There’s no way to sugar coat it ladies and gentlemen, Inter are a flaming hot mess at the moment. They are coming apart at the seams… again, and earlier than usual. Here’s a quick rundown of their current troubles in no particular order:
– The Curva Nord is openly feuding with Inter captain Mauro Icardi and cheered enthusiastically when he missed a penalty against Cagliari.
– The club hierarchy threatened to strip Icardi of the captaincy before ‘allowing’ him to continue wearing the armband.
– Manager Frank de Boer, who has been at the helm for roughly two months, is very much on the hot seat with his potential replacements splashed on the front page of the Italian major dailies.
– Inter has lost in convincing fashion to the fourth-placed team in the Czech Liga, a club from the Ligat Ha’al in Israel and one of the newly promoted teams in Serie A, which had dropped their previous three away matches by a combined score of 7-2.
I’m at the point where I’m seriously considering replying to the DM I just received on Twitter from a French Buddhist monk/guru about buying some sort of five-step singing meditation program. Yeah, that’s where I’m at right now…
Without any further ado, here’s what we learned from Inter’s 2-1 setback to Cagliari:
1. Candreva can’t cross
I’m beginning to think that Antonio Candreva is the new Fredy Guarin. There are some striking similarities between the two players, with the most glaring their penchant to fire away (wide) from long distances.
I will readily admit that I thought the Italian international was a solid signing who would provide a veteran presence on the wing but he has been underwhelming to the point where there were some jeers when he was subbed off against Cagliari.
How he lasted 75 minutes is beyond me as I lost count of the amount of times he wasted a cross. A typical Inter counterattack consisted of a promising buildup before Candreva received the ball and sent in a cross was too wide, high, short, low of his intended target. Rinse and repeat 15 times and you get the idea.
2. Icardi needs to be stripped of his penalty-taking duties
Much of the talk has revolved around whether Icardi should remain the club’s captain but lost in the mix has been his poor recent record from the penalty spot. He has missed three of his last four penalties in Serie A and his latest misfire took the air right out of the Meazza.
I’m not going to dive into the latest controversy regarding Icardi but will say this: A 23-year-old who hasn’t won anything of significance during his senior career shouldn’t have an autobiography on the shelves but that being said it would be a major mistake to run him out of town.
The Nerazzurri have a long record of selling talented youngsters who go on to flourish at other clubs and Icardi would just be the latest name to join the list.
3. Joao Mario is a shining star
The Portuguese International was one of the lone bright spots in the loss to the Sardinians on Sunday. The midfielder bundled in his own rebound for his first Serie A goal and gave Inter a lead it should’ve have never relinquished.
In a brave new world of statistics and live metrics (which is fine and dandy) Joao Mario passes the eye test with flying colors. His sublime flick in the second half was a thing of beauty.
He rarely put a foot wrong and was the best player on the pitch for Inter on Sunday. It’s a shame that his teammates weren’t up to his level.
4. Time is not on de Boer’s side
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Frank de Boer considering the timing of his hire but the natives are starting to get restless at Appiano Gentile. Blowing a second-half lead at home to Cagliari will do that.
Questions about the team’s formation and fitness levels have surfaced after the Nerazzurri self destructed in the final 20 minutes. Under normal circumstances a manager should have a year or two to put his stamp on the squad but as I have mentioned in previous articles, Inter are the antithesis of a normal club and the sooner the Dutchman understands that the better off he will be.
De Boer’s substitutions left much to be desired as well, even though Ever Banega was visibly tired after traveling to South America for international duty while Candreva was struggling with his accuracy, but Assane Gnoukouri and Eder were hardly inspiring choices.
Cagliari manager Massimo Rastelli made some rather telling comments after the game when he said that, “Inter are a team with a great deal of quality… but no balance, so we worked on that.” Sounds about right.
5. Hard to blame Handanovic
Yes, that was a terrible goal to concede in the late going and yes, his mistake proved to be the difference between a draw and a loss but it’s difficult to pin the blame on Samir Handanovic so I won’t.
The veteran keeper made a series of top-drawer saves, including a double stop in the second half that would’ve have made Walter Zenga proud. Handanovic has bailed out what is becoming a porous back line one time too many times this season and the Nerazzurri are fortunate to have him.
Max De Luca is a journalist based in Toronto, Canada and has been published on Reuters, CBC, Yahoo, Goal, USA Today and many more. Starting today and every Wednesday, Max will pen a column exclusively for SempreInter.com discussing the most pressing topics of the day.
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