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Italian SuperCup 2011 - Inter v AC Milan Preview

Here we are just days before Inter take on AC Milan in the 2011 Italian Super Cup at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing. The match, which will be shown live on RaiUno in Italy, kicks off at 20:00 local time (14:00 CET) on Saturday 6 August or for those like me that live outside of Italy you can find live streams of the match online at  FreeFootball.org or at Free Live Sports TV.  With the Derby della Madonnina in Serie A not coming till the 18th week (Jan 15th 2012), i'm thankful for this years Supercup being against our cross town rivals, even though it won't be played at the Meazza, as that is a long time to have to wait for one of the highlights of the Calcio calender.

A few people have asked me whether I think the atmosphere during the match will be as intense as a normal Derby and I would have to say that I don't see why it wouldn't be, there have been rumours over the last few weeks that the Curva Nord and the Curva Sud won't be making the trip to China, which in my opinion would be a shame, but even so judging by the welcome Inter received upon arrival in China i'd say there's no danger of there not being a great atmosphere for the event.

Inter's Summer Transfers - Do They Really Fit In With Gasperini's Formations?

With about a month left in this year's summer transfer window have Inter lived up to the promises made at the end of last season?  Unfortunately not! Don't get me wrong I believe that the players we have signed will be useful to us, but I believe that the biggest thing holding us back is Gasperini's formations. 

We have signed two wing backs, Nagatomo & Jonathan, yet in Gasperini's formations there is no place for wing backs meaning that these two and Maicon will be forced to play as wingers or full backs dependent on whether we're playing with a 3 man or 4 man defence.  It's not just the defence that is causing problems with fitting players in, our biggest signing so far is Alvarez who plays CAM or as a winger but so far this pre-season he's been pushed into a deeper midfield position or as right forward which in the match against Galatasaray he looked pretty uncomfortable in my opinion.  Also on the subject of midfielders out of position Gasperini's formations are also forcing Sneijder (one of the best trequartistas in the game) to play a deep central position which to be fair Wes is taking in his stride and playing well in, though it's hardly taking advantage of the talent available. 

The Ultimate Inter Line-up Of All Time - Who Made The Squad?

A couple of weeks ago while watching clips of old Inter matches on YouTube I started thinking about who would be in my ultimate starting line up of all time, this wasn't quite as easy as i thought it would be as the more i thought about it the more quality players from Inter's history came to mind and I ended up with a 8-10-6 formation which of course is ridiculous & I may as well have just written a post about all the greats of Inter's history, which would be a very long job so i decided to find out who my fellow Interista would say deserved to be in the ultimate line-up.  To keep things consistent i decided to go with the formation that i feel suits Inter's players the best, so i asked my followers on Facebook & Twitter what their ultimate line-up would be on a 4-3-1-2 formation and i got some great replies, though it soon became clear that certain players were on pretty much all the answers, meaning that again i ended up with more players than i needed so the line-up is made up of the most voted for 11.

Inter's 2011/12 SerieA Fixtures & Predictions

Last night the 2011/12 Serie A fixtures were announced and three of our biggest games will come on the 3rd, 10th & 18th weeks of the season.  The dates of these fixture could possible be changed depending on how the teams involved do in other competitions, but for this I am going to list all our fixtures for this season as the dates given and give a brief prediction of how i think the match will go.  Tickets for these matches are available by clicking the link above.

Inter's 4th pre-season friendly ends in an eventful 0-0 draw against Galatasaray

It was the fourth pre-season summer friendly for Inter yesterday against Turkish side Galatasaray played in the neutral venue of the rewirpowerSTADION in Bochum, Dusseldorf, which is a city of the largest Turkish community in Germany. It wasn't a surprise to see that the stadium had sold out all of it's 20,000 seats to see the Turkish giants take on the World Champions. The weather conditions were hardly perfect, with a temperature slightly above 10 degrees, heavy rain, a slippery pitch and a bothersome wind. It also proved to be that the Turkish team & fans were hardly perfect either with some nasty tackles & an incident involving the Galatasaray throwing flares in the second half. Both their players & fans were a disgrace considering this was supposedly a friendly, there is no need for fans of any club to be throwing flares on to the pitch & the crunching tackles coming from the Galatasaray players were out of order, if I didn't know better I would have thought this game was a UCL knock out match not a pre season friendly & I feel that the Turk club should be fined for the behaviour of their fans.

