Calcio Debate: Inter Must Win Serie A; A Milan Scudetto Would Make Italian Football A Laughing Stock
So we finally seem to have a title race. The one thing we’ve all been bemoaning the lack of since the pre-Calciopoli years (sorry Roma fans, but 2008 doesn’t count, and I’ll explain why later). The key element which this very columnist said was the only thing missing from an otherwise excellent season of domestic football in Italy last time around has suddenly been added to the landscape with two months of the season left. Surely we’re all on the edges of our seats now, right? Well, maybe not.
This should be a time when everybody is breaking down the final 10 games for the Milanese giants, trying to fathom exactly where either of the sides may drop points. It should be a moment during which the papers are ready to run features on the key superstars who could swing it this way or that between now and May 16. The problem is, it’s anything but that right now.
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Instead we have a team who, with some justification, have been vilified and ridiculed in equal measure at times this season sitting just a single point away from the summit. A club so riddled with problems that ugly, unconvincing home victories against struggling opponents are heralded as amazing feats of fortitude and endeavour in a bid to cover up the countless cracks which are widely evident to all who glance at them for more than two seconds. Either that or such performances are held up as supposed proof of a serious title challenge, which this simply is not.
I just cannot get excited about the prospect of this Milan side lifting the Scudetto come the season’s end, as much as the Italian game needs someone other than Inter to win it sometime very soon. With Alessandro Nesta out for the remainder of the season, the Rossoneri are left with one of the most appalling defences ever fielded by one of the top three Italian clubs. They have a multitude of full-backs, but none of them are of any use, and with Thiago Silva looking increasingly unable to lead the defence in Sandrino’s absence, there are huge gaps on show in every Milan defensive performance these days.
And I’ve not even started on the Diavolo’s midfield and attack yet… In summary: Gattuso’s legs have gone, Ambrosini only puts in great shifts in fits and starts, and Pirlo has been strolling through too many games of late and needs to either play higher up, where he could cause more damage, or not at all if there is to be an injection of pace from midfield. Oh, and Clarence Seedorf is a subject I’ll save for a rainy day… I don’t have the column inches to start that topic here!
Andrea Pirlo | Not one of his better seasons
Ahead of them are Borriello, who, to borrow from Goal.com’s Carlo Garganese, turns slower than a World War I tank, Ronaldinho, upon whom Milan rely far too much and who doesn’t produce with anywhere near the consistency he once did, and Pato, who, to be fair, has played well when he’s been fit, but needs to start more centrally to produce his best.
So they have a raft of poor goalkeepers, having released the one shot stopper – Marco Storari – who has produced a string of good performances this season, a frankly rubbish defence, a lethargic midfield, and an increasingly predictable attack which relies on the genius of Ronaldinho and Pato week after week. This side’s current placing is amongst the biggest black marks against Italian football on the field in a number of years. At least when Inter made a non-event of the 2006-07 campaign by chalking up 97 points at a canter, it was a good side that lifted the trophy at the end of the season. An awful start by Roma and an utterly laughable Juventus decline (sorry Bianconeri followers, but it’s true) have left this Rossoneri side as Inter’s closest challengers. Last Wednesday the whole of Europe got to see just how poor the Diavolo are, and yet they could be crowned Italy’s best come May. Has Serie A really gotten that bad? Or is it football in general which has fallen below the mark of late?
Now that Inter are going through their worst run since this time two years ago, their city rivals have suddenly become pretenders to the throne… at least on paper. In February and March 2008 the Nerazzurri picked up only two wins in eight, allowing Roma to gain ground momentarily, before eventually clinching the title in the last half-hour of the season away to Parma. But that was never really a title race. For one, Roma gained ground very late in the day. And also, that run-in was all about Inter’s failures rather than any great success from the capital club.
There is a fairly similar look about the Scudetto right now, with the champions having won only one in six since February 7 and facing a difficult trip to Palermo at the weekend. But how much their poor form is down to injuries, suspensions, Jose Mourinho’s touchline ban, their Champions League participation or Mario Balotelli’s strops is unclear.
What is clear is the need for them to return to their best sooner rather than later. At least that way, if Milan are to pip them to the championship, they’ll have to really earn it. But if the current trend continues and the red and black side of the city is celebrating in 10 games time having stumbled their way past the Nerazzurri, it will be a sad day for Serie A.
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