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FIF Special Ones
Comedic Post of the Year
VS
PESCARA
September 11
Stadio Adriatico
Italy - 20:45 PM
Middle East - 21:45 PM
Australia - 4:45 AM
UK - 19:45 PM
USA - 13:45
Brazil - 14:45
China - 2:45 AM
Narnia - 25:75 XM
Form:
PESCARA: DW*
INTER: LD
*Pescara lost 2-1 to Sassuolo but because the Neroverdi used an unregistered player, the Lega Calcio changed the scores to a 0-3 win to Pescara.
First of all, I'd like to thank Raul Duke, Wobblz and Varmin who apparently are the only members on FIF who remember my flamboyant match openers and know that when I say "Updates Coming Soon" then this bitch means business.
Anyway, my disappointment in you heathens aside I have to apologies for the delay, not that a certain lovely Bulgarian friend didn't issue a passive aggressive aka bitchy reminder on the 2nd page, but I had crucial priorities… like picking up the Darth Vader movie/feudal realization figure. People, it is breathtaking and even the box’s quality is top notch with that “A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…” message inside the top cover. It’s the little things that count.
Back to the subject at hand...
Port City of Pescara
Looking back at these past two weeks of the league's debut, the alarming difference in preparation between us and the rest of the league was quite evident from a fitness standpoint and if there's anyone else that I've read and listened to the pundits discuss in a similar vein then it would be our cousins across Milano who I believe suffer from pressure induced physiological difficulties as well. It's sad really how the regular culprits go on with their usual business: Juve flexing their winning mentality, Roma choking (Yo wera) on multiple fronts, Milan self-destructing at the last minute, Napoli representing their mad and passionate City with similar unpredictable performances... then there's Inter, treading water with the familiar faces of Ranocchia, Nagatomo and their baggage of a failed post treble transitional period or at least that's what I thought immediately after the Chievo game.
In the Palermo match thread, browha summed it well when he said it'll be a very long season and you what? I'm fine with that as long as that type of formation testing and justified rotation is applied throughout the campaign instead of the confusing “flavor of the week” tactics Mancini relied on. I don't know about you but I was reassured last week, when Miangue came on, that unlike previous managers and their win/lose calcio mentality we're seeing little changes with Frank's priorities that hopefully will pan out on the long run. That said, Mancio did give Goku (that’s his name, deal with it) his debut so I could be jumping the gun big time which is often the case. Regardless, positive thoughts... positive thoughts people.
On a somewhat related note, I'm disappointed by some of our fans who may have had favorable opinions about Mancini and were critical of his dismissal, which is fine, but what isn't acceptable is taunting De Boer and the team with those "I told you so" tweets and unfunny memes that don't make any sense. I think some members already posted a couple of them and you could tell by their quality that they were either a reactionary gesture or the work of someone who only cares about the likes and the retweets. Sadly, GazzettaWorld’s Twitter account reinforced that narrative immediatly after the game when they gathered those tweets in an “article” on their website. The same with the attitude of those Italian commentators speaking English on beIN when they mentioned "De Boer's first point of the season" and "He needs to prove himself" as if his predecessor won a treble last year or left the team with a cohesive identity.
Outsiders aside, as Inter supporters it's eventual that we'll have different opinions, that is the norm in every aspect of life. I for one enjoy (hiyooo) that rich clash of contrasting ideas between Bluenine & nerazzurri4life or the different take Wallace offers and most people ignore. At the end of the day, we support the same team, facepalm at those idiotic misspasses, cringe at Neonblade's "Miranda sucks" posts, yell at a missed scoring chance and most importantly wear with pride the same colors... white and gold.
With that out of the way, let’s talk Pescara.
As much as I hate dolphins and consider them the overrated fucktards of the seven seas, only an idiot wouldn’t admire the passion and effort President Daniele Sebastiani put into bringing them back to Serie A after the incredible journey of Zdenek Zeman and Verratti 4 years ago. Speaking of Marco, beIN Sports had an interview with him where he talks emotionally about what the club means to him and his hometown when growing up. He explains that to the people of their port City, there is only Pescara where kids can realistically aspire to play professional football and the older crowd to gather around and support their city in a common way, unlike Milano or Roma.
TACTICS:
As Shaun pointed out, Pescara utilize an unconventional attacking football for a newly promoted side with a Christmas tree formation that tested an unaware Napoli in the first week where the visitors ended up playing catchup until they got their 2-2 equalizer. Nonetheless, that game has certainly left their fans rallied up for their next big confrontation with us in two weeks so don’t be surprised if the Adriatico crowd brought their A game. Keep in mind the passion Verratti spoke about earlier.
Pescara rely on a youth centered trident up front with our own Caprari heading that spear while being supported by Valero Verre (Inter’s future striker duo? :epicwin as well as Ahamd Benali. Manaj is their go to sub when the going gets tough. In two games, that forward line necked them 3 goals, one from Caprari against Napoli and a consolation goal for Manaj against Sassuolo.
