name.

Also worth mentioning is that the best teams in the world will compete in all possible competitions and give their all to win them, no matter if its a national cup, the league or the champions league. That's a winning mentality that oozes from the top of the management to the players and everyone in between.

 

[rockball]

Just me who didn't mind the result at all?

I'm much more comfortable going into the 2nd leg trailing a goal, than leading. Also this should inspire a better performance against Lazio.

 

[ElDuccio]

That so-called "title" isn't significant at all. Let me prove...do you remember how many Coppa Lazio has won in 9 years (without using Google)? No one care about it except the own fans.

And you also see, despite winning CoppaS, nothing moving for Lazio

I care honestly. All i know is that Lazio won 2 Coppa in this years while Napoli and Roma won nothing. Roma got in the semifinal of CL one time and Napoli always get trashed in the round of 1/8. But they never made part of Europes best teams, and today both teams will probably not even qualify for the CL next year. Lazio made nothing in Europe, but in Italy they made more then them, they won something.

 

[Ronin]

I wonder how the people that don't care about Coppa will feel if Milan wins it.

 

[Jnr]

No Ibra , Theo, Castillejo in Turin. No chance.

Juve is shit. Lyon actually might have a chance.

 

[Alex de Large]

I have a dilemma in the Lyon-Juve. I always want RuBe to lose everything, but if they get into 1/4's, they might focus a bit more on CL and be more tired on league games.

 

[Palacio]

Just me who didn't mind the result at all?

I'm much more comfortable going into the 2nd leg trailing a goal, than leading. Also this should inspire a better performance against Lazio.

Without Gagliardini and in form Lautaro I wouldn't be so sure.