After the 3-0 defeat at Napoli, Inter are once again annihilated by their own fears as the nerazzurri sink down the table to 10th place with only 21 points.
 

Last Friday was another reminder to Pioli of the enormous task ahead of him to make Inter a force once again. The problem however is in the players’ minds, the concentration is not at the right level and many of them under-perform because of the lack of self-confidence and the inability to react to negative events. 


 

Inter were still in the match against Napoli last Friday until Insigne’s goal made it 3-0 to the hosts at the beginning of the second half; then they disappeared from the pitch, leaving partenopei in total control of the game. Football is a 90 minute game and nothing is impossible as on Sunday we witnessed Bournemouth beat Liverpool 4-3 with a late winner, after trailing 3-1 with 14 minutes to go. What Inter lacks is precisely the team spirit shown by the Cherries and the will to fight for each other.  

Some of the players are de-motivated because the results don’t arrive even when the team performs well, but some of them seem to lack professionalism. Many times the interisti have the feeling that they stay on the pitch to just go through the motions, because they are handsomely paid to do this without ever feeling the responsibility of playing for such an important and prestigious club. The squad is quickly losing respect from the millions of fans worldwide, who are beginning to get sick and tired of this situation. The last real team they could be proud of was the one that followed the treble success six years ago. This is unacceptable for a club the size of Inter.



Pioli even cancelled the players’ day-off yesterday to work on team tactics and to “punish” them for their lack of attitude and spirit in the last games; Inter have only played with real desire for the opening 30 minutes against Fiorentina in the past two weeks, because the derby is always a match different to the others and if you lack motivation and determination in a derby, you can quit your job, football is not for you. When Inter are playing as a team, as they demonstrated against Milan and La Viola in the first 30 minutes or even against Juventus earlier this year, you can see that the quality is high and any opponent can be beaten. This spirit unfortunately, is missing too often leaving space for self-destruction.  

To be honest, Inter tried to come-back after Napoli scored two goals in the first six minutes, but missed some incredible chances in front of Reina and this is another aspect to analyse; to miss chances is not just bad luck, but also shows the lack of a cutting edge, concentration and above all, hunger. This is not the first game where a host of opportunities have been wasted, compromising the result and throwing away all the effort whilst bringing yet more frustration to the team. The fact that many Inter players are not hungry for success and don’t fight as a team is, surely, the main problem.   

The new owners still have to establish themselves inside the club and this unstable and uncertain situation (that has been going on for at least four years) gives the players an excuse to under perform without huge consequences. However, the club’s image is sinking and fans cannot cope anymore with this kind of situation, accusing the players of acting like over-paid spoiled brats.

Icardi is a good striker, but probably he’s too young to be a good captain and the lack of leaders in the dressing room is evident. Walter Samuel was brought back as an assistant coach but also to bring back some leadership, authority and personality to the team.Surely the squad can be improved not only in defence but also in the attack, but throwing money around the transfer window to bring in quality reinforcements will be useless if Inter fail to find their identity, stability and their team-spirit. 


To miss out on qualification to the Champions League for the fifth season in a row would be catastrophic, despite the best efforts of Suning to deliver Inter back to where they belong. The road to recovery is long, the gap from third place is huge, but we are only in December and in football nothing is impossible. To quote heavy metal super group AC/DC “It’s a long way to the top, if you wanna rock’n’roll”. Pioli knows it, but it’s still not too late to find the right vibe.



Francesca Ceciarini @FrancescaCphoto