Inter - Barcelona (16 Sep 09)

[blackmore]

The bad news, is that this game was suppose to advertise our team, and instead it cemented the domination of Barca in the ball possesion play.

...

The comment in polish TV is still pissing me off though. One guy said, that Capello said Inter MIGHT (not have to like it happened) win CL, and then bashed Jose for saying that Capello doesn't know SERIE A(not football in general, like it happened) football.

Seriously, this anti-Inter comment pissed me off the whole time. I understand everybody is drolling at Barca play, but Barca still deffends with the whole team. They do the same as all other teams do, Inter, Man Utd, Chelsea. Whenever we have the ball on their half, what's different? Nothing.

The difference is, Barca has 60% of ball possesion, so they look like "offensive" team, and the other team has 40% ball possesion, and look like deffensive team, because of this very own fact.

If suddenly, one team popped up, who would be even better technicaly than Barca, the roles would change.

Also, this whole talk, like Barca plays beautifly, and that they play fair and all this shit. Another crap. What Barca does first when the other team start their counter attack? The first thing, is to stop the player with the ball, with whatever the means.

Barca is doing all the same things deffensively, all other teams are doing. The difference is that they deffend 1/3 of the game, and attack 2/3 of the game. That's the difference.

firstly if its pissing u off so much TURN THE FUCKING THING OFF!!...secondly...do no confuse possesion play with beautiful play....barca do both and are great at it...ppl arent stupid...they know the difference between the two...possesion comes from total domination like you have been talking about in ur last 3 posts....beautiful play comes from the flair and technique of some of the most gifted players in the world...wheather its fairly or not i guess we will let the professionals judge(referees),,,when was the last time barca had a severe disiplinary record...stoichkov..???romario..???ppl drool cause there has not been a team like this for a long long time i guess

 

[Keveen]

we are not just there yet.. we are improving we shall be like Barca soon!

 

[kookoorookoo]

THIS IS BARCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT BELIEVE ANYONE WILL CALL THE USELESS LIVERPOOL AND ARSENAL IN THE SAME BREATH. Liverpool just beat debreceni 1-0...the hungarians gave them a fight. cheslea almost lost to porto yesterday - both AT HOME!!! Arsenal were lucky against Liege. WE PLAYED FREKAING BARCELONA! THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. u think we will have the same tactics against sh1t like liverpool and arsenal?

 

[K.I.]

I will probably watch the match again. Considering Muntari, no stankovic, no cambiasso, no balotelli, it was an OK result and hopefully we can learn from this match.

 

[blackmore]

THIS IS BARCA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CANT BELIEVE ANYONE WILL CALL THE USELESS LIVERPOOL AND ARSENAL IN THE SAME BREATH. Liverpool just beat debreceni 1-0...the hungarians gave them a fight. cheslea almost lost to porto yesterday - both AT HOME!!! Arsenal were lucky against Liege. WE PLAYED FREKAING BARCELONA! THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS. u think we will have the same tactics against sh1t like liverpool and arsenal?

if liverpool and arsenal are shit i dont want to even think about what that makes us...

 

[Keveen]

Most people seem to have forgotten that for some reason. ANd Barca are the most settled team if you think about it. Ibra is the only new addition to the starting 11 so there's almost a telepathic understanding between the players. BUt take Xavi out the equation and see what happens

Iniesta will prompt up.. they just seem complete and blended

 

[Michael]

Like I said, time is what we need. We played exactly like our team. Sneijder, Milito and Eto'o hardly have an understanding with each other. It's tough to get the new signings settling in let alone the five new starters. I'm optimistic. We'll know what this team will be like comes February. We need a lot of work.

 

[minterke]

All I can say is if we face Barca later on in the season they're dead.

Lucio and Samuel are WARRIORS. When Samuel got injured he could've easily gone out on the sidelines and got some treatment but no he fought on and he was perfect tonight.

This is the difference between Mourinho's Inter and Mancini's. Mancini's we would've just been hanging on by a thread the whole match. Today, we defended brilliantly despite 2 lapses in defence and our counter attacks proved dangerous. This, with an entirely new team against the strongest team in the world is very positive.

 

[CafeCordoba]

Well they were building it up nicely. They could have had a few dumb shots on target, but they were the only team playing in the second half, and we had 10 players behind the ball. Their off target shots were pretty close.
This was way different than what Chelsea did to them last season. As they created chances themselves, and Barca's attack look way impotent back then, compared to today. But then again, that was Hiddink.

