Sneijder plans talks with Ranieri

Inter’s Wesley Sneijder intends to speak with coach Claudio Ranieri over his half-time withdrawal in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at Lecce.

After being handed his first start in Serie A by Inter since returning from a couple of months out with a muscular problem, the Netherlands international failed to shine in his usual role behind in-form striking duo Diego Milito and Giampaolo Pazzini and was replaced by Ricardo Alvarez in the interval.

When asked about his substitution after the game by Sport1, Sneijder replied: “The coach’s decision. I’ll probably talk with him about it tomorrow.”

Ranieri explained the tactical change was because he he is struggling to work out exactly what to do with Sneijder.

“He was not playing badly but I wanted to restore (defensive) security,” he said, alluding to the fact that Inter had been caught out on the break a number of times during the first half.

“We’re still not developing well with 4-3-1-2 (and) we can express ourselves better with 4-4-2.”

“Can he play in behind the forwards? We’ve said it many times before, he is a central player that must be free to make mistakes.”

“He’s a trequartista, he cannot be conditioned to play on the outside.”

“He could play in a 4-4-1-1 but we must then strive to adapt well to a diamond (formation in midfield).”

“We tried it (the diamond) today but we have seen again that the team didn’t cope well with it: we were unable to press well and I changed it.”

“In future we will try maybe with a 4-2-3-1, with (Diego) Forlan on the wing and Sneijder a bit behind the striker.”

“We should try that because in the first half today we did not have the necessary solidity.”

Sneijder was repeatedly linked with a move to Manchester United last summer and this latest development could spark further speculation over a possible move to Old Trafford.