Barcelona - Inter (2 Oct 19) [2-1]

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???
only in the knockouts I think...?
Yes. It's not being used in the group stages, only after the last 16, which is simply ridiculous and makes no sense at all.

It was announced on Monday that VAR would be used from the last 16 onwards, despite the technology not being used throughout the group stages.

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin had previously stated the technology would be introduced next season, but pressure from clubs has brought this date forward.

The governing body of European football has also confirmed that VAR will be used in Europa League as of the last-32 stage this season, as well as next year’s Nations League Finals and European Under-21 Championship.
 

dax21

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Conte: "I am bitter. I have seen situations that have been addressed. And not addressed in the right way. And for this I'm sorry. Not only the penalty, many things. And from the beginning. There was immediately a feeling that I didn't like"

Welcome to the jungle
We got fun and games

We put in a decent performance. It's impossible to keep your attention and focus, occasional lapses always happen no matter what club or what match. I'm satisfied with the way our football is taking shape. That being said, few glaring obvious issues:

We can't convert for shit, Lautaro scored an awesome goal but still missed like 3 sitters. For a first team striker at Inter, this is inexcusable to me. He needs to improve and he needs to imrove fast.
We need another midfielder in January. Gagliardini and Vecino aren't CL material, we need another physically dominant player who can unlock possession for us.
And third - we are having major issues with marking in defense, we can't leave players clearly alone like that and have nobody notice it.

It is what it is.

Also Sensi is becoming the most important Inter player. We need to redeem him and lock him up with a contract, stat. Ice cold demeanor last night.
 

Matrix_invincible

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We saw that we need more depth in the midfield, keeping Nainggolan wouldnt have been too wrong.
 

militoscores

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proud of the performance

regardless of what happens sunday its an exciting team and its going to be an exciting season
 

firmino

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I'm pissed off for three different reasons (beside of course the obvious one, that we lost the match):

1. We were robbed;

2. We were chokers anyway: we should have netted at least two in the first half, we couldn't even hold on to the draw later.

3. Conte's substitutions were too defensive minded. There is no other way to say this: he let barca get him scared. That's where we lost it.

I hope that losing "just" 2-1 at camp nou doesn't make our guys feel they are any better than they actually are.

We still have a very long way to go. On paper juventus is the best team, both in quality and (above all) depth, so they are the favourite for the title.

We can beat them next Sunday and we can also win the title, but certainly not if our players think they are way too good to give their 100%, just because we were better than Barca for 45 minutes.
 

Materazzi_23

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I get peoples frustration with the subs and I agree the subs were defensive minded, but what other options do we really have on the bench? I think yesterday showed that our starting line-up is very good and miles ahead of our bench and we just lack quality in depth.
 

Ronaldo

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That first half was one of the best Inters I've ever seen!

Yea, we didn't get the result we wanted but honestly I don't care. Noone expected Inter to go far in CL so losing to Barca at Camp nou after such a performance is not that bad.

Signs of improvement are definitely there. This is a new team with a new coach who has new ideas. Obviously it takes time for everything to gel together. Having such great performances despite having about 120+ million worth of players on loan is something to be proud of. We just need time and 2-3 new players to be a great team and hopefully next summer with the right purchaces we can achieve it.
 

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First of all, what a pity we couldn't capitalize on the masterclass of a first half, but it's been a while since we felt similar sensations watching 45 minutes of an Inter game, all things considered.

Second, we've seen from a double perspective the reason why Conte asked for his legionary Vidal in the summer (what he brings to the table and what we lack and need, not only in terms of squad depth). “Repeated things help”, but I swear we already knew, and the same can be said for “What it means to have Messi and Suarez”. We were taught the lesson in its entirety and I wish the bell had rung ten minutes earlier, but it can still be useful somehow.

Third, forza Godin: he's world-class, he's 33-years old (using his garra, experience and defensive awareness on top of what's left in the tank), he's definitely not a pure “marker” and he shouldn't have been put in that situation 85 minutes into a mentally and physically draining game, but Messi and Suarez happened and caused his mistake. It is what it is, sadly.