Still, we can be happy with a point, cause its the group stage, but we will never do anything in CL with performances like this. In a two legged tie, we will never be able to beat a bigger European club. In a two legged tie, to win, you have to attack at some point, something we havent done in the last two years. I can see teams like Arsenal and Liverpool just ripping us apart, if we decide to attack them. Its very possible that we will crash out of the round of 16, with out scoring a goal again, cause at no point in this game, did we actually look like we were gonna score a goal, just like all the previous CL games against bigger oppositions.

And you know why this is? Because the Italian style of football. It's so goddamn slow that it's got into our players throughout. Zanetti, Stankovic, Cambiasso, Muntari, Motta, Vieira. They are all so used to it that it's impossible to change it. Motta has come from Spain but he really can't push forward with the ball or anything else, he's from the same mould, slow slow slow.

When it's difficult situation, opponent pressing hard, they can't get themselves moving with the ball but pass it 2 meters sideways to next guy who's in trouble in the next second equivalently. It's really frustrating to watch such passing and gameplay. And it's not about geling or anything. They are what they are, they can't be changed anymore. Our midfield is still in the construction phase, and getting Zanetti out of there is the first thing to do. That's how it is. Also having Cambiasso AND Motta isn't an ideal solution, too slow players. Those all can be Scudetto material in Italy, but not in CL, where the tempo is on different level.

Chelsea have always had (during Mourinho time and after that) more dynamic midfielders. They can defend but they can also attack. Our midfielders can only defend (apart from Sneijder, who on the other hand couldn't defend today too well).

edit. You guys think Inter will get better. Yes that is most likely because of 5 new guys in the starting lineup. But do you think other teams won't get better? Barcelona lacked the killer instinct in this match, they get it and we are doomed in the second leg. This is not year for Inter in CL. Beating one big opponent in knockout phase would be an achievement.

 

[nutcracker]

I don't really understand your opinions.
First of all, our team is completly new. 5 new players - thats half of a team. Do you remember a game against manu on SS? The whole game was actually dominated by manu and we didn't really make ANY THREAT to them at that game.

Today, we played with even better team against a team which usualy has 70%+ possesion in all matches and guess what? we had like 44% of possesion, had pretty lots of decent chances and whats important, we didn't let Barca make any 100% goalscoring chances(except the first Ibra miss.)

Barca plays the football that makes it look like they always have advantage. Which basicaly is true, but thats not the point.

Barca plays different football and we will NEVER play like them.

Our team is new and we didn't loose to a best team. Just wait few months till we develop our pottential which is big.

Just look at this from this side: we're new team and we played pretty decent atleast in first half against actual best team. What will happen when we wait few months? I can't see us atleast playing worse.

 

[Keveen]

FORZA INTER! we're still not push overs... at least better than our past intersssss

 

[Scorpion]

Why is everybody complaining? I mean, I know we were dominated at home, but we got 1 deserved point from it. It isnt the end of the world you know, considering it is the 1st UCL game of our season.

 

[josipva]

i dont understand all of this disappointment, we were actually on par with barca in first half, and barca had 0 shots on target in second half, our defensive play was brilliant and we still have to work on our counter attacking aspect, considering we had 5 new players in lineup and a clueless muntari against the best team in world i consider this game a very good step forward in building a new great Inter

EDIT: nutcracker was a bit faster than me, completely agree

 

[kookoorookoo]

if liverpool and arsenal are shit i dont want to even think about what that makes us...

have you been watching the english league this season. the sad part about people like you is that you watch foorball through livescore.com and make comments. Tottenham gave liverpool a foot5ball lesson 3 weeks back. man City gave arsenal a football lashing last weekend. both teams have struggled as of late - especially liverpool, who were humilated in their home against Aston Villa. yes, you are right...Inter, it crap and are so bad that they are worse than Aston Villa, Man City and Tottenham. dont let the hype of years ago fool you. Inter will handle liverpool with seriosuness this season, if they meet. i have no doubt.

P.s - if anyone ever questions Chivu, Lucio and Samuel again, ever again!! I will do some cyber-slapping!

 

[K.I.]

Julio Cesar: 6.5 - Despite Barca's dominance for long stretches of the game, did not have too many saves to make. A couple of smart stops from Messi.

