Re: Serie A Thread - 2011/12 Season
Regarding Inter, for once we are actually trying a new project with a young coach, we are trying to offload the old guard who had huge contracts and mixing some youngsters from the primavera with the senior side, from the preseason matches till now I've been impressed by some alot like Mbaye, Longo, Garritano, Duncan and Livaja.
that's the thing mate. this isn't really "a new squad project". starting off with a new squad project means completely revolitionise your starting 11... and that's not the case. sure, the transfer window is still far from over, but it really doesn't look like moratti is feeling in the mood to open his wallet and reshape the squad.
so far inter's only moves were replacing lucio with silvestre (good move, but what about ranocchia?) and signing palacio and mudingay (mudyngay!?! wtf!
).
yeah, there are a few youngsters coming in from the primavera, but that's just stramaccioni reacting to the fact he hasn't much to work with (he's been coaching those primavera kids, he knows them, and they can come for free, so he's trying to fill the spots on his own.... but let's be honest, those kids aren't there to replace "the starters"... they're only there to give stramaccioni a few options more and some depth on a cheap).
and as for the "offloading old players on heavy contracts", it seems they're doing a pretty shoddy work (as usual). getting rid of lucio was a good move, but why in God's name they gave chivu an extension!?!? that's insane!! and then there's the goalkeeper situation... branca and moratti had the brilliant idea to sign handanovic BEFORE getting rid of julio cesar... they must have thought "
if we sign handanovic, julio cesar will realise he won't be a starter anymore and we'll be able to terminate his contract".
LOL! and how did that work out!?!
julio cesar got the message loud and clear, but then he realised being a backup isn't so bad, when u got a huge contract. i can almost hear his agent explaining the situation to him.... "
listen Julio, inter wanna cut u lose and now that they signed handanovic they're gonna relegate u to the bench if we don't agree to terminate the contract or allow them to sell us. the thing is u still got 2 years left on a 4.5 millions per year contract and, at this stage in your carreer, there's no way we could get such a contract somewhere else.... so it's your call really; u can stay here for 2 more season as a backup and get 9 millions.... or u can accept to leave for a starting place somewhere else, in wich case we'll hardly get more than 2 millions". what would u have done?
i mean 9 millions for a 2 years holiday.... sounds pretty good to me!
so now, instead of saving a couple of millions in salaries by swapping julio cesar with handanovic, inter have both handanovic (2 millions per year) AND julio cesar (4.5 millions per year) under contract....
Jesus, they really haven't thought this through
Interista said:
While this is all good we need to set a realistic goal this season and Moratti should give Stramaccioni time
sadly moratti won't ever do that mate, as setting a realistic goal and giving time to the coach would imply an admission of guilt. u see when an owner says "we gotta be patient and give this new coach some time" there's always a subtext:
a) ....because this season we'll have a completely new starting 11 and formation (and that's not inter's case).
b) ....because we have a new young and unexperienced team (and again, this is not inter's case).
c) ....
because we haven't been able to give the coach a competitive team (and THIS is inter's case!)
moratti has made it very clear over the last 2 seasons that he doesn't wanna spend money on the market anymore (fair enough, that's entirely his call afterall).... but he also doesn't wanna be blamed for it by the media and the fans. so his approach to inter's current situation is something like this: "
the club is fine, the team is perfect as it is, we have lots of great players and if we don't deliver it's only because of poor coaching"
so u can easily see why he cannot show any patience towards his coaches; that would expose the contraddiction in his "it's all the coach's fault" logic.
interista said:
Btw Ben, is there anything you could tell me about Matias Silvestre? Would you say he's as good as Ranocchia or they're different types of defenders?
they're actually quite similar... with one big difference though. ranocchia is one for the future, as he has huge margins for improvement, whereas silvestre is already the finished product and already reached his peak. right now silvestre would be picked ahead of ranocchia, but that's only normal, as ranocchia is still developing. ranocchia on the other side, might be a much better player than silvestre in a couple of years.... but that's only gonna happen if he's given playtime and if he's allowed to grow some experience (wich doesn't seem to be the case, as apparenty stramaccioni doesn't like him - we're talking about the same coach who gave chivu an extension coz he believes chivu is a good cb
).
however silvestre and ranocchia belong to the same species of defenders. they're pretty much the opposite of bonucci and hummels. they aren't as elegant as bonucci and hummels, they're passing isn't as good as theirs and they don't take as many risks..... but they are also much more focused than bonucci and hummels (the ability to mantain your concentration for the whole match is probably the most underrated quality of a good cb) they're also less prone to mistakes (now u're gonna think i'm crazy here, as ranocchia did plenty of mistakes last season, but that wasn't ranocchia, that was inter. on an average day, on an average form, ranocchia is much less mistake-prone than bonucci and hummels, and so is silvestre).
silvestre has been top club material for 3 years now, and, unless he has a terrible form drop, u will fall in love with him immediately. he has a great sense of position and hardly misses a tackle. and although i said his passing isn't as elegant as hummels's or bonucci's, he still got an extremely accurate long pass (i mean a freakishly accurate long pass!).
silvestre and balzaretti have been palermo's entire defensive line last season, as they were the only 2 good defenders in our entire squad. without them we would have definitely been relegated, make no mistake about that.
silvestre is definitely a huge improvement from lucio..... i'm just afraid he's gonna cost ranocchia his starting spot.
.... oh and btw, the way inter are handling the whole ranocchia\destro situation
... let's just say moratti is making zamparini and liverpool owners look like clever club owners.