Their's midfield features a trio lead by captain Memushaj on the left side, Gastòn Brugman in the center, and finally on the right side Bryan Cristante from Benfica and formally Milan. The defense line also features two Inter players, Cristiano Biraghi and our old pal Hugo Campagnaro who started the last game at Central Back after Coda's hectic performance against Napoli. Pescara's main central back is Gyömbér while Francesco Zampano handles their right flank.
Heatmap:
Caprari:
Verre:
Benali:
Passing:
Caprari:
Verre:
Benali:
THREATS:
Gastòn Brugman is their regista and most of the balls forward go through him and his long passes and through balls with Cristante. The Uruguayan has a strong right foot and likes to shoot from a distance. He is dangerous on freekicks.
Valerio Verre is a skillful player who drops deep to help his team start the attack. His role as a second striker is beneficial to them and could endanger our backline if we're not paying attention.
From what I've seen from Gianluca Caprari it looks like the kid is a warrior when he maintains the ball and can keep his cool when one on one with a keeper. He works with Verre quite well and truth be told I wish they played for a team like Sassuolo or a mid table club that isn't fighting relegation. I mean playing 2-3 consecutive seasons in Serie A is more beneficial for their growth like what's happened with Berardi. Regardless, playing as a starter now is vital for his career and our future, so hopefully we don't agree to sell him with a buyback option that we know it will never be activated.
INTER:
When you evaluate our performances these past two rounds you'll notice our constant inability to break down defenses that usually start with the pressure from the opponent's forward on our backline. Bellow, I listed the passing maps of most of our forwards and it shows the difficulty our forward line goes through when penetrating that usually 10 man defense as most of the passes from Icardi, Perisic, and Eder were going back to our third.
Icardi:
Eder:
Perisic:
Eder:
Perisic:
Passing: Midfield
Banega:
Kondogbia:
Medel:
Aside from the Sassuolo controversy, both teams will be going into this match without a real win so you'd expect natural pressure on De Boer and his boys especially when the Italian journalists are loading their guns with the "why did you change Mancini?" ammo.
Pescara's main weakness is down the flanks where teams like Napoli and Sassuolo figured how to exploit the space on the wings and get their respective equalizer and win. Defensively they're prone to mistakes as they conceded 4 goals in 2 games (or just 2 after the Lega's verdict) most of them from individual mistakes. That said, our boys will be under equal pressure if they think this is a walk in the park and fail to address the workrate you can see in Caprari's heatmap above... I made look again, right? #DickMove
Over 8 players in their starting lineup are bellow the age of 24 so we'll be dealing with a mostly young squad who may lack the Serie A experience but also have the legs to run especially when most of their players got a rest during the International break. If our boys, whether it's the new signings or the older ones specifically those who didn't get the chance to leave the club this summer, have their focus elsewhere and underestimate Pescara then we're in trouble.
Probabili Formazioni:
I think De Boer will field his strongest team as we need a win to ease the pressure from the press and eventually the fans. I'm not sure about Jovetic's mindset after the transfer drama or whether Frank will trust him or not, so Icardi is the default name despite our unanimous criticism for his display against Palermo. If he's benched it'll be a ballsy move by Native and Guney's homie. Next is the much anticipated duo of Perisic and Candreva who I don't think De Boer will run the risk of being asked about them next time. Similar to Jovetic, I'm not sure about Brozovic's state at the moment even though most of us want Kondogbia to sit this one out and get his act together. I still believe Medel is a liability in that versatile box to box role and even though I have no knowledge of Joao Mario's abilities I think there's no problem in testing him out against Palermo next to Banega.
As for the fullbacks, I reread the reports and they indicate that Ansaldi will return on September 10th so we're either starting Santon or Miangue. At rightback I presume model boy will keep his spot so there's no point to address that. M&M at Central back in front of Handanovic who hopefully shows an ounce of excitement and reaction like the ones Petr Čech has with Arsenal.
Forza Inter and remember people, as much of a joke this was last year, we're still in the preseason.... preparations wise.
I think De Boer will field his strongest team as we need a win to ease the pressure from the press and eventually the fans. I'm not sure about Jovetic's mindset after the transfer drama or whether Frank will trust him or not, so Icardi is the default name despite our unanimous criticism for his display against Palermo. If he's benched it'll be a ballsy move by Native and Guney's homie. Next is the much anticipated duo of Perisic and Candreva who I don't think De Boer will run the risk of being asked about them next time. Similar to Jovetic, I'm not sure about Brozovic's state at the moment even though most of us want Kondogbia to sit this one out and get his act together. I still believe Medel is a liability in that versatile box to box role and even though I have no knowledge of Joao Mario's abilities I think there's no problem in testing him out against Palermo next to Banega.
As for the fullbacks, I reread the reports and they indicate that Ansaldi will return on September 10th so we're either starting Santon or Miangue. At rightback I presume model boy will keep his spot so there's no point to address that. M&M at Central back in front of Handanovic who hopefully shows an ounce of excitement and reaction like the ones Petr Čech has with Arsenal.
Forza Inter and remember people, as much of a joke this was last year, we're still in the preseason.... preparations wise.
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