A salute to Marco Materazzi: "Tutti pazzi per Materazzi"

This summer has seen the end of Marco Materazzi's time as an Inter player & as he leaves as a free agent after 10 years of service to the Nerazzurri , I felt it was fitting to look back at the 37 year old defender's career & pay tribute to not only a great defender but a man who holds Inter in a special place in his heart like all good Interista.  Due to his unpredictable personality & overly aggressive play he is known amongst fans & other players as 'The Matrix' & 'The Butcher'.  So where did it all begin?

His early life & Career

'Matrix' was born on 19th August 1973 in Lecce, where his father Giuseppe played for U.S. Lecce, Giuseppe also was a coach & manager of teams including Pisa, Lazio, Sporting CP & Tianjin Teda, so from a young age football was in Marco's blood.

The perfect Birthday gift for Facchetti- Inter cleared by FIGC

The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has announced  that Inter Milan will be allowed to keep the 2006 Serie A title, attributed to them in the wake of that year's Calciopoli scandal.

A motion by the FIGC's federal council declaring that there was "no judicial basis for the revocation" of the 2006 Scudetto was passed by 22 votes to one at a meeting in Rome, with two abstentions.

The Calciopoli scandal led to Juventus being stripped of the league titles they had won in 2005 and 2006 after it was discovered that they had been trying to influence referees.

Juve were also relegated to Serie B and deducted nine points, although they did win immediate promotion back to the elite.

The scandal also led to Fiorentina being deducted 15 points, Milan losing eight, and Lazio three points.

It was as a result of these punishments that Inter were retrospectively awarded the title.

However, a report by federal prosecutor Stefano Palazzi, released on July 4, accused Inter of also having "illegal" contacts with referees and said that they might also have been implicated at the time had all wiretaps been examined by police.

It was evidence from these wiretaps that led to the Juventus sporting director Luciano Moggi being banned from all Italian football for life.

Juve had sent a request to the FIGC in May 2010 asking them to leave the 2006 title vacant.

Reports suggest that Juventus may appeal the decision to the high court of justice but as far as the footballing world is concerned the case is now closed on this scandel that has cast a dark cloud over Italian football for the last five years. 

The above report is quoted from the AFP but to sum up i'll end this with a message of my own to all the Juve Scum out there on behalf of the Inter family around the world-

 "Quit crying about the past & face facts that you got caught for being the cheating scum that you are & FC Internazionale is the most honest & talented team in Italy & if you can't live with that fact f*#k off back to Serie B because no one cares what you think!"

Inter's second pre season friendly against Mezzocorona ends 6-1

After a morning training session that included recovery programmes for Ivan Cordoba, Jonathan, Thiago Motta & Nelson Rivas. After the session it was decided that three players weren't 100% and wouldn't be involved in the afternoon friendly against Mezzocorona, missing was Yuto Nagatomo (slight muscle strain in the left thigh which he picked up during the morning session), Giampaolo Pazzini (groin fatigue, is this down to the fact he's still a newly wed? You decide!) & also Walter Samuel (who is still involved in a strength training program after last seasons injury)

So on to the afternoon match which i got to watch on a very grainy & slow live stream that tested my paitence several times by putting adverts on at random times during the match including as Inter scored their first three goals, luckily for me (& the sake of my computer, which i was getting close to throwing out of the window!) it came back on just in time for the replays each time. The fireworks started early before the match when in a mark of respect for the great Giacinto Facchetti who's 69th Birthday it would have been today, the players came onto the pitch all wearing the special 'Grande Inter' shirt with the number 3 on the back, which they then threw in to the crowd as a present for a lucky few Interista.

