Inter - Benfica (3 Oct 23) [1-0]

RotterdamNerazzurri said:

Much better?

I don’t really understand why everyone seem to think this? Yes we don’t have to put thrash like Gags and Correa on the field anymore. But we had Lukaku on the bench and neither Alexis or Arnautovic showen anything to be named better options yet. Carlos Augusto is a nice one, but Gosens isn’t a shitter either. We have added Frattesi who is a class sub. On the other hand we lost Brozo. Given the fact Skriniar was injured a lot, Pavard/Darmian is a nice depth upgrade.

But much better? I think i have another definition for that.

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Not having Correa and Gags make us 50% stronger. We saw that in all matches that we won, our game didn’t suffer when our bench options came which wasnt the case last season and seasons before that.

You watched too much Dragonball Z, life and football don't work like that. The only clear numbers are wages and transfer fees, everything else will be seen by the end of the season.

And just because some of the "bad" players left, that doesn't mean Inzaghi isn't without fault or that our group isn't full of moody players. Dumfries won't suddenly go Power Level Over 9000 just because Correa is on a loan.

What we are supposed to do because we are the best team in our group doesn't matter, everything is decided on the pitch. 50% better? I'll be happier if our first team does 10% better than they did last season, because I know we aren't steamrolling all of our competition.

To all guys in here whom think our bench isn't that good, taking into consideration of our tight budget, limited options in transfer market, what would you guys suggest to make it better?

Sometimes I feel like you guys completely forget where we are coming from. We aren't Real Madrid or Barcelona, or even Bayern or other teams whom are far more exciting destination or have far bigger budget than us.

We haven't replaced players players head to head, but some of the moves by our management have been reasonable even though a few of them haven't justified the faith so far. But we have a long season ahead of us, so let's give it some more time before we write things off. I mean, did we expected to sign top quality players whom cost over 60-70m? Besides of that, market of strikers was very limited and even those teams with great budget have struggled to acquire proper players to strengthen their teams.

Gotta give credit where it's due. We are in a very difficult situation and our directors together with Limone have done quite nice things to keep us competitive.

One loss against Sassuolo - which happens almost every season - has shaken the confidence of many members here it seems. Yes, there were also some hard games, but did you really expect us to glide through every game? Never been there, never done that in history. Even our treble season was full of slip ups, and we were lucky on more than one occasion (Siena, Dynamo Kiew, Pazzini against Roma,…).

Fact is that we’ve started off historically well considering results, goals scored and goals leaked. We have the luxury of having two halfway reliable players on every position in the squad, but were unlucky with Arnautovic‘s injury. This advantage doesn’t show at the beginning of the season, but will eventually fall into weight, when teams with less alternatives cannot go 100% every game, whereas we can.

The only thing we are missing is a decisive player from the bench. Cuadrado and Sanchez have the creativity to be, Frattesi has the physical disposition, but there is no one who can dominate the game coming from the bench. Last season we had Lukaku coming off the bench which helped us immensely the last three months. This season, I would have agreed to a worse solution than Benji on the RCB position in order to get a striker and a midfielder which are creative, pacey, and thriving or in their best years. For example having someone like Balogun and Samardzic would’ve helped us more in games like the one against Sassuolo, because they could’ve changed the direction of the game.

But everything considered we still have one of the best squads in Europe. It shows very early into the season, and it will show more, the busier the calendar becomes.

Hope Thuram scores tonight

Hope Basto gets back to his usual self. Di Maria is one hell of a player

For some reason, I feel our midfield scores one and at least one Thuram or Lautaro.

2:0 win.

Benfica's schedule is tough. After us they play Sociedad twice in a row.

Cracking wee line up that is, Pavard as people wish and Dimarco/Dumfries is playing, I'm happy Dimarco is playing I feel we really missed his presence last time out.

Let's have this!!!

Gamedayyyyyyy babbbyyyyyyyy!!!!!

I feel it's time for Barella to score.

That's our strongest line-up. Well done Inzaghi. Good luck to the boys.

Does Pavard score headers from corners?

Besnik said:

To all guys in here whom think our bench isn't that good, taking into consideration of our tight budget, limited options in transfer market, what would you guys suggest to make it better?

Sometimes I feel like you guys completely forget where we are coming from. We aren't Real Madrid or Barcelona, or even Bayern or other teams whom are far more exciting destination or have far bigger budget than us.

We haven't replaced players players head to head, but some of the moves by our management have been reasonable even though a few of them haven't justified the faith so far. But we have a long season ahead of us, so let's give it some more time before we write things off. I mean, did we expected to sign top quality players whom cost over 60-70m? Besides of that, market of strikers was very limited and even those teams with great budget have struggled to acquire proper players to strengthen their teams.

Gotta give credit where it's due. We are in a very difficult situation and our directors together with Limone have done quite nice things to keep us competitive.

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Sanchez and Arna are too fragile; and they’re not Inter level players.

We needed a vice Hakan, and in my opinion Asllani ain’t if

Dave54 said:

Does Pavard score headers from corners?

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Can't recall but he likes these for sure

Real Sociedad is up 0-2 in the 90min. Inter better win.

My prediction we will win this 2-1

Time for Barella to shine. Lets go!

We cannot afford to drop points tonight. FORZA INTER!

Must win game.

If we don't, it becomes complicated.

We need Benfica to be chasing points vs Real Sociedad, we need to get at least 4 points off of Salzburg (ideally 6 of course and clinch qualification after 4 games).


Benfica came after a win vs Porto, but one of their most underwhelming derby performances in years. They still get the confidence boost and they're still a strong like we saw last season. Home loss vs Salzburg hurts them, but it's not like they lost an even game. They were playing with 10 men for almost the entire game. That loss means nothing today. We need to set the pace and not let them think they can gain a point in Milano!

Forza raggazi!