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IMO, i guess Inter's defence should be able to balance the attacking approach that Leonardo is applying. Milan last season team was one of the worst squad they had for the last 20 years.. players like Boriello, Hunterlaar, Senderos, Mancini, and few more was totally useless in the squad.. let see what Leonardo is capable of doing.. huhuhu.. cant wait for the Derby next month..

Alixker wrote:

Quote :

We won the treble because our defense, if we play like that against Barcelona or Real Madrid, we'll be crashed by them.

IMO, Inter won because of Maurinho

You overestimating Mourinho.
The coach is a really important figure, but who win/lose the games are the players on the pitch.
We will probably reach UCL semifinals without him.
Maybe with luck we might be champions again, its unlikely but there is a chance that might happen.
Inter's squad is one of the top 4 in Europe.
If you just take our lineup, only Real Madrid and Barcelona are better.

sakhratul wrote:

cant wait for the Derby next month..

Me either, too bad we have to wait two weeks, damn national teams
Lucio won't play the derby, so Chivu and Ranocchia will form our defense.
For Milan, Pato might be out too due to injury.
Ibra is still suspended, so Milan's attack will be Robinho and Cassano.

hcosimo wrote:

You overestimating Mourinho.
The coach is a really important figure, but who win/lose the games are the players on the pitch.
We will probably reach UCL semifinals without him.

With Benitez at the helm and all the injuries he had? No offence but I think not.
2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid, 2-2 draw to FC Twente, 3-1 loss to Tottenham.

While Mourinho won the CL with Porto??

Alixker wrote:

hcosimo wrote:

You overestimating Mourinho.
The coach is a really important figure, but who win/lose the games are the players on the pitch.
We will probably reach UCL semifinals without him.

With Benitez at the helm and all the injuries he had? No offence but I think not.
2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid, 2-2 draw to FC Twente, 3-1 loss to Tottenham.

While Mourinho won the CL with Porto??

Benitez had a bad relationship with the players, that was what ender his career at Inter.

His staff was just awful, injuring a lot of players.

You can see that even Leonardo is not being a great coach recovered our squad morale, because he has a good relationship with them.

Mourinho planed our strategies to won the treble, but the players were responsible to follow it.

Milito, Sneijder, Lucio, Samuel, Cambiasso, Zanetti, Maicon, Julio Cesar, they were all as important as Mourinho was.

Football is not like tennis, its a team sport.

There's not one single responsible on success or fail.

The manager is the one leading the pack right?
The player executes instructions from the manager.

They beat Barca 2010 - a team of World Cup winners and World Player of the Year Messi.
Inter? Who's the World Player of the Year from Inter?

I doubt the players has the tactical sense that Mourinho brought to the team.
In proper perspective, it takes both players and managers to be a winning combination.

But if it was any other manager even with the same team, I doubt Inter could haave beaten Barca, no offence.

I agree that it is a team game. Even in a team game, the deciding outcome in a few occassion can be influenced by a player, a referee or a manager.

In this case, I doubt the players alone were able to strategise a treble winning compaign if it wasn't good managing and tactical planning and to be able to last such a gruelling season. It shows a very good backroom teamwork behind the scene apart from the players.

I would agree to the opinion that it's a player-manager combo that gets the team results, but most of the time, it really depends on the players. The manager is the little bit extra that gets the team going!

Inter had the same team throughout this season, but Benitez did not manage to get the best out of them as they are predominantly an attacking team whilst Benitez was stifling them. With Mourinho, I think his man-management was spot-on, thus convincing the team to defend as well as attack as a whole as opposed to Benitez's emphasis on defence alone.

Milan has always had a good team, as result of the lab. Players may be old but they have always been around, and the understanding is good. A few more younger alternatives coming in like Silva, et al, will benefit the team in the long run as when the old-timers are not up for the 2x weekly games, the youngsters can alternate with them. Agreed, Allegri and Leonardo did not really have the same team attacking-wise, but I thought Allegri did very well in handling the egos thus far, let's face it having a team with the likes of Gattuso, Ibra, Robinho, Cassano, etc takes a lot of time and effort to placate, esp when they are not playing.

Alixker wrote:

The manager is the one leading the pack right?
The player executes instructions from the manager.

