Inter 2016-2017 season

A new season, a new coach and a whole lot of new hope to do better then last season. Finishing 9th is pretty darn low and with no European competition we are a good outside shot for the title and at the very least a CL spot. Mazzarri has had the chance to work with this squad for the last 2-3 months and even though we had very undesirable results early on we managed to look marginally better after each game and this being an inter at only 60%(as Mazzarri was quoted saying).

The amount of transfers show that inter is still a work in progress especially in some positions but the management team did have an eye for youth and did let go of some deadweight which is commendable.

We start off against Genoa at home with this healthy group

Goalkeepers: 1 Samir Handanovic, 12 Luca Castellazzi, 30 Juan Pablo Carrizo;

Defenders: 2 Jonathan, 5 Juan Jesus, 6 Marco Andreolli, 14 Hugo Campagnaro, 18 Wallace, 23 Andrea Ranocchia,31Alvaro Pereira,35 Rolando, 55 Yuto Nagatomo;

Midfielders: 10 Mateo Kovacic,11Ricky Alvarez, 13Fredy Guarin, 16 Gabi Mudingayi, 17Zdravko Kuzmanovic,19 Esteban Cambiasso, 21 Saphir Taider, 90 Patrick Olsen;

Forwards:7Ishak Belfodil, 8 Rodrigo Palacio,9Mauro Icardi.

3-5-2 seems to be the main formation for Mazzarri so its expected to see the usual back 3 of JJ, Rano & Campg
midfield can be a toss up but most likely cucho will be in the center with guarin/alvarez pushing up and nagatomo & jonathan on the wings
the 2 up top will most likely be palacio and one of icardi-belfodil

Players to watch out for in Genoa are Lodi who we were linked too this summer, Gilardino is still a decent striker. Apart from those two no other names jump out. However we did struggle vs Genoa last season and finished both games at standstills.

Still think this team will get the win
3 points, no less
Forza Inter!

 

yeah deki said his final goodbye to inter but I think right now he's a free agent that has another year to offer.

Anyhow, great second half vs genoa. First half I was really disappointed with cucho, guarin and our midfield play in general. Poor crosses and giving the ball away too much though we started to improve closer to the whistle. Second half started and we looked much better however I think a key component to that was genoa deciding to start attacking which left open some much needed space for nagatomo & jonathan. Lucky with the deflection which found nagatomo at the second post for the goal but we can claim it was merited with how well we played after the start to the second half.

Second goal was a nice patient pass from guarin to palacio though credit to taider(?) who won the ball in midfield.
Some observations: I think we'll see taider or kovacic replace cucho or at the very least push cucho to that LCM position cause he just can't cut it as the sole anchor anymore. Very glad with Mazzarri's changes, kovacic for cucho, icardi for kuzman and taider for alvarez. He was smart enough to notice we had too many offensive pieces after the 1-0 and not enough cover.
Still room to improve but good win today.

 

Hopefully a talent we don't end up selling...his shot is exactly what mazzarri wants him to improve on. With time we'll see him earn his starting spot, he's just great to have on the counter. His dribbling naturally moves everything forward and creates space or at the very least ends up with a dead ball situation.

 

Inter sent you off to vacation on a positive, kuz was mostly cold. He tried to get into good positions and did some work in covering for nagatomo but like the rest of our midfield in the first half he didn't make most of the possession. Second half was more of the same for him so naturally the substitution came.

Ricky was like guarin were in the first half they were making errors but by second they really started to create chances and move the ball around, part of the reason he struggled early on was because Lodi was on him.

 

Well I share the same sentiments as you, we should see less of him and probably more of kovacic and taider/obi
too bad you'll miss catania, we've had some very entertaining games with them over the years
after that is juve...

