The manager has copped stick for ‘parking the bus’, but a first Scudetto in 11 years is in sight after Inter’s 11th win in a rowAs Inter prepared to extend their winning run to an 11th consecutive match, one former employee was calling for the manager to be sacked. “They don’t play well!” protested Antonio Cassano during his weekly appearance on Christian Vieri’s Twitch channel, his anger escalating as he repeated the phrase three times.“Antonio Conte plays a 5-3-2, everyone behind the ball, everyone lined up in front of their own goal. He parks the bus, and you can’t get by. If I had a manager like this, I would go to the president and say: ‘Get rid of him.’”...
Internazionale outclassed Juventus on Sunday night in a 2-0 victory to strike a significant blow in the title raceIt was a weekend that promised fireworks. Lazio against Roma on Friday night, and Inter hosting Juventus on Sunday: a derby that defines Italy’s capital city, leading into a game that has long been billed as the Derby d’Italia – a derby for all of Italy. Related: Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend action Vidal accidentally kissed the Juventus badge before kick off pic.twitter.com/VduftSgVN4 Related: Messi sent off as Athletic Bilbao sink Barcelona to win Spanish Super Cup Continue reading...
Midfielder has returned on loan to the club where he made his Serie A debut, and showing Internazionale what they’re missingAfter watching his Internazionale team throw away a two-goal lead against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, Antonio Conte lamented a shortage of top-level experience in his playing squad. “Who am I supposed to call on?” he demanded. “Nicolò Barella, who came here from Cagliari? [Stefano] Sensi, who we signed from Sassuolo?”These were unworthy remarks from a manager whose club splurged more than €150m on transfer fees in the summer window, delivering him several of the players he wanted most. Barella had been one of Conte’s top priorities. Sensi was Inter’s stand-out performer through the first two months...
José Mourinho’s dig at Antonio Conte has diverted attention from the FA Cup final’s pivotal confrontation in which Chelsea’s midfield could be overrun by Manchester United“I’m not,” José Mourinho said after Manchester United’s home win over Liverpool in March, “the kind of mechanic coach that says player A pass to player B, player B pass to player C and player C to player D. I’m much more a supporter of preparing the players to decide well and feel the game.”As so often with Mourinho, there was perhaps a coded jibe; this may have been (it’s very hard to know for sure with a man whose every utterance is subjected to intense scrutiny) another sortie in his protracted war of words...
A Cup triumph used to really matter but Roberto Mancini and Louis van Gaal were sacked regardless and Chelsea’s manager seems set to go whatever happens at Wembley“I didn’t bring the magic, it’s always been here,” Bob Stokoe said modestly after second division Sunderland had toppled mighty Leeds United in the 1973 FA Cup final. “I just came back to find it.”Everyone knows what Stokoe said because the words are inscribed on the plinth of his statue outside the Stadium of Light. That is how big a deal winning the FA Cup used to be. When Stokoe died in 2004 there was never any doubt about the image that would be used to commemorate the club’s greatest post-war success. Opinion...