They beat Barca 2010 - a team of World Cup winners and World Player of the Year Messi.
Inter? Who's the World Player of the Year from Inter?

I doubt the players has the tactical sense that Mourinho brought to the team.
In proper perspective, it takes both players and managers to be a winning combination.

But if it was any other manager even with the same team, I doubt Inter could haave beaten Barca, no offence.

I agree that it is a team game. Even in a team game, the deciding outcome in a few occassion can be influenced by a player, a referee or a manager.

In this case, I doubt the players alone were able to strategise a treble winning compaign if it wasn't good managing and tactical planning and to be able to last such a gruelling season. It shows a very good backroom teamwork behind the scene apart from the players.

Just like without Milito and Eto'o we would have beaten Chelsea.

Besides Mourinho, we wouldn't have beaten Barca without Lucio, Samuel, Cambiasso, Motta, Zanetti, Sneijder and Milito.

Without Milito, we would not even win the treble, since he scores on all key matches.

I'm not saying Mourinho wasn't important, please don't think that, I'm just saying he can't be the only responsible for Inter's success.

hcosimo wrote:

Just like without Milito and Eto'o we would have beaten Chelsea.

Besides Mourinho, we wouldn't have beaten Barca without Lucio, Samuel, Cambiasso, Motta, Zanetti, Sneijder and Milito.

Without Milito, we would not even win the treble, since he scores on all key matches.

I'm not saying Mourinho wasn't important, please don't think that, I'm just saying he can't be the only responsible for Inter's success.

Well said mate.. well said...

sakhratul wrote:

hcosimo wrote:

Just like without Milito and Eto'o we would have beaten Chelsea.

Besides Mourinho, we wouldn't have beaten Barca without Lucio, Samuel, Cambiasso, Motta, Zanetti, Sneijder and Milito.

Without Milito, we would not even win the treble, since he scores on all key matches.

I'm not saying Mourinho wasn't important, please don't think that, I'm just saying he can't be the only responsible for Inter's success.

Well said mate.. well said...

Thanks mate.

It's still the boss making the major decisions.

Who to play, who to substitute, when to substitute, which formation to play, who shall be in the line-up, who should rest.

The players do not make such decisions.

You have star players in Argentina in WC 2010 but knocked out by a young German team?
You have Brazil '82 (Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder, Junior) but lost to Italy?
Big teams with better individual players losing to lesser teams?
Denmark in Euro '92 beating Netherland (defending champion- van Basten, Gullit, Koeman, Bergkamp, Rijkaard) and Germany (1990 World Cup champion - Klinsmann, Riedle, Brehme, Effenberg, Sammer ) and France (Blanc, Cantona, Amoros) too?

Anyone remembers who played for Denmark besides Schmeichel and one of the Laudrup brother?

In club football, the manager and coach prepares the team. Analyse the next game. Plans the next game. The players execute. The manager is the brain behind the team.

Look at Man U. Without Cantona, they won the treble.
When key players are out, suspended or injured... how to make the most out of what is available? It boils down to the manager. Who should come in? Who should be fielded and substituted? When should the substitution take place?

The mental aspect of the game - who prepares the team? Manager.
The therapy, the diet... backroom staff.
The player is responsible to take orders from the manager, to get enough rest, to stay healthy and avoid excessive partying.

You can always trade players in a team.
But when a manager leaves, the club will frantically search for a replacement.



Never seen a team winning major trophies without a manager.
But you can see Championship winning teams without major star players.

Alixker wrote:

It's still the boss making the major decisions.

Who to play, who to substitute, when to substitute, which formation to play, who shall be in the line-up, who should rest.

The players do not make such decisions.

You have star players in Argentina in WC 2010 but knocked out by a young German team?
You have Brazil '82 (Zico, Socrates, Falcao, Eder, Junior) but lost to Italy?
Big teams with better individual players losing to lesser teams?
Denmark in Euro '92 beating Netherland (defending champion- van Basten, Gullit, Koeman, Bergkamp, Rijkaard) and Germany (1990 World Cup champion - Klinsmann, Riedle, Brehme, Effenberg, Sammer ) and France (Blanc, Cantona, Amoros) too?

Anyone remembers who played for Denmark besides Schmeichel and one of the Laudrup brother?