 

On and off, hopefully mazzarri's anti-injury team can help him out cause he was quite a promising midfielder even during the rafa stint

 

Goalkeepers: 1 Samir Handanovic, 12 Luca Castellazzi, 30 Juan Pablo Carrizo;

Defenders: 2 Jonathan, 5 Juan Jesus, 6 Marco Andreolli, 14 Hugo Campagnaro, 18 Wallace, 23 Andrea Ranocchia,25 Walter Samuel, 31Alvaro Pereira,35 Rolando, 55 Yuto Nagatomo;

Midfielders: 10 Mateo Kovacic,11Ricky Alvarez, 13Fredy Guarin,17Zdravko Kuzmanovic,19 Esteban Cambiasso, 21 Saphir Taider, 90 Patrick Olsen;

Forwards:7Ishak Belfodil, 8 Rodrigo Palacio,9Mauro Icardi.

probably won't get to see the whole game but im excited to see if kovacic will start and in what position he will be in. Catania has sold some good players but they always give us a hard time. Milito had some games with the primevera but im not sure he will be ready for juventus but at least he's coming out of injury much sooner than the estimated time of october.

 

We were very lucky not to have conceded a goal in those first 10mins. Afterwards it was back and forth with inter getting some chances mostly through guarin-jonathan but there was quite a few easy give aways from both teams that led to some of those chances. The goal was all jonathan who is having possibly his best game so far, 1 v 1 beats the defender and sends a low cross to palacio who just taps it in.

Kovacic was playing where kuzmanovic was playing last week but it didn't seem all that great since he didn't track all that much to help nagatomo(who really needed help) and offensively he only had 1 good run and 1 good distribution apart from that it was not a great performances from him and i can understand mazzarri subbing him out early for taider.
Sharper passing and our midfield not giving the ball away so much are things to look for int he second half which i won't be able to see...

 

Yeah catania completely forgot or didn't care to defend during that half, alvarez just sliced through
I still cringe when we lose or give the ball away easily ex. guarin, cucho
3-0 great win, still don't think we're at juve's level but with this performance a slim win/draw is realistic

 

I agree it feels a bit soon, speaking of which milito has made a great recovery and is now available for the juve game.

Goalkeepers: 1 Samir Handanovic, 12 Luca Castellazzi, 30 Juan Pablo Carrizo;
Defenders: 2 Jonathan, 5 Juan Jesus, 6 Marco Andreolli, 14 Hugo Campagnaro, 18 Wallace, 23 Andrea Ranocchia,25 Walter Samuel, 31Alvaro Pereira,35 Rolando, 55 Yuto Nagatomo;

Midfielders: 10 Mateo Kovacic,11Ricky Alvarez, 13Fredy Guarin,17Zdravko Kuzmanovic,19 Esteban Cambiasso, 21 Saphir Taider;

Forwards:7Ishak Belfodil, 8 Rodrigo Palacio, 9 Mauro Icardi,22 Diego Milito.

probably won't start but it would be nice to see milito and palacio join up again later in the season, even though palacio is good as a CF he and milito were great earlier this year before injuries starting hitting(that run from winter to march). Kovacic is not 100% so Taider is probably going to start, I'd be surprised to see kuz starting.

For me this will be a real test for jonathan who is up against asamoah.
Midfield wise they are a step ahead but we can manage to hold them off depending on who marks pirlo and if guarin plays how well can he help our defense(cause johny is going to need help).

if we show improvement then a draw or loss wouldn't be so salty

 

So far our defense has neutralized him though we are giving the ball away in really dangerous areas.
I don't think either yellow was warrented and we got very lucky vidal touched the ball with his arm otherwise taider brought him down and it would have been a pk.

Campagnaro was our best defender though frog did very little wrong and kept tevez at bay.
Jonathan is stepping up to asamoah and so far he's been decent-good.
Guarin needs to step it up a notch, gave the ball away and for the majority of the first half did not have that fighting spirit up until the end.
Taider is doing good, besides taking down vidal, he did pretty well covering for nagatomo and combining with him

not a lot of great opportunities on goal but we are definitely keeping up with juve.

 

Guarin really stepped it up and I'm glad Icardi got his first goal vs juve. 1-1 fair result, I liked what I saw from some players in defense, distribution of the ball was good, still a little sloppy giving away some balls but overall I thought we did well. Most importantly I think we showed the rest of the league that we are coming back.