Written by Christian Rivas
So after the raw emotions of our loss to Bologna, yes you read right Bologna. I sit here in my apartment watching the movie Crimson Tide (you know, with Denzel and Gene Hackman) and ponder what the board and Mr. Steven Zhang could’ve done to help us in this situation.
Do we have a mutiny within the squad and capitano (not my choice)? Is there a reason why we’ve had the same issues in previous seasons of discontent in the locker room?
Obviously we still lack a lot in the midfield, why didn’t the ownership get someone in the window? It’s been the same story season, after season, after season, still no creative midfielder. The coach’s choices and tactics, and captain’s obvious flapping his arms in the air like that game with the flappy bird. Let’s tackle some of these issues…
This team is in the same exact situation as last year, we start out the season hot and start to fizzle midway through the season. Whether it’s December or January, you sit there and ask yourself, why hasn’t management made any moves? Granted last season they went into the market and got Rafinha, which turned out to be a critical pick up and was the player we needed to push the squad into Champions for the first time since 2011-12.
This year we are in a similar position and yet, here we are without any purchases for the midfield. However, in the summer we went balls deep and bought Martinez, Radja, Politano, Vrjsalko, Asamoah, De Vrij, and Keita. So far only De Vrij and Politano have lived up to the bill.
On paper, you would expect this team to be top 2, especially with how inconsistent Napoli and Roma have been. Zhang didn’t make any moves in the transfer market to get us another critical midfielder to push us through. Who is to blame? On paper our team is by far better than last year. We injected some good youth and experienced players who should have positioned us at the top of the table.
Granted Nainggolan has been injured a majority of the season, his price tag should reflect how much he is producing. When the crowd jeered his sub today it was past due. Spalletti hasn’t been able to make adjustments thus far this season to our issues (we will address him shortly). So who do you really blame? The coach? The board? The players? Or do we demand too much? On to the next one!
Now let’s get to Luciano Spalletti, the man who master minded us back to Champions League last year. The man who everyone said was going to help us get back to the Promised Land. Since he has taken over the club, it has seemed that the club was finally back on its feet, and working towards finding its consistency that we have been lacking for almost a decade.
Yes, it has been that long since the time of the treble, when we ruled the world. Now it’s been legitimately a month and a half since Icardi has scored a goal (going to get back to him in a few) and three games since inter has won a match. Inter is slipping into a major crisis once again, yet somehow we are still in third.
Spalletti is right for stating that he shouldn’t be under fire as he is still in third place, but the reason why we are still in third place, Mr Spalletti, is because everyone else keeps dropping points… just like we are doing. We are lucky to be in the position we are in. While watching the game, Nick LaTorre and Thomas Paz stated that the players were seemingly working against Spalletti. Maybe it’s a conspiracy theory, but when you see your team not playing like they care, minus a few players today, who looked like they wanted to win, maybe it is the right time to cut him loose.
Now on to the most controversial topic and player on the team right now, il capitano (not mine if you ask me) Mauro Icardi. The player legitimately asked for a ten million euro wage bill, yet here he is missing sitters. It’s as if he is playing without a care in the world, unless you count throwing your arms in the air with complete anger because he lost the ball and can’t dribble to save his life.
You sit there and start to wonder if Spalletti, or the next coach has the balls to bench him for 4-5 games like Mancini did in the past. At some point the captain, who many adore and many hate, needs to get his act together. His statistics alone been piss poor. Today, Andrea Ranocchia had more chances, and was much more of an impact on the game than Icardi. It’s gotten to the point where several fans in the Inter community feel he should start ahead of Mauro for the next game. At least he fought for every ball and gave it his all during the few minutes he had on the field.
The final conclusion of today’s game is that maybe it’s time to cut Spalletti and get a new coach since the players aren’t responding to Spalletti. Watching the game on ESPN with Bonetti commentating is always a win, he brought up something that the captain of Bologna said. The coach had to be sacked to make the players realize that this is for real and they can be next. Maybe the team needs a sacrifice and Spalletti will wrongfully be the one to pay the price. Although, I do believe Mauro should be the sacrifice. Bench him for a few games to send a message to everyone else. I wouldn’t be mad to see what El Toro can do with an actual run of games starting. At one point Icardi will leave inter as we all know his heart isn’t really with the team.
Edited by Mario Gagliano
