Italian Serie A 2021/2022

[Choppin Onions]

Napoli is definitely a contender, and better than us at this point. Serie A seems the most competitive it's ever been. Mostly because we have no real Top 5 European team, but the CL spots are hotly contested.

They have a good squad. Definite strong contenders for the scudetto. Fatigue is always the question mark for the second half of the season though. Especially if you’re in a European competition. Early days obviously but this might be one of the most fiercely contested scudettos in a long time.

 

[thatdude]

on top of that Vidal was more ready for 1st team than Tonali, I think it was Conte’s priority, he couldn’t wait another years for development. Tonali is OK but I still think he’s kind of Montolivo player.

You’re correct. Conte wanted a player with experienc, he didn’t want to develop another player. However Tonali will be a great player, much better then Montolivo.

 

[Jnr]

Tonali, Calabria both called up to Nations Final4. Deserved call ups.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Yeah I'm okay with picking Vidal instead of Tonali now. As that lead to the Scudetto even if Vidal wasn't as good as expected.

 

[YoramG]

Weird to think that if Conte had a different vision/we weren't broke as shit, we could have had a Tonali - Locatelli - Barella midfield.

Of course, that also assumes Locatelli not being a die hard gobbo di merda.

 

[brehme1989]

Tonali and Kumbulla were on hold because we decided it was best to wait to get rid of players before getting new guys. The management wanted to proceed but Conte wanted the older guys first.

 

[Sawyer]

Weird to think that if Conte had a different vision/we weren't broke as shit, we could have had a Tonali - Locatelli - Barella midfield.

Of course, that also assumes Locatelli not being a die hard gobbo di merda.

I don't know about this, Locatelli wanted Juve and Tonali wanted Milan like Barella wanted Inter... I feel we would have not got either but I see your point.

 

[Il Drago]

Napoli is definitely a contender, and better than us at this point. Serie A seems the most competitive it's ever been. Mostly because we have no real Top 5 European team, but the CL spots are hotly contested.

It's mostly because the champions got worse instead of getting better while the other top teams improved whether that was in terms of coaching or squad. If Inter had kept the coach and the players and simply signed a quality Eriksen replacement they would have been the clear favorites to win it again. It's our problems that have made the Scudetto race wide open.

 

[.h.]

Is the assertion that we were after Kumbulla in 2019, or in 2020? The Sensi decision was in 2019 (the gentlemans agreement), and afaik we werent chasing Tonali in 2019 in a major way. If we are saying 2020, sure, but its kind of moot because we never had a chance of making the finances to pull it off - the only big signing we made was Hakimi, the rest were completing obligations.

For the price of Kumbulla, I could see it being potentially achievable - esp if we had sold someone like Skriniar. I dont for a second believe Tonali was ever serious (i.e. practical. I'm sure the interest was serious barring the pandemic) unless someone like Barella or Brozovic left that summer

 

[brehme1989]

Kumbulla was locked for 2020, we soon ghosted Verona and he ended up at Roma iirc

 

[.h.]

FOR 2020, or IN 2020? FOR 2020 implies to me we 'agreed' it in 2019 which he had 2 games of Serie B under his belt and that was it?

And, TBH, even within that I'm kinda skeptical. Maybe in Jan 2020, but by the time you hit March 2020, it was clear we were going to have financial pain in 19/20. It might have been perceived that by the summer Covid would be over and everything would be okay (debatable, its very optimistic), but I'd be surprised if we were locking in big deals at that point in time - IIRC even Hakimi was very quickly done rather than a sustained process?

 

[Sassuolu]

Before the pandemic destroyed us financially Inter were planning on signing Hakimi, Tonali and Kumbulla, unfortunately because we were broke we could only then afford Hakimi and went for options who were out of contract.

I don't lose sleep over Tonali, we've got a pretty strong midfield already.

How'd Milan do against Atalanta? I don't get how they keep raking up the points.

 

[Sassuolu]

We're two points behind Milan and people are cheering on Napoli? The negativity here reaching new levels.

 

[thatdude]

Before the pandemic destroyed us financially Inter were planning on signing Hakimi, Tonali and Kumbulla, unfortunately because we were broke we could only then afford Hakimi and went for options who were out of contract.

I don't lose sleep over Tonali, we've got a pretty strong midfield already.

How'd Milan do against Atalanta? I don't get how they keep raking up the points.

Having Tonali for that 3rd spot instead of Hakan would be great right about now. That’s how I always saw his signing. The other CM to compliment Barella long term with Brozo or another DM behind them. Oh well, there are other CMs out there we just need some fucking money.

 

[ADRossi]

This is all a moot point until Suning shows a willingness to sign a player without a corresponding sale.

 

[Il Drago]

Tonali may look like an enticing player to have now but the situation looked a lot different a year ago.

We had Brozovic and Barella who were definite starters. We had Sensi who was coming from a tough season but there was hope he could regain his fitness. There was Eriksen who had joined just 6 months earlier and there was optimism he would have a much better second season once he adjusted to Conte. And, most importantly, Tonali was never a Conte request. Tonali was always supposed to be a Marotta signing for the future. Tonali or no Tonali, Conte had asked for Ndombele, Vidal or a similar midfielder. So a year ago Tonali looked more like a luxury signing.

We also need to remember Tonali was actually quite poor for Milan last season. He got lots of playing time (mainly thanks to Bennacer injury), he worked on his game and now he looks much better this season. Would he have got similar playing time at Inter? Not really. He wouldn't have benched Brozovic, Barella, Vidal of first round or integrated Eriksen of second round. He would mostly get minutes from sub appearances and on the rare occasions one of the starters was missing but this isn't how you develop a youngster. The only period he could have got playing time was during the weird phase of the season when Conte was starting Gagliardini. But even then it would depend on Conte's trust on his abilities.

Things are a lot different this season and that's why he looks enticing for us. Uncertainty around Brozovic future, Eriksen is semi-retired, Sensi is broken, Hakan has been poor and Vidal has been inconsistent when he isn't injured. So it would be nice to have Tonali now. But the real question is: Would Tonali have been the player he is today if he had rotted on Inter's bench last season? I seriously doubt it.

 

[brehme1989]

FOR 2020, or IN 2020? FOR 2020 implies to me we 'agreed' it in 2019 which he had 2 games of Serie B under his belt and that was it

Before the end of the 2019-20 season. So you can understand that this was during the summer of 2020, before the Europa League campaigns.

Tonali was locked at the time we signed Eriksen, so January 2020. Pre-covid. But we negotiated the price during the pandemic and reached terms.


The issue is as @ADRossi says, Suning wasn't really keen on all that. Communication between Marotta and Zhang was virtually non-existent. Then the Chinese told our management that there's no transfers in without sales. We had already locked and signed Hakimi prior to that, which is also a reason why payments were delayed. Zhang was pissed that he wasn't informed earlier, perhaps he'd have it blocked.

 

[ElDuccio]

reminds me of 2 old friends meeting again after 60 years

 

[Il Drago]

Regarding Scudetto race, we also need to take into consideration the fact there's Africa Cup in January. Milan will be without Bennacer and Kessie. Napoli will be without Koulibaly, Anguissa and Osimhen. Those absentees could have a serious impact on the title fight.

 

[WLEXT]

Regarding Scudetto race, we also need to take into consideration the fact there's Africa Cup in January. Milan will be without Bennacer and Kessie. Napoli will be without Koulibaly, Anguissa and Osimhen. Those absentees could have a serious impact on the title fight.

Holy shit, Napoli will lose 3 starters