A week of Interviews for the Nerazzurri

The world's press has been focused on Inter in the last week or so with the Sneijder transfer saga & the Calcioploi accusations against Facchetti, but the squad at the pre season training camp at Pinzolo have been concentrating on building their fitness & adapting to new coach Gasperini's tactics.  Although the main point of the camp is to get the players and staff ready for the upcoming season there has been a very fan friendly feel to the whole thing with Intersta flocking in their thousands to get a glimpse of their heroes training & also there has been various evening events around the camp to entertain and enthrall the fans present including various appearances by Nerazzurri stars & Gasperini it has just emphasised the whole Inter family philosophy that we are so proud of.

Inter 6-1 Trentino. The new Nerazzurri show class

Inter's first pre season friendly went with a bang as Gasperini's flexed their muscles in a 6-1 win over local side Trentino this afternoon with usual suspects Pazzini & Eto'o scoring the first two goals in the 1st half. Trentino managed to claw one back with a high curling shot over Castellazzi. New boy Alvarez slotted home the 3rd and narrowly missed a wonderful long range effort from outside the box, Pandev gave Inter their 4th showing that despite being fairly slow & clumsy he can still put them away. The final two goals came from youngsters Castaignos & Longo. I have to admit I didn't see the match as I was working but from what I've seen on YouTube Ricky & Luc both are showing that they are fantastic purchases for the Nerazzurri as well as the established players showing that the 'Grande Inter' is still is alive & kicking. I realise that we were only playing a small fry local team but the squad seems to be connecting very well & for me this upcoming season is looking very promising.

2011/2012 Inter shirts from £44.99 & discounted Inter merchandise

Through our partners at UKSoccershop we are pleased to be able to offer our readers the fantastic 2011/12 Inter Home shirt at an unbelievable price of £44.99 & the two goaleeper home shirts 

You've seen Sneijder & Pazzini modelling it now own your very own 2011/12 Inter Home shirt for only £44.99

Brand new, official Inter Milan Home Shirt to be worn in the 2011/12 Serie A and available to buy in adult sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL.This is the new black and blue striped Internazionale football shirt which is manufactured by Nike. Featuring the Coppa Italia badge above the Nike logo and the Pirelli sponsor, you can customise your jersey with name and numbers of your favourite Inter Milan stars including Samuel Eto'o, Giampaolo Pazzini or Maicon, or even your own custom name and number.100% polyester Dri-FIT. Short sleeve gameday jersey with set in sleeve, collar and placked neckline, badge to left chest. Swoosh to right chest and sponsor to center front. F.C. Internazionale and Nike logo embroidered

Inter presents new boys Castaignos & Alvarez, then Branca talks Transfers

This morning saw the forth training session at the Pinzolo pre season camp, after warm up exercises & tactical practice Gasperini allowed fans in to watch the second part of the session, which was concerned with physical & athletic training. Following the session Eto'o kept a promise made to a fan & stayed for half a hour to sign autographs & have his photo taken. Then this afternoon Inter's new signings were presented to the assembled media.

Inter Squad official presentation

There was a "full house" for the official presentation of the 2011/12 Inter squad in Piazza San Giacomo, Pinzolo, this evening, just as the whole of Pinzolo and the Val Rendena are sold out in this period while the area plays host to the Nerazzurri's pre-season training camp. This evening there was chanting, passion, flags and a huge banner: "Giù le mani da Giacinto" (Hands off Giacinto). The Inter fans wanted to show their support for Facchetti, the symbol of this club, as the team was presented by Roberto Scarpini live on Inter Channel.

Inter's First Day Training at Pinzolo

When the Inter squad & new manager Gian Piero Gasperini arrived at the team hotel in Pinzolo they were greeted by hordes of Interista all waiting to get a glimpse of our heroes, they were all there, apart from those involved in the Copa America and Coutinho (Under-20 World Cup).
The new season for Inter & Gasperini starts here!

Ricardo Alvarez - Could he be THE transfer of the summer?

To be honest before Inter put in a bid for 'Ricky' i hadn't heard of him which isn't too surprising as he was playing for Velez Sarsfield in Argentina and i don't really follow Argentinian football, but when i heard the rumours that we had jumped in with a late bid when it looked like he was going to sign for Arsenal i decided to Google him & from what i found out i quickly realised that this could be an excellent signing for Inter.  As the video below shows he is a very talented lad who is versitile and has very good all control & vision.

