In Inter's Defence
Tuesday, 27 February 07, 04:35 PM · Comments(7)
So apparently now Italian fans are claiming that Serie A is too weak. Evidentally the ONLY reason why Inter is dominating is because they are surrounded by overachieving mediocrity (Empoli, Palermo, Catania) and underachieving pedigree (Milan, Roma, Fiorentina). Inter are actually garbage, they are the evil incarnate who need to be put in their place by the return of erstwhile hero, ex-public enemy number one and conquering usurper Juventus. (sic)
This thought pattern can surely be attributed to the notoriously fickle Italian psyche - or is it a deeper malaise ? Was it not Juventus who were recently excommunicated from Serie A with relegation to the second division, roundly abused by everyone for being on the favourable end of decisions and all-round puppetry engineered by that modern day machiavellian devil in chief - Luciano Moggi ? Was Juventus not the same team that were stripped of their ill-gotten gains, one of which, the 2006 Serie A title, was then awarded to Inter. Was not Inter, riding on the crest of a wave of positive public opinion and support, coupled with an all conquering team displaying mindboggling consistency supposed to herald in a new era of transparency and competitiveness in Serie A ?
Why this sudden change in opinion ?
If anything, Inter should be lauded for keeping their heads, moulding together so many talents and superstars into one cohesive unit that has refused to blink when put in the spotlight, and blazed a trail of glory while running away with the Scudetto. If ever there was an example of all round domestic excellence - this year's imperious display by Inter is surely the best case. Why the need to compromise and discount such an achievement ?
Okay so Juventus was not there - big deal. Juventus did not deserve to be there to begin with. In any case, the same reason why they were thrown out, is probably why they seemed to beat Inter in the past - they cheated. End of story. So if anything, these remarks basically mean "Inter are rubbish, they haven't beaten a Juventus team that cheated over them in the past".
So Inter have to beat Juventus while the latter own the referees and replays. Don't make me laugh.
What of Milan, their crosstown rivals and fellow chequebook cowboys ? Milan's response has been effete, inconsistent and jaded. That's not Inter's fault. When the two teams met, Inter raced to a 4 - 1 lead before Milan made the margin respectable (Milan still lost 4 - 3 ). Inter dominated the better part of that match. Even without the points deduction (for that same reason - cheating), Milan are counties behind Inter.
What of Roma, whom Inter have beaten and left behind in their dust ?
So, Valencia held Inter. Big deal. Valencia play in a tougher league and are actually not too bad themselves. Plus, they took their chances off plucky set-pieces. On another day Valencia could have played the same and lost 2 - 0 (or 4 - 0 for that matter). Inter mostly dominated that match. Inter's opponents have the advantage of playing slightly tougher opponents week in, week out. Despite this, they were second best to a clearly superior Inter side. Valencia are made to cause teams like Inter problems with their dogged, reactive approach. Celta beat Valencia, does that make them better than Inter ? Absolutely not. I had written before how Valencia may be Inter's toughest opponents so far - and that match proved it. Yet it does not take anything away from the Nerrazzuri.
There's an oddly Byzantine hypocrisy that pervades the mentality of the average fan, that seems to despise Inter and put them down. Barely a year after lauding the coup that deposed Juventus, they are grumbling about the successor. Serie A fans should sit back and enjoy Inter's games - they've never had it so good. Let Juventus come up next year, the arrival of the likes of Zdenek Grygera and Hasan Salihamdzic shouldn't trouble this Inter side.
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I couldn't agree more with you Arjun and Gabriele. Inter is doing a terrific season this year and deserves to be there on top of the league.
I don't completely agree with everyone saying that this is an easier Serie A. With Juventus absence and penalizations, all teams started the season with new horizons and stronger will of showing what they were capable of.
Fiorentina, for example, started with A REAL massive deduction they are there, aimina at the 4th place!
Let's face it: ACMilan got it completely wrong this year, and as an Inter fan I experienced this feeling too many times. The difference between US and THEM is that we always blamed our team, players, manager, president...
I know it's hard to lose, but we did it better!
"Serie A is definitely weaker without Juventus"
I don't think so.
Without Juventus Serie A's just cleaner.
I can't disagree Gabriele! But what was the points penalty at the start of the season? Wasn't it more, and then it got reduced?
No SM, AC Milan had 15 points penalty in July, then 8 at the start of the season, then judgement of third instance confirmed the 8 points. AC Milan is the only penalized team having the same penalty as it was at the beginning of Serie A
I stand corrected.
They should not have been allowed to enter Europe though.
7 Comments · Add yours
I'm not an Inter hater, and I always have a soft spot for them, especially because they were kind of like the Arsenal of Italy, with Juventus and Milan getting all the success and decisions, etc, but I tend to agree to quite an extent that the whole cheating fiaso has helped them a lot.
Serie A is definitely weaker without Juventus, and at Milan, let's face it when you start the season with a massive points deduction whihc gives you no realistic hope of the title, and you have a group of players there who are used to challenging for the title, aspirations of mid-table are not really very enticing. that's why i think they've done better in europe.
inter have a fantastic squad, but without juve, and with an umotivated milan, things are easier. i'd feel that things are a bit easier for inter as well, because the pressure of having those two challenging is also not there - the serious challengers this time were roma and palermo and both couldn't really have been expected to go the distance.
Well, I am an Inter fan, but objectively I'd say that:
-AC Milan penalization imho is not so massive, 8 points in a 38 matches League
-AC Milan before the beginning of the season was very ambitious. Their CEO, Adriano Galliani, said in an interview "Within Christmas we'll bridge the gap we have with Inter", and all Milan fans agreed with him.
-in the past, when Inter spent an incredible amount of money to fortify its squad, and at the end they arrived 3rd or 4th behind Milan and Juve, nobody (rightly) said Serie A was weaker because of Inter's failure. Now Milan has failed (22 points less than Inter, not considering the penalization), and everybody say the League is weaker. Of course, especialy media owned by Berlusconi.