Fourth, since the press-conference in which Conte stated the obvious and said that Barella can be a pillar in Inter's midfield for years to come, Barella has been showing to take those words very seriously, moving up a gear.

Fifth, the penalty on Xensiesta is something that happens in Barcelona, but it's still infuriating. Well, talking about “ladri” and “fury”, the countdown to the Derby D'Italia has already begun.

Sixth, damn, 1000 posts. Forza Inter.
 

FCBarca

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Well played, I left very impressed with Inter's team under Conte - lot of positives to take and considering how difficult your seasons have been in recent years, you lot have much to look forward to going ahead. Shouldn't overlook that, even in a loss

Barca still disappoint me but happy with the 2nd half response - we, on the other hand, have a lot of work to do in order to be as optimistic going forward as you lot. Of course, we have Messi and so anything is possible still.
 

Palatiga

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Taking the fanboy glasses off, no its not that we're unlucky we didnt win, barca played well and got tons of good chances as well,
but no one thought that we would play this well, we played with grinta, determination, despite all those cunt little tricks (sprinkler, diving etc)
even with lukaku and without messi, most people think it would be one side slaughter.
but we caught them by surprise,we're just not clinical enough (i think with lukaku we should score 1-2 more goals)
now it depend on the bois, last year inter would crumble, and got beaten by jube.
if they can bounce back, this lose will be a very valuable learning experience for the team,
only a loser would cry about refs etc, just move on to the next game

now i regret that we didnt bought dzeko and vidal for conte (both has been killing it), shouldve just sold politano and redeem both. i see many poster criticize conte's sub, but like he said "you cannot go to eat at a €100 restaurant with just €10 euro", he already make the most out of limited personnel that we have
 

Guz

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Even though we lost, yesterday's first hour of play was the highest high Inter have reached since Madrid 2010. I don't say we should brag about it, but at least it should inspire us some confidence for the future of our team. Yes, we ended the game on the back foot, so tired that we could barely make it past the halfway line, and have nothing to show for our efforts. However, we shouldn't let the disappointment caused by the result make us forget about all the positives.

Kudos to Conte for preparing the team in the best possible way, managing to impose his game plan on Barcelona for as long as our players had breath in their lungs. The cohesion between the lines of midfield and defence blocked every possible passing lane for Barcelona, forcing them to an endless (and pointless) series of horizontal passes in our final third. At the same time, our players were always ready to spring forward as soon as we recovered the ball, putting on display well-executed transitions that gave more than a headache to the Catalans.

I read many comments (not necessarily here) imputing the defeat to the general lack of experience of our players. I couldn't disagree more, as even the youngest wearing our jersey yesterday showed composure and personality. And if we are really to play that game, one could say that the only two players who could have done something to prevent the second goal are both over 30. I also read people complaining about how deep the team dropped in the second half, as if it were something we deliberately chose to do. In every contact sport there's what you want to do, and then there's what your opponent lets you do. The reason we dropped deep in the second half is, simply put, we were shot and just couldn't get the ball out of our court. That made our midfield collapse on to the defence, allowing Barcelona to camp out in our final third in search of a weak spot, which they eventually found.

So, in short, it's the lack of depth that cost us the game. I have nothing against our second half subs (Gagliardini, D'Ambrosio, Politano), but they were clearly not what we needed at the moment. You know, I shudder as I write this, but maybe bringing in Vecino for the final 30 minutes would have been a good move. We all know he's a donkey with the tactical acumen of a 3-years old, but he can run and drive the ball forward, which could have helped us relieve the pressure on our defence from time to time. Anyway, I always say that in hindsight everybody's Rinus Michels, so it doesn't really matter now.

