Rafa looks to younger limbs as Inter's injury problems mount
Tuesday 09 November 2010 12:56
Rafa Benitez and Massimo Moratti must have had a long look at each
other after Inter’s draw with Brescia on Saturday and pondered where it
was all going wrong for the defending champions.
The following
day that young rebel Mario Balotelli was scoring twice for his new club
Manchester City, while the Nerazzurri were counting the length of their
injury list. Walter Samuel was the latest to collapse in a heap and it
looks as if the central defender’s season is over with ligament damage
to his knee.
It was damp old evening at the San Siro and Inter
were off-colour from the start. Only Samuel Eto’o demonstrated anything
in the way of a positive attitude against well-organised but ultimately
beatable opponents who were allowed to grow in confidence after taking
an early lead.
Benitez may not be ‘special’ like Jose Mourinho,
but even the Portuguese would find it difficult to get anything out of a
side decimated by so many injuries to key players.
Douglas
Maicon’s troublesome hamstring finally gave in at the weekend and the
full-back joined Esteban Cambiasso, Thiago Motta, Julio Cesar and Sulley
Muntari in the treatment room nursing a range of muscle strains.
Athletic
trainer Paco De Miguel looks set to be working overtime to get players
fit again and he has defended claims that his preparations had caused
some of the injuries, maintaining he had changed little from the
previous regime and was working towards ensuring the players stayed in
shape over the hump of the season without tiring their limbs.
Youngsters
on the whole do not tire as much as the more mature players, so Benitez
and his staff will have to work on fine-tuning the likes of Philippe
Coutinho, Joel Obi and the speedy Jonathan Biabiany over a shorter
period, with nearly two months still standing between them and the
January transfer window.
Inter will then, by all accounts, buy up
the outstanding fifty per cent of Andrea Ranocchia’s contract from Genoa
- worth something in the region of €10 million - thus not breaking the
bank for a new central defender.
There is a round of mid-week
games coming up and the defending champions will leave dull, cold Milan
for the relatively benign climes of Lecce.
However, it is the
weekend derby that will be on their minds, so Wesley Sneijder will sit
out, having become all light-headed in the dressing room at the weekend
which meant he couldn’t take the pitch for the second half.
The San Siro showdown will not be for the faint-hearted – not with AC Milan suddenly becoming the macho side in the city.
Having
beaten Bari, the Rossoneri will want to push on this week against
Palermo, although Massimiliano Allegri is finding it difficult to keep
some of his players, who feel they know more than the coach, in check.
Rino
Gattuso tore into the team’s tactics after conceding the last-gasp
equaliser to Real Madrid in the Champions League which just about forced
Allegri to drop Ronaldinho and play Rino, Massimo Ambrosini and Mathieu
Flamini at the base of the midfield against Bari.
It
ultimately made little difference as the team still conceded two goals,
and Allegri didn’t help his cause by refusing to bend to Zlatan
Ibrahimovic’s veiled demands that he preferred playing upfront with
Filippo Inzaghi - by fielding Robinho instead.
Pippo was left to
sulk on the bench and in a show of 37-year-old petulance threatened to
leave in January alluding to “a couple of interesting offers.”
No
doubt the moody vet will start against Palermo, but Ibra needs a slap
on the wrist; so just to annoy both of them the Swede could well be left
on the bench.
The club have made great efforts to play down the
bust-up - for that’s what it apparently was -between Ibra and the man
mountain Oguchi Onyewu in training last week with photos surfacing of
the pair really going at it after the stroppy Swede had dived into a
late challenge on the American defender.
Insiders have claimed
there pair didn’t “kiss and make up” and only performed the most
reluctant of handshakes – and in a scene familiar to any prison drama,
the Brazilian clique have taken the big Yank under their collective
wing, although this may ultimately be for Ibra’s protection as much as
anything else...
However, as long has the Rossoneri are pushing
for top spot and can overcome Inter at the weekend the team will
continue to present a united front.
While the Milanese giants play
make or break-up, Lazio hang on to top spot despite their derby defeat
and have a chance to get back on track against struggling Cesena.
Joint-fourth Juventus – Happy Birthday, Alex – and Napoli are on the
road at feisty Brescia and Cagliari, respectively which leaves AS Roma
the most likely to profit as they face Fiorentina at home.
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About Richard Whittle
Despite the name,
Richard Whittle is so at home in Italy that some call him Riccardo Rossi. He has lived and worked in Italy for the last 15 years as a football journalist and works as Italian soccer commentator for the English-speaking world covering Serie A, Champions League, Europa League and Italian Cup matches as well as Italy internationals. With Paul Visca, Richard concocts the regular
Calcio & Coffee podcast.