Trying to save face for Italy: Inter's Europa League Campaign

Inter, in what use to be the Uefa cup, was often a participant in this tournament before the 5 years of straight glory. Winning it more than a decade ago back in 97-98 but not really making deep runs in either Uefa cup or CL with the exceptions of the semis in both the 01-02 and the 02-03 Uefa cups.
Almost a decade after our last performance(03-04) in europe's second competition we find ourselves in another transition year, with a new sense of direction, new transfers and a very young coach.
Though italy as a whole doesn't perform very well in this competition, we can at least hope for a good run after the group stages that is if we qualify..

speaking of which our first opponent has been determined: Hajduk Split from Croatia, who are they? you're guess as good as mine but we face them in 2 legs one of which will be on August 2nd(get use to watching on thursdays) with a late kick off
in all honesty if we lose we will be a laughing stock of italy, if we win we go on to a play off round and then hopefully the group stage

As a fan of inter and the serie A, there really is no reason why we should not take this seriously, we still get money from tv, we'll probably be one of the bigger teams who won't take a back seat in tv slots to the english and spanish, this year the competition is deeper with the likes of spurs, liverpool and OM
Even though with all the stuff we are dealing with right now and the situation of the club/players, we still have a good shot at getting far in this competition and that's a good enough reason to take it seriously, still expect us to put the league as the top priority but we have a deep enough squad to do well in 3 competitions
A sincere hope that Inter make the fans and league proud and extending the longevity of this thread

 

Thanks, had to come up with something worthy of the occasion

squad list revealed for EL
1 Samir Handanovic;
4 Javier Zanetti;
6 Matias Silvestre;
7 Philippe Coutinho;
8 Rodrigo Palacio;
10 Wesley Sneijder;
12 Luca Castellazzi (association-trained player);
13 Sisenando Maicon Douglas;
14 Fredy Guarin;
16 Gabi Mudingayi;
19 Esteban Cambiasso;
20 Joel Obi (club-trained player);
22 Diego Milito;
23 Andrea Ranocchia (association-trained player);
24 Marco Benassi (association-trained player);
25 Walter Samuel;
26 Cristian Chivu;
27 Vid Belec (club-trained player);
33 Ibrahima Mbaye;
42 Jonathan Cicero Moreira;
44 Matteo Bianchetti (club-trained player);
52 Andrea Romanò (club-trained player);
55 Yuto Nagatomo;
81 Samuele Longo (association-trained player);
88 Marko Livaja.

28 Simone Pasa (List B);
46 Yago Del Piero (List B);
48 Andrea Bandini (List B);
49 Giovanni Terrani (List B);
61 Luca Garritano (List B).
http://www.inter.it/aas/news/reader?N=40430&L=en

I think we at least now know what players are headed out the door with their exclusion from the list: Julio Cesar, Pazzini, castaignos
this is only for the 2 up coming games vs Split, but we can pretty much detect that JC's #1 spot and time here is over, Pazzini is also very much out the door since strama & the club choose not add another CF leaving us only with milito, castaignos same thing which upsets me a bit
other players were left out due to injuries- mariga, dejan(possibly), ricky alvarez
they can be added at a later time should we win

 

no word on that yet, looks like the club is trying to find him a team but a contract termination is just as likely as we've seen....

 

squad for thursday's game
Goalkeepers: 1 Handanovic, 12 Castellazzi, 27 Belec;
Defenders: 4 Zanetti, 6 Silvestre, 23 Ranocchia, 25 Samuel, 26 Chivu, 33 Mbaye, 42 Jonathan, 55 Nagatomo;
Midfielders: 10 Sneijder, 14 Guarin, 16 Mudingayi, 19 Cambiasso, 24 Benassi;
Strikers: 7 Coutinho, 8 Palacio, 22 Milito, 88 Livaja.
longo still nursing an injury
looking at this list I think we need another signing in midfield and one more in the CF position

 

probably going to miss part of the game, lin eups
Hajduk Split: 1 Blazevic; 6 Vrsajevic, 22 Maloca, 5 Milovic, 17 Jozinovic; 7 Andrijasevic, 14 Radosevic; 11 Oremus, 18 Caktas, 20 Ozobic; 13 Vukusic.
Subs: 4 Milic, 9 Maglica, 16 Lustica, 19 Vugdelida, 24 Vukovic, 27 Jonjic, 29 Tomas.
Coach: Miso Krsticevic.

Inter: 1 Handanovic; 4 Zanetti, 6 Silvestre, 8 Palacio, 10 Sneijder, 14 Guarin, 19 Cambiasso, 22 Milito, 26 Chivu, 42 Jonathan, 55 Nagatomo.
Subs: 12 Castellazzi, 7 Coutinho, 16 Mudingayi, 24 Benassi, 25 Samuel, 33 Mbaye, 88 Livaja.
Coach: Andrea Stramaccioni.
win, win, win, nothing more

 

http://www.myp2phd.com/ch2.html

alright we're up 1-0, didn't expect anything less, nice play too by milito with that pass to sneijder who left everyone gasping

 

Hajduk fans really impressing me with their support, so loud and not a single moment without some noise
as for us, we're playing well all over the pitch not much to complain about besides maybe the condition of the pitch...

 

guarin is a good player going forward, passing/shooting/awareness, when defending he needs a little work and fitness wise as well but he's definitely a talent to have

 

lol nagatomo scores off a deflection, 2-0
you know this hajduk isn't all that bad going forward, they've got inside the box and have had space when our team steps off the pedal
dang hopefully not another injury for guarin..

 

fantastic play fantastic goal by coutinho and co.
3-0, next leg we'll probably see a good chunk of primavera

 

I think we can go far in EL and get a top 3/4 in serie a if we stay healthy, we got the players and the talent to get results even through the transition we are going through

 

good game for us, played well, won resoundingly vs a team we are meant to beat, clean sheet, no one got hurt except for possibly chivu, 3-0 good way to start EL

 

i find it funny how there's a "Well done inter" followed by a "WTF Inter" which pretty much sums up what happened, I was watching the usa win gold and only saw when split went up 1-0, I agree a 2-0 at home deserves a WTF

 

wow really coutinho? he was blazing in all of the friendlies, longo I understand and maybe we should loan him out for more experience, still think we need to focus on getting another CF unless we plan on keeping pazzo