In the words of what is arguably the sorest loser in today's football (Simone Inzaghi), I don't remember any save by Handanovic. I don't think he's at fault for the goals, as he would have needed to pull off a miracle to save them. And miracles are, by definition, not to be expected nor demanded. A great deal of credit for his relative inactivity of yesterday must be given to our defensive castle, which absorbed Barcelona's pressure brilliantly for so long as our midfield held its own. And even after that it took two great pieces of individual brilliance by Barça's dioscuri to make us capitulate. De Vrij played once again with elegant effectiveness, while Skriniar often resorted to flexing his muscles in order to keep at bay Suarez (great player, even greater cunt, but we already knew that). Unfortunately, Godin let himself be found out by his fellow countryman on occasion of the second goal, which of course mars an otherwise solid performance. I read criticism on Asamoah which I frankly find a bit harsh. Yes, towards the end of the game Messi stepped up big time and had him in his pocket. But it's Messi we're talking about and something tells me Asamoah wasn't the first nor will be the last to suffer such kind of humiliations by the little magician. Candreva was his usual self. A lot of running, a few defensive slip-ups, and a couple of good balls played in (especially that which led to Lautaro's header). He had also scored a goal; too bad he was so offside he was already on a different timezone than the rest of the players when the ball was played towards him.

The performances of our midfield trio were, IMO, the best news of the evening. Brozovic is by now the litmus paper of our team. If he plays well, then Inter will play well as a unit. The way he conducted the transitions during the first half was exquisite. Too bad Valverde woke up halfway through the second half and decided to have Vidal man-mark him, which severely limited our chances of breaking out with the ball from our court. Sensi was very lively as usual, and contributed massively on both phases until he had it in him, while Barella was our best player on the pitch. A true warrior who, despite the early booking (and risking to pick up a second in the dying minutes of the game), bossed the midfield for at least an hour. The fact that our two new signings in midfield put up such a convincing performance at the Camp Nou, showing personality and quality, is extremely promising for the future.

As for the front duo, they both had a good game. Lautaro was brilliant, not only for the goal or the header that was saved by ter Stegen, but mostly for the link up play that allowed us to transition so efforlessly from defence to attack in the first hour or so. I have really high hopes on him and believe that once he sorts out his problems (excessive eagerness/anxiety to prove himself) he will be great for us. Alexis was good until his body allowed him to go on. He's by far the most technically gifted player we've had in a while and seems on his way to going back to being what he once was (or at least something comparable to that). In a recent interview he said he feels like he's falling in love with football once again. Eupalla* certainly used to love him back. I say if we get half the player he was at Arsenal, we made a coup. In the meantime, I commend the commitment showed so far (also in terms of defensive contribution). He should just try not to pick yellows at every turn, though.

tl;dr we're not there yet, but we're not as far off as we tought.



* the goddess of football, according to the late Gianni Brera
 
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forzainter257

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We can't convert for shit, Lautaro scored an awesome goal but still missed like 3 sitters. For a first team striker at Inter, this is inexcusable to me.
Where did you get these 3 sitters? Apart from the header which was saved by Ter Stegen's outstanding reaction I don't remember any particular opportunity where he could have scored. Other than him Barella had a great opportunity which was blocked by Semedo. Lautaro scored very difficult one though and created chance for Sensi. But no, let's keep highlighting his minuses (true or not)
 

dax21

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Yeah that sub had Spalletti 101 textbook written all over it, but the only alternatives were Biraghi, Esposito and Vecino. We don't exactly have midfield bench depth. And I will take mediocre Gagliardini over downright infuriating Vecino any day of the week.
I have to admit that I don't really understand this recurring move that Conte has, subbing a striker out for a midfielder, only to sub in a stiker for a midfielder later on. We are essentially changing the formation multiple times through the match which is already sufficiently tasking mentally in last night's case. And that was not the first time he did it.

At least the match was eye opening, Marotta needs to get some shit done in January. I agree with Palatiga above - Conte was dead on about his requests, especially because I was very harsh when discussing Dzeko this summer, he would've been an excellent fit for us. Which actually only makes me even more mad because we didn't initially just bite the bullet and hand Roma those few million more that they wanted. And even more mad for the full on cunt mode they went into when doubling the asking price.

