September 1st - last day of the transfer period this summer. We all know it's the day when the most exciting action happens on the market. We hear things about top players like Falcao jumping ships every hour, while giants like Man City, Man Utd, Real Madrid etc. cross swords and create bidding wars that spiral out of control. Us Interisti also had the rare pleasure of watching Rube's fans nurture empty hopes for the Colombian.You win some, you lose some.
I personally woke up the morning of September 1st with a keen air of hope around me. The first thing I did with my eyes half closed was get my laptop into bed, turn it on and start Twitter to see if my Inter is involved in the action yet. I still had the taste of Il Professore's hat trick against Sjarnan, the wonderful night when there was magic in the air even though we were playing a squad that was impressed by simply being at the Meazza. I wanted to forget the poor game against Torino - this was the year those performances become the exception instead of the rule. I went to sleep the night before with a perfect scenario in my mind. Inter had given away Ricky Alvarez on loan to Sunderland with an option to buy set at 11 million euros. We'd got rid of Silvestre and Schelotto, gave away a couple of youngsters, gave Taider away (twice!). We only lacked getting rid of Guarin and Kuzmanovic, at which point a new era would have begun. We even sent Ruben Botta out on loan to Chievo. At this point, the squad was more or less clear - especially the attack. Two days prior to this I read that Walter Mazzarri had left Fredy Guarin out of the squad to face Toro. Not an hour later it was announced that PSG coach Laurent Blanc left out Lavezzi for the weekend out of a personal decision - there were no injuries or suspensions involved. The situation picked up steam as Inter's fans remembered that not 3 days earlier, Thohir came out and said that Ausilio was talking to PSG about Lavezzi. Meanwhile, Valencia started bidding for Guarin. It was there, it was about to happen. We were loaning out Guarin and had Valencia buy him next May and our target was none other but the long expected Pocho.
September the 1st was very disappointing for me, as I think it was for most Interisti around the world. There was barely a whisper about Lavezzi all day long, as Giacomo Bonaventura from Atalanta emerged as the new main target for Inter - IF they managed to sell Guarin. I asked myself how I could be so wrong in judging the situation. "It was Thohir who said it!", I said to myself. Some 3-4 hours before the Mercato ended, I accepted the fact that we weren't getting Lavezzi and pretty much stopped following what happened next. I remember seeing Milan getting Biabiany, then he went back, then they signed Bonaventura (in what looked like a minute). Inter were left bare.
I'd like to explain why September 1st disappointed me so much as an Interista. I don't think Ezequiel Lavezzi is a class above Inter in terms of quality. There are players on our squad that can give him a run for his money and I refuse to accept the crazy regulations of the market as the standard by which I measure the quality of a player. There is one fact that remains, though - Lavezzi would have been the perfect piece to finish a wonderful puzzle that Ausilio started putting together this summer. Why I think so? Well, Pocho is a very good player, obviously. He is also one who had the best days of his career in Italy. By some chance, it happened while under our very own Captain Caveman (Walter Mazzarri). Apart from this, as I mentioned above, Inter had sold their forwards (all but Icardi, Palacio and Osvaldo) and now needed another one to give WM the necessary attacking options for us to play different formations and avoid the predictability that defined us last season (4-3-3; 4-3-2-1; 3-4-2-1 were all mentioned this summer). We can't play 4-3-3 with only Icardi/Palacio/Osvaldo. We can't play 3-4-2-1 with Kovacic and Hernanes behind Icardi. They're both better in midfield, not to mention we lack the squad depth.
Here's my scenario now (mind you, it's a dark one): First, we all saw the game against Toro. I'll be the first one to say I don't give a crap about the referee's performance when I look at our own (the referee, the disgrace that he was, didn't kill our game). We were slow, lacking ideas and aggression, seemed demotivated and lazy. It was like it was the middle of the season and we were worn out by the fantastic 15 games we'd played before. Except we hadn't.
Now, fast forward a couple of months. It happens sometimes that we play a game every 3 days. Imagine Rodrigo Palacio, the poor guy we've been mercilessly draining for the past 2 seasons, at age 32 with an ankle injury he's been carrying since the World Cup this summer. Imagine if he goes down injured, knowing just how much he's been doing for the team since he arrived (seriously, by far our best player over the last few seasons, amazing work rate too, wish we'd bought him sooner). Now take into consideration Osvaldo's inconsistency in the past. Icardi's need for good service (the boy's a killer, but ONLY when provided with a good ball to nest into the net). And, Guarin, I hear, is our 4th forward for this season. "Don't buy the tickets for the seats behind the goals" says enough, I believe. Finally, imagine Mazzarri's 3-5-1-1 and picture Icardi all alone in front of the opposition's goal - not a single ball spelling danger for their goalkeeper. Now move on to hearing what Mazzarri has to say after we draw at home v.s. Cesena. One of the excuses will be that we lack the firepower up front. The tragic part is - he'll be right and this will mask all the other mistakes he might be making in the meantime. Suddenly, we are fighting with claws and nails to stay in the Europa League and to qualify for it again next season. The Champions League is beyond imagination at this point. Even if we get to buy a fantastic forward in January, the damage will most likely already be done. Then comes next summer, when our brightest like Kovacic, Icardi, Handanovic, Juan Jesus etc. decide that they are worth more than this. They've been promised more than this and will get better offers elsewhere. Suddenly, we might even struggle to pay off Medel, M'Vila, Dodo and Osvaldo. Even Vidic might realize what a mistake he's made coming to a club that doesn't match his ambition, playing in a league where touching a player gets you punished with a penalty and applauding the referee gets you sent off in your first game in the league.
You can imagine what's next.
To clarify, I am a huge fan of Ausilio's work this summer, prior to September 1st. I think that buying Vidic, M'Vila, Medel, Dodo and Osvaldo gives us huge potential. We barely wasted any money on them, too!
BUT! Failing to buy a forward and leaving the squad incomplete YET AGAIN will cost us dearly, especially now that the rebuilding is well under way and the club has already started investing in it. The way I see it, we've created an Achilles' heel that will bring down the entire machine. I understand Thohir that football's about money to a huge extent today. I think the part he doesn't understand is that the money still comes mostly from good football results, it's a two way street. We simply never learn.
End note: After Juventus won their first game (with Max Allegri instead of Conte, mind you...) in a sparkling fashion (despite the result), with newbie Kingsley Coman getting the Man of the Match award... the joke seems to be on us, for now...
I personally woke up the morning of September 1st with a keen air of hope around me. The first thing I did with my eyes half closed was get my laptop into bed, turn it on and start Twitter to see if my Inter is involved in the action yet. I still had the taste of Il Professore's hat trick against Sjarnan, the wonderful night when there was magic in the air even though we were playing a squad that was impressed by simply being at the Meazza. I wanted to forget the poor game against Torino - this was the year those performances become the exception instead of the rule. I went to sleep the night before with a perfect scenario in my mind. Inter had given away Ricky Alvarez on loan to Sunderland with an option to buy set at 11 million euros. We'd got rid of Silvestre and Schelotto, gave away a couple of youngsters, gave Taider away (twice!). We only lacked getting rid of Guarin and Kuzmanovic, at which point a new era would have begun. We even sent Ruben Botta out on loan to Chievo. At this point, the squad was more or less clear - especially the attack. Two days prior to this I read that Walter Mazzarri had left Fredy Guarin out of the squad to face Toro. Not an hour later it was announced that PSG coach Laurent Blanc left out Lavezzi for the weekend out of a personal decision - there were no injuries or suspensions involved. The situation picked up steam as Inter's fans remembered that not 3 days earlier, Thohir came out and said that Ausilio was talking to PSG about Lavezzi. Meanwhile, Valencia started bidding for Guarin. It was there, it was about to happen. We were loaning out Guarin and had Valencia buy him next May and our target was none other but the long expected Pocho.
September the 1st was very disappointing for me, as I think it was for most Interisti around the world. There was barely a whisper about Lavezzi all day long, as Giacomo Bonaventura from Atalanta emerged as the new main target for Inter - IF they managed to sell Guarin. I asked myself how I could be so wrong in judging the situation. "It was Thohir who said it!", I said to myself. Some 3-4 hours before the Mercato ended, I accepted the fact that we weren't getting Lavezzi and pretty much stopped following what happened next. I remember seeing Milan getting Biabiany, then he went back, then they signed Bonaventura (in what looked like a minute). Inter were left bare.
I'd like to explain why September 1st disappointed me so much as an Interista. I don't think Ezequiel Lavezzi is a class above Inter in terms of quality. There are players on our squad that can give him a run for his money and I refuse to accept the crazy regulations of the market as the standard by which I measure the quality of a player. There is one fact that remains, though - Lavezzi would have been the perfect piece to finish a wonderful puzzle that Ausilio started putting together this summer. Why I think so? Well, Pocho is a very good player, obviously. He is also one who had the best days of his career in Italy. By some chance, it happened while under our very own Captain Caveman (Walter Mazzarri). Apart from this, as I mentioned above, Inter had sold their forwards (all but Icardi, Palacio and Osvaldo) and now needed another one to give WM the necessary attacking options for us to play different formations and avoid the predictability that defined us last season (4-3-3; 4-3-2-1; 3-4-2-1 were all mentioned this summer). We can't play 4-3-3 with only Icardi/Palacio/Osvaldo. We can't play 3-4-2-1 with Kovacic and Hernanes behind Icardi. They're both better in midfield, not to mention we lack the squad depth.
Here's my scenario now (mind you, it's a dark one): First, we all saw the game against Toro. I'll be the first one to say I don't give a crap about the referee's performance when I look at our own (the referee, the disgrace that he was, didn't kill our game). We were slow, lacking ideas and aggression, seemed demotivated and lazy. It was like it was the middle of the season and we were worn out by the fantastic 15 games we'd played before. Except we hadn't.
Now, fast forward a couple of months. It happens sometimes that we play a game every 3 days. Imagine Rodrigo Palacio, the poor guy we've been mercilessly draining for the past 2 seasons, at age 32 with an ankle injury he's been carrying since the World Cup this summer. Imagine if he goes down injured, knowing just how much he's been doing for the team since he arrived (seriously, by far our best player over the last few seasons, amazing work rate too, wish we'd bought him sooner). Now take into consideration Osvaldo's inconsistency in the past. Icardi's need for good service (the boy's a killer, but ONLY when provided with a good ball to nest into the net). And, Guarin, I hear, is our 4th forward for this season. "Don't buy the tickets for the seats behind the goals" says enough, I believe. Finally, imagine Mazzarri's 3-5-1-1 and picture Icardi all alone in front of the opposition's goal - not a single ball spelling danger for their goalkeeper. Now move on to hearing what Mazzarri has to say after we draw at home v.s. Cesena. One of the excuses will be that we lack the firepower up front. The tragic part is - he'll be right and this will mask all the other mistakes he might be making in the meantime. Suddenly, we are fighting with claws and nails to stay in the Europa League and to qualify for it again next season. The Champions League is beyond imagination at this point. Even if we get to buy a fantastic forward in January, the damage will most likely already be done. Then comes next summer, when our brightest like Kovacic, Icardi, Handanovic, Juan Jesus etc. decide that they are worth more than this. They've been promised more than this and will get better offers elsewhere. Suddenly, we might even struggle to pay off Medel, M'Vila, Dodo and Osvaldo. Even Vidic might realize what a mistake he's made coming to a club that doesn't match his ambition, playing in a league where touching a player gets you punished with a penalty and applauding the referee gets you sent off in your first game in the league.
You can imagine what's next.
To clarify, I am a huge fan of Ausilio's work this summer, prior to September 1st. I think that buying Vidic, M'Vila, Medel, Dodo and Osvaldo gives us huge potential. We barely wasted any money on them, too!
BUT! Failing to buy a forward and leaving the squad incomplete YET AGAIN will cost us dearly, especially now that the rebuilding is well under way and the club has already started investing in it. The way I see it, we've created an Achilles' heel that will bring down the entire machine. I understand Thohir that football's about money to a huge extent today. I think the part he doesn't understand is that the money still comes mostly from good football results, it's a two way street. We simply never learn.
End note: After Juventus won their first game (with Max Allegri instead of Conte, mind you...) in a sparkling fashion (despite the result), with newbie Kingsley Coman getting the Man of the Match award... the joke seems to be on us, for now...