Luc Castaignos - Inter's newest striker

Luc Castaignos was technically Inter's first signing this summer as the deal was signed on March 4th 2011, from Feyenoord, and should be an excellent acquisition for Inter as the Dutch striker has been receiving praise from around the world and he is being dubbed as the new Thierry Henry.

He was born on the 27th September 1992 in Schiedam, Netherlands and is the top scorer of all time for the Netherlands under-17 national team, though he currently plays for the under-19 national team. 

When the 18 year old arrived at the club hotel in pinzolo for his first training sessions with the Nerazzurri he gave an interview to the awaiting journalists :

"It's hard to find words to describe how happy I am to be playing for such a great club as Inter," said Luc. The Nerazzurri shirt will be a way of confirming his talent after all the goals and success he has had in Holland with Feyenoord: "It's true, I find it easy to score and if I'm playing for a great team it should be even easier." He already knows most of his new Inter team-mates ("Wesley Sneijder a bit better because he's Dutch"), but he also played against Luca Caldirola, last season at Vitesse: "I scored my first league goal against him... ".  Castaignos is quick and he sees the goal. "Am I like Henry? Lots of people have said this but I am Castaignos and he is Henry."

Calciopoli - New allegations outrage Inter & Interista across the world

As we all know the Calciopoli scandal of 2006 did untold damage to Italian football and the main culprits Juventus were punished by being demoted to Serie B & having the 2005 & 2006 Scudetto's stripped from them, the 2005 one remains unassigned & the 2006 one was handed down to the highest placed team who were judged to not have been involved (which of course was 2nd placed Inter).  But now 5 years on the scandal is hitting the headlines again after the investigation has received some alleged evidence that suggests that Inter & our legendary then President 'Giancinto Facchetti' was involved, which as we all know is a ridiculous accusation as the whole footballing world and especially Interista know that Facchetti was one of the most honest & decent gentlemen to ever grace the world of football.  So what do these allegations mean for Inter? Well the FIGC will meet on the 18th July to decide what to do, if we are found guilty from the report made by prosecutor Palazzi then the likelyhood is that the 2006 Scudetto will be revoked & join the 2005 one in being unassigned, but the Scudetto isn't the issue here anymore it is more about the personal and damning attack on the deceased Facchetti who obviously cannot repond to these allegations and is having his good name dragged through the mud.

Transfers: Yuto Nagatomo Signs For Inter

On Friday 1st July on the official start of the new season Inter have completed the full signing of wing back Yuto Nagatomo, who regular readers of my blog will know i've been backing since his first games for Inter when he signed on a loan contract in January, during his loan period with us he appeared 19 times in Serie A, Coppa Italia & Champions league games scoring twice.  The deal to buy out Nagatomo's contract with Cesena for 6.5 million Euros with a wage of 1.5 million per year for 5 years includes joint ownership of defender Luca Caldirola (who joined Inter at the age of 8) & striker Luca Garritano (who joined Inter at the age of 14) Caldirola who is a Under 21 international will be available for Inter's 1st team squad and Garritano who is a Under 17 International will be available for our Primavera team.

The UEFA Financial Fair Play Rules (FFPR) What Does It Mean?

There seems to be a lot of confusion from fans on what the FFPRs actually mean for clubs?  So i'm going to attempt to explain it for you all.  Most of the examples i'll use in this post are based around English Premier League teams just for the fact that the reference i'm using to write this uses them as examples but it applies to all the big teams across Europe.

Why is the FFP being brought into effect?
It has long been a major concern for UEFA that clubs are continually making losses year in, year out and are not playing by the rules of fair play, by the owners subsidising their clubs by injecting large amounts of cash that the clubs can't make on their own merits.  As a clubs largest expenditure is transfer and wage fees the FFP is being implimented to effectively put a cap on these expenses in order to bring more stability to the finances of the clubs because when all is said and done a football club is a business and every business needs to balance it's books, i.e not spend more than they earn.