Where did you get these 3 sitters? Apart from the header which was saved by Ter Stegen's outstanding reaction I don't remember any particular opportunity where he could have scored. Other than him Barella had a great opportunity which was blocked by Semedo. Lautaro scored very difficult one though and created chance for Sensi. But no, let's keep highlighting his minuses (true or not)

Like you can see in my post that you quoted, I credit him for an awesome goal. But he still wastes too many opportunities, this isn't mindless highlighting nor scapegoating, just statistical facts. Believe it or not, I like Lautaro quite a lot.
 

Palatiga

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Yeah that sub had Spalletti 101 textbook written all over it, but the only alternatives were Biraghi, Esposito and Vecino. We don't exactly have midfield bench depth. And I will take mediocre Gagliardini over downright infuriating Vecino any day of the week.
I have to admit that I don't really understand this recurring move that Conte has, subbing a striker out for a midfielder, only to sub in a stiker for a midfielder later on. We are essentially changing the formation multiple times through the match which is already sufficiently tasking mentally in last night's case. And that was not the first time he did it.

At least the match was eye opening, Marotta needs to get some shit done in January. I agree with Palatiga above - Conte was dead on about his requests, especially because I was very harsh when discussing Dzeko this summer, he would've been an excellent fit for us. Which actually only makes me even more mad because we didn't initially just bite the bullet and hand Roma those few million more that they wanted. And even more mad for the full on cunt mode they went into when doubling the asking price.



Like you can see in my post that you quoted, I credit him for an awesome goal. But he still wastes too many opportunities, this isn't mindless highlighting nor scapegoating, just statistical facts. Believe it or not, I like Lautaro quite a lot.


Because sanchez's leg was basically gone by half time, and conte need to adjust to vidal physicality, so he add a midfielder to replace sanchez, not his fault that our bench is so cringeworthy. Dumbo sub was to counter Dembele. Politano's one is just desperate attempt to bring the ball forward via counter, sadly politano is our fastest player. If we have mbappe we already up 3 goal by half time
 

dejavu

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Yes the two goals were scored by moments of individual brilliance but it was Barca’s depth that won them this game. Our best 2nd half chance fell to Politano and theirs fell to Suarez. Barça were able to bring on Vidal and Dembele while we had to rely on Gagliardini and Politano. The subs weren’t terrible but the truth is there are certain players in this squad who are really mostly effective against the Slavia Pragues and mid-bottom table Serie A teams. They really struggle when they come up against opposition of Barca’s quality.

The defeat hurts because we had a really good chance of coming away with at least a point but Barça will Barça. There are better teams on paper who have fared much worse.

We are at least on the right track. If we end up in the EL we should look to win it. We must make sure we sort out all our remaining squad deficiencies next summer. We have been held back by mediocrity for way too long.
 

ElDuccio

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???
only in the knockouts I think...?

Yes. It's not being used in the group stages, only after the last 16, which is simply ridiculous and makes no sense at all.

this was from last year. This year we have VAR already in the group stage. Already forgot the REF going to check VAR for Asamoahs "hard" :)lol:) foul against Slavia?
 

Demenza Senile

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De Jong needed to be booked for that reckless clumsy foul.His face told the whole story.And him getting booked would have meant he wouldnt have played as freely and with Biscuits having a hard time coping with us that could have been a very important detail.So the ref books Barella and then has to book Griezemann but suddenly has a change of heart and decides to have a talk with de Jong!!! :D That was so blatant.The ref effed up by booking Barella for his first foul and sort of tried making up for it with the Griezemann yellow and then decided to have a reset.The bookings clearly not being made on merit but emotions.Book them all i say.And de Jong was the most deserving of the yellow and that would perhaps have forced a different substitution from Valverde.
 

eduzee

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It was a joy to watch how Inter played at the enemy's turf. We got so many sick moves/transitions under pressure. That what it means to actually have some midfield. Bravi ragazzi!

Sent from my m2 using Tapatalk
 

YoramG

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Still possible to get 10 points out of this group, even 12 if we go 4/4. It's not realistic, but it is doable.
 
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