In club football, the manager and coach prepares the team. Analyse the next game. Plans the next game. The players execute. The manager is the brain behind the team.

Look at Man U. Without Cantona, they won the treble.
When key players are out, suspended or injured... how to make the most out of what is available? It boils down to the manager. Who should come in? Who should be fielded and substituted? When should the substitution take place?

The mental aspect of the game - who prepares the team? Manager.
The therapy, the diet... backroom staff.
The player is responsible to take orders from the manager, to get enough rest, to stay healthy and avoid excessive partying.

You can always trade players in a team.
But when a manager leaves, the club will frantically search for a replacement.



Never seen a team winning major trophies without a manager.
But you can see Championship winning teams without major star players.

I agree with you, I'm not saying a coach is not important mate.

The problem is that you misvalued Inter players in order to give Mourinho all the glories for our success.

That's the point we disagree each other.

But I have to reply this statement:

Quote :

Never seen a team winning major trophies without a manager.

Seriously?
What about 2005-06 Barcelona?

And the same Denmark '92, what a coach, take a look at his amazing career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M%C3%B8ller-Nielsen

How about Greece '04? And France 98' ,'00?

Brazil '82, had the best brazilian coach at the time.

His name was Tele Santana, he was really famous and liked a really attractive attacking style.

A successful manager is not always one that knows the tactics well, but he's almost always someone that can motivate his players to their maximum potential. He also trusts his players completely, or at least gives them the impression. This is what managers like Mourinho, Sir Alex, Hiddink and Guardiola excel in.

Just as an example, the semi final last year where Inter beat Barca. On paper we had the "better" players [according to current valuations etc, it's very relative btw] and nobody gave Inter a chance. Butt Inter had what I thought an equally good team and Mourinho made them believe that they're better.

If Inter spends the money on some more mobile defenders for next season I think they should be a very very good team.

hahaha.. what ever it is.. it takes two to tango.. no club can excel without either one...

hcosimo wrote:

Seriously?
What about 2005-06 Barcelona?

And the same Denmark '92, what a coach, take a look at his amazing career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M%C3%B8ller-Nielsen

How about Greece '04? And France 98' ,'00?

Brazil '82, had the best brazilian coach at the time.

His name was Tele Santana, he was really famous and liked a really attractive attacking style.

Yes bro.
Richard Nielsen is an average manager, managing an average Denmark team that became Euro champs.
Which proves both of us wrong... that it's not about a good team of players and not about a good coach/manager!!

I'm not so familiar with Aime Jacquet but he's got guts to have dropped Cantona, Ginola, Papin and picked the then lesser known Zidane.

And Tele made a tactical error against Italy that saw one of the best Brazilian team in history got knocked out of WC.

05/06 Barcelona's coach was Rijkaard. Who is rather famous.
Greece in '04 is made up of lesser known players managed by one of the more successful German coach - Otto Rehhagel, beating the likes of Figo, Rui Costa, Ronaldo, Deco, Carvalho (Golden era of Portuguese football) managed by WC winning manager Scolari.

Alixker wrote:

hcosimo wrote:

Seriously?
What about 2005-06 Barcelona?

And the same Denmark '92, what a coach, take a look at his amazing career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M%C3%B8ller-Nielsen

How about Greece '04? And France 98' ,'00?

Brazil '82, had the best brazilian coach at the time.

His name was Tele Santana, he was really famous and liked a really attractive attacking style.

Yes bro.
Richard Nielsen is an average manager, managing an average Denmark team that became Euro champs.
Which proves both of us wrong... that it's not about a good team of players and not about a good coach/manager!!

I'm not so familiar with Aime Jacquet but he's got guts to have dropped Cantona, Ginola, Papin and picked the then lesser known Zidane.

And Tele made a tactical error against Italy that saw one of the best Brazilian team in history got knocked out of WC.

05/06 Barcelona's coach was Rijkaard. Who is rather famous.
Greece in '04 is made up of lesser known players managed by one of the more successful German coach - Otto Rehhagel, beating the likes of Figo, Rui Costa, Ronaldo, Deco, Carvalho (Golden era of Portuguese football) managed by WC winning manager Scolari.

