One of the reasons I write this late after the game is because we need to take a step back and breathe a little since these emotional yet understandable reactions were expected. What happened tonight actually reflects our struggle to come to terms with our reality post 2010. It requires managing our expectations to what we now possess and not what we wish we had. I think it is a good time to include Kovacic's discussion in the mix as well since it's going to be a long post.
Like I said, managing our expectations. Looking at the roster tonight you come to the realization that this
is your entire squad. The only absences from the list are either past their prime substitutions or inexperienced lads with the exclusion of Campagnaro who's suspended. What are the objectives you're aiming for in reality? You can't pick a CL spot since you lack a unit with cohesion that struggles in the league constantly with no motivation, let alone travel weekly abroad. The title race is a dream your president keeps falling for whenever you have a run of good performances. Youth implementation? Why not try and build a team first?
Seriously, in our attempt to build a competitive squad we have wasted 2 seasons implementing players into a decaying first team with varying results . It began with Ranocchia whom we were patient on and demanded giving him playing time in which the outcome doesn't look promising after 2 years of justified and overlooked excuses. The same goes to Alvarez who came here with misrepresented intentions by the board. They claimed a token was coming from Argentina… then the position debate began. Where do you play him? Why can't he deliver? Some supporters even gave up on him saying "are we still expecting from him?" Despite of the somewhat good run with Ranieri, once the season began with Stramaccioni it was back to square one. After his surgery and the signing of Kovacic we saw a new Alvarez. Someone who finally had a reaction. Was he fueled by the arrival of "kid from Zagreb"? Or maybe a desire to silence the cursing fans in the stands? You can't say… but he did change positively. Nagatomo, Jonathan, and Guarin all struggled but they eventually came through regardless to the analysis of their contribution. That ladies and gentlemen took two years in which we had other pieces that were either lacking in quality or under-performed and saw the door. That is not to bring up the issue of young players, from the Primavera kids rotation to the foreign youth endeavors (Coutinho & Kovacic)
I understand that it takes time to build things, but if after two years you're still questioning the foundation then you clearly made a mistake. These guys were brought here to patch things up in various positions and not to initiate the core and identity of the team. After every game now we look and say that the midfield lacked support from back, the defense lacked support from the middle.. etc. Instead of the establishment of a functioning unit, the aim became fixated on short term repairs that don't address the issue. We are
not a unit. We don't function as one nor we think as one and tonight's game emphasizes that notion.
We begin with a simple task, assessing the opposition. This is a team that was
humiliated last week by newcomers Hellas Verona in a 4 – 1 defeat, so a reaction was bound to happen. This is a team that is now managed by Mr. Edy Reja, a man whom I believe understands the way we function. Add to that the fact that this was the Olimpico, a place we haven't won since 2010. A victory in my opinion was never an achievable objective hence my understanding but not justification to Mazzari's intentions.
It seems that the team was instructed to
react to Lazio's intentions instead of taking action themselves. We replied to their attacks with masses in the penalty box. We tried to attack in numbers to push them into their half. A tactical tango you can say but with more
physicality as the altercations and personal duels began to effect the quality of the game. I said this was a good game, and it was based on the fact we managed to hold onto the goal I explained earlier;
containing Lazio. This control lasted for about 67-70 minutes, that's when the collective effort began to submit to fatigue. Minutes later their goal sealed the match.
There are things that can be blamed on Mazzari and others on the players, but there are certain things that you can't explain tonight. Things that the human mind is left speechless to. For instance, I'm not sure who instructed the boys to use crosses in the Lazio box, especially when their new keeper Etrit Berisha is 6' 4" tall. If it was Mazzari or one of his coaches then it's a problem, and if it's the player's persistence then it's a bigger one. To me this questions the distribution of roles by the manager and the obvious incapability of producing solutions on the pitch by the players.
Are the boys strength points limited? I'm guessing so…
I think the center point in this lose was fatigue. After an hour Kovacic was subbed in, and because of their efforts to handle Lazio's pressure; the overall energy of the squad dropped significantly. Cambiasso was incapable of covering the entire third of our midfield like he did in the first half. Guarin pushed forward and stopped dropping back to help pick things up possibly because he was tired as well. There was a smart remark made by Hasan and Kenny that Alvarez ignored Kovacic which I somewhat agree with. However, we must be fair to Mr. Reja who made a brilliant switch once he noticed that Mazzari was going for a position to position substitution and that is the introduction of Onazi. By doing so, he gained an upper hand in midfield in numbers and fresh legs which overwhelmed our third.
Individually, I'm guessing I'll disagree to a certain degrees with you guys on some players tonight.
Handanovic: It was a shaky performance from Samir. There were times tonight that the lack of communication between him and his defenders left us exposed. I wasn't impressed with his ill-timed rush outs that missed the ball occasionally.
Juan: The lucky Brazilian. Remember how we were going to send him on loan and extended Samuel and Chivu's contracts? If it weren't to their injuries and our debacle back then he wouldn't have seen the pitch in our jersey. I loved what he did tonight. He made a couple of mistakes that you expect from a youngster but he also showed character to fix them whenever he lost a duel or the ball.