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A Look At Inter's New Head Coach Gian Piero Gasperini

So after a week or so of wild rumours & intense speculation Inter finally have their new coach, not one of the big names that were either tied up with contracts at other teams or one of the two that said no to us then moved to other clubs (mentioning no names eh! AVB) but in the end Massimo Moratti decided on the mediocre coach who i was backing from the start if we couldn't convince a big name to sign.  The question on everyone's lips though is can he step up to the challenge of returning Inter to being the holders of the Scudetto while retaining our Coppa Italia title and putting in a good showing in the Champions league (Lets face it if we reach the quarters then that's good enough for his first season!)  So in this post i'm going to look at his history and how i see things going with Gian Piero Gasperini at the helm.........

Inter In Chaos!

Well here we are 18 days into the 2011 summer transfer window and instead of the strengthening of Inter that we all expected with not alot of movement being shown in signing new players while in the Nerazzurri camp it's starting to look more like a meltdown than a revolution. 

After committing to the Nerazzurri a few weeks ago Wesley Sneijder disappointed all the Interista and Massimo Moratti by stating that "Only God will decide where my future lies. " followed a few days later by a statement from Samuel Eto'o who also had committed to our beloved club that “Playing in England is an idea I have had in my head for some time and now what matters to me is finding a good team,” then followed the best news so far this summer that Leonardo was leaving to take up a directors role at Paris St Germain, which in it's self is great news as I've felt for a while that he wasn't up to the job at Inter but it has raised the question as to who is? And the cherry and icing on the cake is that it's been revealed that Lucio is considering a contract from Malaga after the powers that be at Inter refused to give him a two year extension to his contract!

2010/2011 Inter Season Review

So that's it the 2010/2011 season has come to a close & what a rollercoaster it's been, filled with victories, anger, disappointment & pride.

In this season review i'll go through what went right and what went wrong for the Nerazzurri this season.

After five years of superiority in Serie A Inter have lost the Scudetto to our cross town rivals AC Milan who have claimed the title for the 1st time in 7 years and as disappointing as this is the mood amongst Interisti isn't as bad as you'd think as for all the disappointment of losing the Scudetto there is still plenty for us to hold our heads high with pride for.

Eto'o & Milito seal Coppa Italia Final with a 3-1 win against Palermo

Inter end the season with their 3rd & 4th trophies of the season, this years Coppa Italia final was a battle to secure not just the Coppa Italia trophy but also a special trophy to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.

Inter 3-1 Catania Last Game of League Season Secures 12th Home Win In A Row

The last game of the league season meant a convincing win for the Nerazzurri over Catania and also secured Inter's 12th home win in a row with a brace from Giampaolo Pazzini and an awesome effort from Yuto Nagatomo. Some say Inter have had a disastrous season but in fact that is not true as 2nd place with 76 points and 69 goals in the league is hardly disastrous but I'll go into details of the season more after the Coppa Italia final in my season review, but for now let's concentrate on how Inter ended the season on a high.

1000 Career Apperances For Javier Zanetti

Tonight's Coppa Italia 2nd leg match against Roma will see our great captain enter the record books once again by joining the few players in football history to play 1000 professional games, for me he is the perfect player that any team would love to have he has bags of ability and stamina, he's a great leader of his team and most importantly he is extreemly loyal, his 16 year career at Inter proves he loves this great club of ours as much as every Interista on the planet and he would fight all the way to acheive Inter's dreams and goals.  Footballers around the world should take a leaf out of his book and play for the love of their club over their love for the money, but in this respect Zanetti is a rarity in the modern game and for his continued comitment to Inter we salute him as one of Inter's all time greats!

Inter back in 2nd with a 2-1 win over Lazio

Happy Easter to all Interista, and to make the weekend more special Inter managed to claim all three points from Lazio even though we were down to 10 men with goals coming from Sneijder's 4th of the season and Eto'os 33rd. The downside is after Julio Cesar's red card it means we are without our first choice keeper for the next game on the bright side its against Cesena. The other piece of bad news is that Stankovic had to go off with an injury. Milan beat Brescia with a late goal to put them back to 8 points ahead though with Palermo beating Napoli we have gone above them to reclaim 2nd place, which if we end up finish there I will be happy considering the bad season we've had.