But I recognize Mourinho's merit at Inter, I'm not crazy haha, he's one of my idols, but I really think he's not the only responsible for our success.

Jacquet had a decent career in France, but wasn't the most desired coach at time.

But do you really think Rijkaard and Rehhagel are good coaches?

Rijkaard out of Barcelona was a complete disaster, relegated with Sparta, coudn't even qualify Galatasaray to UCL.

He had a good time in Barca, but for me, to be a good coach, you must do a really good job on several clubs, like Mourinho did.

Or have a pretty good time for years, more than a decade, like SAF and Wenger.

Rehhagel is also an average coach, besides Euro '04, his team coudn't qualify to any international competition, except WC 2010.

He has been a coach for almost 40 years and have 3-4 good moments in his career.

Both are just average coaches, one was lucky enough to have Ronaldinho, Eto'o and Deco on his team.

The other was lucky because his totally defensive tactics worked and Grece were inspired on that tournament.

True...

I guess Greece was on form while everyone was exhausted by the gruelling club campaign, the pressure from high expectation and maybe lost of form...

There are just too many factors in a dynamic world of foot ball.

And one thing about the Special One.

So far from what I know, his managing stint does not go beyond 5, 6 years in each of the club he managed?

He is suited for the International Team or to bring instant result... while Wenger and Ferguson are able to grow and nurture talents as well.

Sure like to see Maurinho stay a decade in a club managing role to be able to assess how he renews / rebuild a squad.

Alixker wrote:

And one thing about the Special One.

So far from what I know, his managing stint does not go beyond 5, 6 years in each of the club he managed?

He is suited for the International Team or to bring instant result... while Wenger and Ferguson are able to grow and nurture talents as well.

Sure like to see Maurinho stay a decade in a club managing role to be able to assess how he renews / rebuild a squad.

Mourinho once said his personal challenge is to win UCL with three different clubs.

I think that is why he doesn't stay too long at the clubs.

IMO, he did a pretty good job renewing Inter's squad, especially on 2009-10 transfer markets.

And a did very good job buiding Chelsea squad.

I don't think it would be a problem for him to do that again.

Plus I guess he likes different challenges as well.

If I were a coach I wouldn't have patience to do what SAF and Wenger does, staying on a team for long and working on the same country/league for years.

I really admire them for that, but I'd rather try different challenges, working on all Europe's top leagues.

But the way Maurinho did it was different - through transfer markets.

Wenger and Ferguson did it the home-grown way.
Of course they have other buys ... but they have a youth system as well.

Wilshire, Walcott and Fergie's Fledglings.

Ferguson and Wenger managed at a time when they had so much finances readily available.

Maurinho did it with Porto but at Chelsea and Real, he has cash.

But anyhow, it takes a lot to rebuild a team from brooding the youngsters.

Maurinho's challenge is slightly different.

Alixker wrote:

But the way Maurinho did it was different - through transfer markets.

Wenger and Ferguson did it the home-grown way.
Of course they have other buys ... but they have a youth system as well.

Wilshire, Walcott and Fergie's Fledglings.

Ferguson and Wenger managed at a time when they had so much finances readily available.

Maurinho did it with Porto but at Chelsea and Real, he has cash.

But anyhow, it takes a lot to rebuild a team from brooding the youngsters.

Maurinho's challenge is slightly different.

I agree with you.

Maybe he doesn't like using youngsters because Chelsea and Real needed immediate results.

At Inter, maybe because we didn't have much talent at the Primavera team.

In Italy, it is really rare for a player under 21-22 years old to make it to the first team, its more like a cultural issue.

He even used some players like Santon and Stevanovic, but both of them didn't impress.

It's not like SAF did, I read that he took three seasons to win his first title at Man Utd.

There is not much patience with coaches anymore, today if SAF takes three season to win a title, the fans and press would kick him out of the club.

Yeah.
Man U was an underachieving team when he took over.
Star studded international players but just the odd cup to show during Atkinson's years.

One of the biggest game of the season, Derby della Madonnina as Milan and Inter will go head-to-head for the Scudetto... a win for Inter will take them to the top of the table while a defeat sends Milan five points clear!

It was kind of looking like a one horse race till they had Leonardo in place of Rafael.

if a draw game then it could allow Napoli right back into the race too...