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The derby d’Italia definitely didn’t go to plan as planned for Inter on Saturday as Juve took three points from the game and moved two points clear of AC Milan at the top of the table, while our beloved Inter stays stuck firmly in the pits of despair down the other end of the table with a measly eight points from nine games, which in itself is unthinkable for the mighty Nerazzurri.
Ranieri started the match with the same formation that we have used for several weeks now with Lucio and Chivu in the central defence, Maicon and Nagatomo as fullbacks (though as always they played the match as wingbacks), Obi replaced Motta in the three man midfield along side Cambiasso and Zanetti and Sneijder supporting Zarate and Pazzini up front.
Inter made a great start playing good aggressive attacking football and our first chance came after just three minutes with Pazzini trying to catch Buffon unawares by backheeling Maicon’s shot towards the near post but Buffon was alert to the danger and stopped it. Minutes later Inter should have been one up as Maicon knocked the ball down for Cambiasso who seemed to rush his shot a little resulting in the ball missing the target by inches.
But the 12th minute saw Juve break the deadlock as Lichtsteiner sent in a low cross to Matri who was denied by a great save from Castellazzi but unfortunately the rebound fell for Vucinic on the edge of the area and he buried his shot into the back of the net while the Nerazzurri defenders stood shell-shocked and unable to do anything about it.
Two minutes later Matri had a chance to double their lead from a counter attack that left the Inter defensive line in disarray but luckily his shot went wide. The 21st minute saw Maicon surge forward in to the box from the right and powered a low cross in that Buffon had no trouble claiming. Zarate then showed off his skill as he drifted past defenders and cutting in from the left he hit a right footed shot that wrong footed Buffon but unfortunately flew past the wrong side of the post. Two minutes later Maicon received a lovely through ball from Sneijder which he blasted past Buffon into the back of the net with the slightest deflection from Bonucci. I can’t fault the attacking side of Inter as on the 31st minute we nearly went ahead as Maicon picked out Pazzini in the box who sent a hugely powerful header goalward only to see it ricochet off the bar.
A few minutes later Juventus got what was to be the winning goal as Marchisio played a one-two with Matri past a completely unaware and lost looking Inter defence before passing the ball into the bottom corner of the goal just out of Castellazzi’s reach. Juve had claims for a penalty denied in the 40th minute following a collision between Castallazzi and Marchisio but the ref had judged that the Juve player had taken his shot before the contact was made, which was very fortunate for Inter as if the penalty had been given Castallazzi would have to have received a red card too. The half ended shortly afterwards with the visitors leading with two goals to our one.
SECOND HALF –
For the second half Castaignos came out in place of Zarate much to the confusion of the Inter fans as he had been a big creative force for us in the first half and was having a great game but I believe this was purely down to the fact that during the first half he was seen on to be having small disagreements with Sneijder, Pazzini and Zanetti in three separate incidents and was obviously causing a bit of unrest in the ranks.
The second half saw Pazzini, Sneijder and Maicon in particular working extremely hard in their attempts to take the game back from the visitors, but it just wasn’t Inter’s night as Bonucci thwarted ‘Il Pazzo’ in the 56th minute and Lichtsteiner did the same to Sneijder just minutes later. Vucinic tried for his second on the hour mark but Castallazzi stopped him from just two yards out before Pirlo attempted to curl one in from the far post but it went way off target.
The Nerazzurri were digging deep but nothing seemed to be working for us. Again Castallazzi was called to make a fantastic save on the 82nd minute from a shot by Estigarribia, who had replaced Matri. Then four minutes later Sneijder’s replacement Alvarez found Pazzini who tried an ambitious volley with the outside of his boot but the ball flew wide. A minute later Del Piero saw a chance go wide and after four unremarkable minutes of stoppage time the game ended 1-2 to the visitors much to the anguish of all involved with Inter.
Inter 1-2 Juventus (HT: 1-2)Scorers: Vucinic 12, Maicon 28, Marchisio 33.
Referee: Nicola Rizzoli (Bologna).Booked: Bonucci 22, Vidal 45, Chiellini 54, Pepe 55, Chivu 59, Sneijder 65, Pirlo 67.Added time: 0+4 minutes.Attendance: 78,072.
Lineups
Inter:
12 Castellazzi; 13 Maicon, 6 Lucio, 26 Chivu, 55 Nagatomo; 4 Zanetti, 19 Cambiasso, 20 Obi (Stankovic 64); 10 Sneijder (Alvarez 78); 28 Zarate (Castaignos 46), 7 Pazzini.Unused subs: 21 Orlandoni, 2 Cordoba, 22 Milito, 42 Jonathan.Coach: Claudio Ranieri.
Juventus:
1 Buffon; 26 Lichtsteiner, 19 Bonucci, 15 Barzagli, 3 Chiellini; 21 Pirlo; 7 Pepe, 22 Vidal (Pazienza 89), 8 Marchisio, 14 Vucinic (Del Piero 84); 32 Matri (Estigarribia 70).Unused subs: 30 Storari, 11 De Ceglie, 17 Elia, 18 Quagliarella.Coach: Antonio Conte.
Conclusion:
So again Inter lose and the blame again has to sit squarely on the shoulders of the defensive side of our team as our central defenders Lucio and Chivu had no idea what each other were doing and were both looking lost when they should have been closing down the opposition, Lucio also seemed to be putting more effort in to going forward and attacking than actually doing his job and defending. Nagatomo and Maicon were great going forward but with no one to cover their defensive positions they were leaving big gaping holes in our rear guard and even our midfield weren’t helping the defending situation with Obi and Zanetti concentrating of taking the play forward it was down to Cambiasso to play as the anchorman and help out defensively but he too spent most of the game looking helpless and lost. Hopefully Poli will be fit soon so we can see how capable he is of playing the central midfield position.
In my opinion the attacking side of the Inter squad is more than capable of being competitive this season but all their hard work is being undone by the defence either not doing the job they’re meant to or just making stupid decisions and getting punished by the opposition, this needs to be remedied in January when I think Branca and Moratti need to concentrate on strengthening our defensive line with younger, faster players who are better at making those vital decision that are costing us points.
That being said though the rest of the team isn’t entirely blameless as the organisation throughout the formation is severely lacking at times and too many of our players aren’t looking confident when on the ball. To combat this Ranieri needs to work hard on the squad’s state of mind both on and off the field and he needs to get back that belief that we can win that we used to have when Mourinho was in charge.
The final point i’m going to make is that things need to change behind the scenes too as with the huge amounts of injuries we’ve been seeing for the past 18 months there must be something not quite right with our fitness and physio training methods because no team is unlucky enough to have this amount of injuries for no particular reason. Maybe it is time for a complete overhaul at Inter right from the top, after 16 years owning his beloved club maybe it’s time Moratti showed his true love for Inter by selling up to someone who can finance and make the changes needed to enable us to keep up with the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona?