Maicon: 6 - Was pushed back by Henry, and couldn't make too many of his trademark bursts down the right flank.

Samuel: 8 - Lived up to his nickname as 'The Wall' with a no-nonsense performance at the back. How does Samuel not get into the Argentina 'defence'?

Lucio: 6.5 - Struggled in a few one-on-ones and was caught out for Ibrahimovic's early chance, but largely did well.

Chivu: 9 - Absolutely outstanding tonight. Made three goal-saving tackles - two on Messi and one on Henry - forced Messi inside, and did the best defensive job that anyone has ever done on Dani Alves. Man-of-the-match.

Zanetti: 6.5 - Ran his heart out, but almost acted as a fifth defender at times as Barcelona controlled the play.

Muntari: 4.5 - Comfortably the worst player on the pitch. Muntari lost the ball time after time in the first half, repeatedly putting his side into trouble.

Thiago Motta: 5.5 - Little impact - Inter need more from the Brazilian if they are to move onto the next level in Europe this term.

Sneijder: 6 - Had a few smart moments, including one shot that fizzed just wide, but in truth just couldn't get hold of the ball.

Eto'o: 5 - Very disappointing. Received next to no service, but did little himself to try and make things happen.

Milito: 7 - A very commendable performance from El Principe who, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered, was always a handful for the Barcelona defence.

Substitutes

Stankovic: 6.5 - Did well after coming on and fired just over.

Santon: 6.5 - Very energetic cameo.

Balotelli: N/A


BARCELONA (4-3-3)

Valdes: 6 - Barely touched the ball tonight.

Dani Alves: 6 - Had little to do defensively, but did not make any headway going forward against the superb Chivu.

Pique: 6 - A little flat-footed against Milito on a couple of occasions, but otherwise okay.

Puyol: 7.5 - Very spirited display, Puyol led by example and comfortably won his duel against Eto'o.

Abidal: 6.5 - One shaky moment in the first half when he gave the ball away, this aside Abidal was comfortable as Maicon rarely troubled him.

Toure: 7.5 - Dominant in the defensive midfield role, the major reason Sneijder couldn't get into the game was because of Toure.

Xavi: 8.5 - Quite simply the best centre midfielder in the world. Three genius passes that could have led to Ibrahimovic goals. Dictated the game.

Keita: 6 - The Malian was guilty for the miss of the match as he somehow scuffed wide with the goal gaping. Powerful, but sometimes sloppy.

Messi: 7.5 - An absolute joy to watch. Cut inside a great deal, and caused Inter all kinds of headaches but had nothing to show for it at the end. One glaring miss he will want to forget.

Ibrahimovic: 6 - A few nice link-ups and flicks, but was not clinical enough. Could have had a hat-trick tonight, and will particularly regret his first half miss.

Henry: 7 - Always looked dangerous down the left, and skinned Lucio on one occasion. Created a glorious chance for Messi. A good showing.


Pretty spot on for the inter ratings.

 

[Luka]

I expect tomorrow for Lucio and Samuel, both get an 8.0 from Gazzetta They were almost like a wall there, whenever they could, and when they couldn't they did whatever they could do else

Lucio particulary, had an amazing game. We were afraid what deffender he is, but the fuck ups he has(sometimes) don't happen every game.

I wasn't happy about offense, obviously. Who could have been But I think that, if we would play like that at Camp nou abd got a 0-0 draw I would be happy, not with a home performance like that.

But what is more funny, is that I remember the Man Utd - Barca tie 2 years ago, when they won 1:0, and I thought Man Utd won't play like they did at Camp Nou, and what happend? They were looking more deffensive than at Barcelona. Then Scholes got the shot of his life, and they deffended all game long.

Barca is playing great football, they have amazing technique in the team, and I envy them, but I think this is the only team in the world, where you can't be ashamed for the way we played today.

 

[Rimpel]

Good first half, not so good second half by the lads. Snejder looked totally lost in the second half so our offence kinda died.

special plus to chivu, samuel and lucio though, they were superb

 

[Ziyad]

Chivu and Samuel were by far the best players on that pitch.Lucio comes after them i thought...

 

[thomas_inter]

Second half was bad.

I'm afraid we still can't coop with European top level.

 

[Michael]

Wow Goal gave Chivu a 9. He certain had a nice game with a couple of stops against Messi but I thought Samuel and Chivu were our MOTM. I may focus too much on Ibra though.