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.