Inter v Lazio Match Preview

Inter go into today's game against Lazio 8 points behind Milan with 5 games including this one to go and the odds are severely stacked against us for the Scudetto but we are not giving up without a fight and anything is possible as Lazio themselves proved years ago when they made up 9 points in the last 5 games to take the title.  For us to stand a chance though we must win every game to come and hope Milan make a mess of their run in! Even if we don't catch Milan we have still got a fight on our hands as we could finish anywhere from 2nd down to 4th or 5th if we're not careful and a win for Lazio today would put them on the same points as us so this definitely is a must win for us as an in form Udinese are only 4 points behind going in to this weekend.

Latest Inter Transfer Rumours, Leonardo To Stay & Mourinho says 'His Team' Needs Rebuilding

With the end of what i like to think of as Inter's hangover season in sight (Thank God!!!) the rumours of changes of management and players are coming thick and fast for our beloved Nerazzurri, with most of the footballing world agreeing that Inter needs some big changes to stay up there with the likes of Barcelona.  Of course a lot can change before the start of next season but there are some rumours that just don't seem to go away so i thought i'd share the latest versions of these stories with you all and start the excitement for next season early!

Coppa Italia 1st Leg Roma 0-1 Inter Match Report & Reactions

Inter finally got the result they needed after 5 losses in a row, which puts them in a strong position to progress to the final after the second leg at the Guiseppe Meazza on the 11th May. Dejan Stankovic was the man to get the goal for the Nerazzurri with another superb long range effort from outside the box on the stroke of half time, this was in fact his 2nd goal of the game after his first got ruled out by a questionable refereeing decisions in the opening minutes. Both sides had their chances in the second half but the scoreline of 0-1 stayed the same. Inter looked by far the stronger side throughout the game but even saying that they were still no where near the level we know they are capable of, this win should however give them the confidence to finish the season on a good note, hopefully!!! My one criticism of the match was the fact that Leonardo paired Milito up front with Pandev instead of Pazzini the subbed Milito for Pazzini which is a shame as i was looking forward to seeing how Milito & Pazzini would play together but to be fair Pandev had a good game, he didn't score or have any particularly good shots on the goal but he did work hard bringing the ball into attack.

Roma v Inter Coppa Italia Semi Final Leg 1 Preview

The Coppa Italia semi final 1st leg against Roma is tonight and the reality of the situation is that this is Inter's last chance of silverware this season (Not including the Supercup & World cup) unless a miracle occurs in the Scudetto.  So what are our chances of beating Roma across the two legs?  Well we've been really out of form since our defeat in the derby which isn't being helped by the fact Leonardo doesn't see anything wrong with how his tactics are affecting the team, there are rumours going around that tonight is Leo's last chance and Baresi is waiting to take over until the end of the season if he does get the boot, but i'm not going to go on about Leo anymore as i don't like to be negative about anything to do with my beloved Inter.  The important thing is that Inter perform without dwelling on recent bad results and Roma have had a bad season too sitting down in 6th just 1 point above Juve, so on that Inter hasn't had that bad a season really! It also means we have got a very good chance of knocking them out of the cup, especially as we have got Maicon back in the squad the bad news though is that Eto'o is out for tonights match with a foot injury, hopefully though this will give Milito & Pazzini a chance to get the goals and be Nerazzurri's heroes tonight.

Parma v Inter match report & reactions

This really is getting beyond a joke now, as Inter wrote off pretty much any chance they had for the Scudetto this season and the 2-0 defeat to Parma puts the Nerazzurri a huge 8 points behind Milan with 5 games to go. As always I'm right behind Inter but unless Milan mess up 3 of the last 5 games, which isn't very likely, Inter's only remaining chance of silverware this season depends on the Coppa Italia semi finals against Roma. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the match but from what I've heard and read I'm glad I didn't see it, but from what I can tell it is down to two factors firstly Leonardo's crap tactics including his insistence of playing Pandev & Chivu and starting Sneijder on the bench while leaving Maicon out of the squad completely?!? The second I can only assume is down to frustrations of the recent bad results coming through in the players performances. Anyway here's the match report and what Leonardo & co had to say....