Rolando: I have to admit that my observation to his game was limited as I tried to follow the others around. I believe he was capable of holding his own against the likes of Klose and Ledesma since most of Lazio's attacks came from the flanks and not the center.
Ranocchia: The weakest of our back three. He and Jonathan were left to deal with a drifting Lulic who threatened their backs with his constant switches with Klose. Throughout the match he seemed quite tensed up and made a couple of confusing decisions that exposed his state of mind. Like when he brilliantly extracted the ball from Lazio and passed them to end up shooting the stands.
Nagatomo: It's always something with Nagatomo. In tonight's game he dealt with two threats in Candreva and Cavanda whom at times beat him with crosses to Klose and one of them is the goal. In the 37th minute he wasted a crucial counter by Guarin that should have been dealt with better. His offensive contribution was limited and the defensive one required support from Cambiasso and Alvarez.
Jonathan: Jonathan at times evaluated his opponents wrong when he attacked. Did good with Nagatomo's chance. Defensively he was very busy dealing with Lulic.
Cambiasso: In grading Esteban's performance I have to disagree on many of you here. I thought that he, based on our team's intention, was effective and responsible tonight. I use that word in particular because it showed me tonight a beautiful side to Cambiasso's attitude on the pitch. Many times he was left stranded alone in front of the backline because his partners juggled playing the ball out the back to him while opting to move forward creating by so two dangerous gabs, one between Handanovic and his defenders and the other between that backline and midfield. Still Cambiasso was all over the midfield, rushing back to cover for Nagatomo or linking up the attack with Alvarez and Guarin. After 60 minutes he was extinguished.
Kuzmanovic: His introduction in the starting lineup tonight was a mistake by Mazzari but I understand the reluctance to start Kovacic in that environment. Needless to say that he was invisible. On the defense he did support with his mere presence as a mass and in the attack he hindered the advance and work of his team mates like one great move initiated by Guarin. At times you feel that he is leaving Cambiasso to do all the work on his own.
Guarin: Our at force. Another mistake by Mazzari was subbing him out of the match. He was caught in more than one altercation with Radu in the first half but soon regained his composure. Most of our threatening attacks came from his hard work. There was an one crucial counter attack for us in the 37th minute with Nagatomo and another one involving Palacio. It is understandable why he was upset with Mazzari because I believe this was one of his good games or at least it was shaping up to be.
Alvarez: I feel conflicted with Alvarez's contribution tonight. In the first half he was our maestro stringing passes between himself, Guarin, and Palacio and dropping deep to help Cambiasso move things up. He did cover a lot of ground, tackling Lazio players to win the ball. In the second half though he vanished as the team got tired. Hasan and Kenny noticed he ignored Kovacic. I want to believe that he too was worn out hence the lack of support to our Croatian kid. However, his choice to dribble and go Han Solo contradicts that somehow. I don't know if there's some sort of jealousy or maybe we're thinking too much on this...
Palacio: Edy Reja did a great job separating him from the service tonight yet that doesn't justify his wasteful night in front of the goal in the 88th minute. He also didn't help his team mates when they worked hard to get him the ball. A night to forget.
Milito: He, much like Kuzmanovic, lacked match sensitivity.
Kovacic: The boy entered the fray on the 60th minute. At a time when his team mates were drained physically. The gab I mentioned earlier was quite evident around him as Cambiasso dropped deep while Guarin and Alvarez surged forward. It didn’t help him that Reja had other plans once he subbed Onazi next to him. I can't say that he was out of sync with the match's rhythm because his team mates lost their strength.
So, he got his minutes… but despite all of that I'm not satisfied but more concerned with the overall direction we're taking with him. After we signed him, Nyall, browha, and I had a short lived debate when he didn't play under Stramaccioni. Some of you may recall those days as the "play Kovacic dammit there are only 3 games till the end of the season" period. Prior to that we had concerns that Kovacic may be burned with the free pressure as well as the number 10 jersey. Stramaccioni certainly didn't make things easy with his interviews about the young talent nor did the Italian press. La Gazzeta, Corriere della Sera, Corriere dello Sport all wrote about the impact of this "wonder" on Inter.
Hell, does anyone remember this? La Gazzetta's Kovacic comparison with #10 legends?
This was based on the premise that we will gain an established project with Stramaccioni to help integrate the youth by the end of last season. Well… a couple of things happened and we are still left with another crumbled project that is now demanding of these youngsters to impose themselves and justify their presence. Even in the discussion we saw between n4l and pencilpal there was a rightfully growing but not public debate in regards to Kovacic's capabilities and contribution. My fear, and this is based on our lately unsuccessful track record, is that we may burn the boy instead of support his positive growth in a real team.
Zanetti: I actually smiled when he entered the pitch and not because of surprise. I remembered a quote I heard about an Italian tactician, presumably Lippi or Trapattoni, who said after being asked what to do when you're losing a match: "I would sub in a defender. He would be able to handle their attackers and bring back the ball to our side." I can't be 100% sure on the quote's accuracy though.
Good night/morning... see you after tomorrow and wish me luck with the finals. blivious: