Italian giants Internazionale suffered consecutive defeats this week. In their first Serie A game of the season they suffered a 4-3 loss at Palermo.
The second one was even more unexpected, a shock 1-0 home defeat to Turkish side Trabzonspor in the Champions League.
Shambles
Inter were a shambles at Palermo and the players looked like they wasn’t sure where they were meant to be playing.
Boss Gian Piero Gasperini started with a 3-4-3 formation, which he used to a degree of success at Genoa. Less than half and hour on the clock though he had to change it, taking striker Mauro Zarate off and putting on midfielder playmaker Wesley Sneijder.
When I saw the line-up I couldn’t believe the Dutchman wasn’t starting. The fact that Inter were playing with Diego Forlan as a wide attacker also really bemused me. Forlan is a great centre-forward and that’s were he needs to be, in the centre.
The 32 year-old will score goals but he needs a good supply line. Holland international Wesley Sneijder can produce that supply to the Uruguayan. However Sneijder can’t do that sitting in the Inter dugout.
Confused
A lot of the Inter fans seemed confused by Gasperini’s tactics against Palermo and so was I. For him to change his teams formation after such a short while suggests that he doesn’t know his own players strengths and weaknesses.
Everybody knew that Palermo were going to be a hard team to play against and we all know how difficult it is for teams to play at Palermo.
Players
Inter still have a decent group of players, if deployed in the right manner. Superstar striker Samuel Eto’o was replaced by Diego Forlan and I didn’t think that was a bad deal considering Inter came out of it nearly £25million up.
The signing of Mauro Zarate was a good one as well. The Argentine is temperamental but can produce flashes of brilliance. He is also tried and tested in the Italian top flight. Zarate seems to be regarded as a luxury player already at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Small
I can’t help thinking that Gian Piero Gasperini isn’t the big name manager that Inter needed. The 53 year-old arguably enjoyed his best spell in management while at Genoa, guiding the Rossublu to fifth place in Serie A and a Europa League place.
However he was sacked by Genoa last November after a poor start to their Serie A campaign. Yet this summer Inter president Massimo Moratti decides to hand him the head coaches job at Inter. It seemed like a strange appointment at the time and it seems even worse now.
Finances
Inter have well documented financial problems and maybe Gasperini was the cheap option. Inter are one of the biggest clubs in Europe, yet they appoint a manager that was just fired from by a struggling Serie A side.
It seems the club no longer even have the finances to bring in a promising young coach from elsewhere. Moratti must have had other options to chose from but he chose Gasperini.
Early
It is still very early in the season and the Inter career of Gian Piero Gasperini. However I was sceptical about his appointment in the first place and I haven’t seen anything to convince me otherwise so far.
Inter needed a new head coach that would help the club compete with bitter-rivals AC Milan. At the moment though it looks like they could be more likely to be competing with Gasperini’s old club Genoa near the foot of the table.
Although to be fair on Genoa they do have some good players and probably won’t be at the wrong of the Serie A table, but anyway you get my point!
Short
Head coaches don’t usual last that long at one club in Italy, especially if they are not winning matches. I can see Gasperini’s stay in Milan being a very short one. Results need to improve quickly if he is going to avoid that fate, starting with a win over Roma at Giuseppe Meazza tonight. Good luck Gian!
Can Gian Piero Gasperini be successful at Inter?
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