Parma v Inter Match Preview

It's been a tough week for Inter with our departure from the Champions league on Wednesday, but today we face our next challenge against Parma at the Stadio Tardini where we must win to keep up any chance of winning the Scudetto which as we know is almost as much of an unlikely result as beating Shalke was mid week but there's still the chance as Milan are only 5 points ahead which means they only have to mess up twice in the last 6 games for us to overtake them, presuming we win! It's a long shot but as Stankovic proved the other week long shots sometimes go your way!

My suggestions for the rebuilding of Inter Milan

After getting knocked out of the Champions league quarter finals by such an overwhelming scoreline many people (myself included) have been suggesting that Inter needs a major shake up of the squad and the way we do things, so I thought I'd write this post to share with you all what I consider to be a suitable solution to our problems ( Be warned some of my suggestions may be highly controversial amongst my fellow Interista)......

Shalke 2-1 Inter (Agg 7-3) Champions league quarter final match report & reactions

That's it the reigning champions are out of the competition after an embarrassing 7-3 agg defeat to Shalke, obviously the worst of the damage was done in the 1st leg but even after all the talk from the Inter camp about believing in being able to turn it around on the night only a handful of Inter players looked like they had the passion to win, yes we had the majority of possession and our passing was good but there was no creativity and there was a definite spark missing from our finishing our only goal of the game was more fluke than intention when Motta managed to get a touch that bounced into the net. The most impressive Inter player again for me was Yuto Nagatomo who never gave up and put 110% in to trying to create something for the Nerazzurri. So who's to blame? .......

Shalke v Inter Preview Champions league quarter final 2nd leg

Here we are just a few hours from the 2nd leg of the Champions league quarter finals against Shalke, (cue the Mission Impossible music) and already most people have written off our chances of progressing to the semis but is it really that impossible for Inter to pull off the comeback again in Germany?  Everyone at Inter and all us Nerazzurri faithful don't seem to think so, i mean if they can score 5 against us in the 1st leg then why should it be so unlikely that we can get 4 tonight?  As long as Leonardo puts a bit of emphasis and pace in the defense like he did against Chievo last weekend there's no reason why we can't show the Germans the door, and as an extra boost for Inter Walter Samuel is in the squad for the first time since his injury in November, though i really think Leonardo shouldn't play him in this match and risk him, that said i don't see anything wrong with putting him on for the last 10 minutes just to get him some competitive match practice.

Inter 1-1 Roma (Agg 2-1) Coppa Italia Semi Final 2nd Leg

Not only did Inter ensure they made it to the the Final of the Coppa Italia against Palermo but Javier Zanetti played his 1000th career game.  It was a good game with Inter looking fairly lively throughout but still lacking something up front with Sneijder still out injured and Eto'o spending most of the game tracking back and covering the left wing, he did however secure his 35th goal of the season and ensured the Nerazzurri got through to the final with a 2-1 agg win

Inter 2-0 Chievo match report & reactions

That's more like it, even though they weren't at their very best yesterday Inter showed a lot more quality than the have for the last two games with a couple of players really standing out, the first was Zanetti who was playing on the right of the 3 man midfield, his speed, passes & runs were outstanding and watching him last night you would never guess he was 37. The other was Yuto Nagatomo who for me was the man of the match was just everywhere defending, poaching balls and making blistering runs up the left wing and also getting a few shots off on goal, I've said it before but this guy has got a really bright future and he reminds me alot of the legendary Roberto Carlos which is exactly the type of player Inter needs. As rumours have suggested this week I think Moratti has got some big changes in mind for next season as all the way through the match he looked less than impressed! But tonight's result went the right way and that's all that matters for now.

Inter v Chievo Preview

So here we are ready for today's game against Chievo which comes at the end of an awful week for the Nerazzurri. On the bright side this is a match that shouldn't cause us too much trouble, of course from now on we must win every Serie A game to stand any chance of making up the 5 point difference with Milan but we know Inter will fight with everything they have got to snatch the title back allwe need is a little luck for Milan & Napoli to slip up a few times between now and the end of the season.