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 were held at home, but Lazio failed to capitalise in the Rome derby before Juve were rocked in NaplesOn his first weekend playing in Serie A, Ashley Young brought Inter back within touching distance of league leaders Juventus. OK, maybe that’s oversimplifying things a smidge. There were twists and turns galore on a weekend when the top four sides picked up three points between them, scoring fewer goals collectively than Atalanta managed on their own.Still, let’s begin with Young, and Inter. They were first to act in the title race, with a Sunday lunchtime kick-off at home to Cagliari. It felt like an opportunity to put pressure on Juventus and Lazio before they played at Napoli and Roma, respectively,...
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...
Away games against Milan are a daunting prospect at the best of times, let alone when you’re stuck in the middle of a protestIt began like so many other Saturdays at Cagliari’s practice facility, the manager Rolando Maran coming in from training to update reporters on the injuries and fitness concerns affecting his first-team squad. It took a turn towards atypical shortly afterwards, as players lined up in the street to kick over milk churns and spill their contents into the road.This was not on the schedule. After speaking to the press, Maran was supposed to board the team bus with his players and head to the airport for a flight to Milan – where they would play the following...
A penalty awarded against Juventus at home in the opening game was just what the VAR was supposed to pick up – but a referee whistling too soon at Bologna proved costly for TorinoIt used to be that a new Serie A season would provide us with a fresh round of discorsi da bar – football talking points to get worked up about over a beer or Monday morning espresso. This year, things went in a different direction. When the final whistles had blown and Giorgia Cardinaletti welcomed us back to Rai 2’s long-running highlights show, Domenica Sportiva, she and her studio guests instead dived straight into discorsi da VAR.Yes, this was the weekend when Italian football fans received their...