Inter 2-1 Lille: both sides poor, and vulnerable in different ways
The starting line-ups
Inter overcame Lille in a match lacking in quality.
Claudio Ranieri stuck with the 4-3-1-2 he used in the weekend defeat to Juventus, but there were changes in defence, midfield and attack. Walter Samuel, Thiago Motta and Diego Milito all returned.
Rudi Garcia played a flexible 4-2-3-1 that changed throughout the game, and seemed to become a 4-4-2 in the second half. In the first half, Joe Cole started centrally but drifted to the right, Eden Hazard was on the left and Moussa Sow was a right-sided forward.
Inter created chances without playing particularly well, whilst Lille frequently got into promising positions on the flanks but failed to turn these situations into goals.
Lille weaknesses
Early on, Lille were extremely vulnerable to balls being hit over their defence for Diego Milito to run onto – the Argentine hit the bar through this approach after a couple of minutes, and a similar ball was played to him soon after. Mauro Zarate also tried to get on the end of a ball from this approach, though Mickael Landreau started to sweep rather more keenly after the first few minutes.
Lille were also sometimes unable to deal with Inter’s full-backs getting forward. With a 3 v 4 disadvantage in the centre of midfield, Hazard and Sow were brought inside to help out, leaving Javier Zanetti and Cristian Chivu free. Zanetti set up the second goal in the second half, with a cross for Milito.
Debuchy free
Inter, in traditional fashion, couldn’t cope with opposition full-backs moving forward. Stephane Lichsteiner exposed them at the weekend in this respect, and Mathieu Debuchy did something similar here. Time and time again, the ball was played out to him, Esteban Cambiasso couldn’t quite get out in time, and Debuchy had time to cross. With Franck Beria at left-back less comfortable on the ball, almost all Lille’s crosses came from the right, as shown below. The majority came from Debuchy, most of which were unsuccessful.
It was a shame that only one Lille full-back was comfortable at crossing – as Schalke showed last year, bringing both forward and constantly switching the play from side to side is very effective against an ageing 4-3-1-2 (and that’s what it was: the oldest Champions League starting XI in history for Inter tonight). Schalke constantly moved the ball laterally across the pitch, which Lille rarely did here.
Lille strategy
Lille could have been a little braver with their positioning, seeking to quickly hit Inter on the break. More of an aggressive 4-2-1-3, for example, might have been a better strategy. Hazard and Sow could have played high up and pinned the full-backs into their own half, looking for balls in behind to run onto. Cole would have been the link man, looking to play slide passes.
It would largely have left defending to six men, but then Inter’s play is predictable, overly dependent upon Sneijder for creativity – and it’s debatable whether his level of performance lives up to his reputation as a creator – and above all, narrow (if you nullify the full-backs). It wouldn’t have been unreasonable to expect six defensive players to cope with Milito, Sneijder and Zarate, plus the sporadic runs from three conservative midfielders.
Lille may have actually dominated possession more than is ideal – by doing so they let Lucio and Walter Samuel retreat to a comfortable position on the edge of their own box. Playing quickly and exposing their lack of pace is probably a more promising approach – it won’t give you much possession, but it should bring chances. (Of course, you need a strategy in possession too – but Lille had that, by playing out to Debuchy.)
Counter-attacking was less of an option when 1-0 down, and to be fair to Lille, their pressing after half time was very good. They got back into the game having replaced three of the four attacking players, and Garcia deserves some praise for seeing that Tulio De Melo was a better target man for crosses than Ireneuz Jelen, but his goal was primarily because of poor defending.
Conclusion
A poor game between two sides struggling for confidence. Lille seemed to have a slightly more cohesive gameplan but couldn’t execute it well enough in the final third, whilst Inter still look exactly what they are – a very old side who have no real ideology, having been coached by five different managers in the last 18 months.
Lille probably won’t qualify, Inter probably will – but it’s difficult to see either side having a real impact upon the tournament.
Inter 2-1 Lille: both sides poor, and vulnerable in different ways
I think Mourinho’s short termism with regards to team building is a major reason for the mess Inter are currently in.
That’s the price they gonna pay for instant success
I think a bigger problem has been the choices for Mourinho’s replacements, all of whom tried to instill a completely different style to what Mourinho had set up. In Serie A, Mourinho’s Inter dominated possession but kept their play simple and efficient, meanwhile they mainly counter-attacked in the CL. Benitez tried turning Inter into Barcelona, which only worked when the opposition was a defensive mess. Leonardo threw as many players as possible forward with a complete disregard for defensive stability (I blame that approach for Inter’s current defensive woes, Inter no longer know how to keep teams out when they push up). Gasperini attempted an even more radical change which left acres of space for opposing teams to exploit.
Ranieri is trying to head back to Mourinho’s Inter, defensively stable first and foremost, then he can worry about how the attack functions. So far, I’d say he’s doing a very good job, who could imagine this result, where the only goal conceded was a result of a momentary lapse (as opposed to disordered chaos), under Gasperini or Leonardo?
Ever since Mourinho left, I’ve been wanting Dunga for Inter, this crisis caused by attack-minded managers (and the ressurection under a very cautious one) probably wouldn’t have happened had Mourinho been initially replaced by someone who cares as much about defence as Mourinho. Not to say Benitez goes for reckless attack, he just wanted a different Inter than what his squad offered.
My views, as an Inter fan… sorry for the long post. =)
The coach’s succession has been unfortunate but the big problem isn’t that: it’s the squad, at a fundamental level. It’s EOL and has main key deficits.
Accusing Mourinho of short-termism is unfair, in that sense he’s actually been a godsend as he’s been able to be the catalyzer to get us to the most complete success before it was too late.
The core squad Mourinho had at his disposal before the triplete season was already nearing the end of its cycle, which started around 2003/04.
That group had matured during the years and served us very well, winning lots of domestic silverware.
It had many qualities, but also some key chronical issue:
- we didn’t have a trusted playmaking central midfielder to partner Cambiasso since the departure of Veron in 2006, and the subsequent failure of Pizarro (we also never found a truly reliable holding midfielder to back up Cambiasso)
- we were never able to address the shortage of good wingers and wide midfielders, trying a pletora of names that were all short lived (Kily Gonzales, Van Der Meyde, Solari, Cesar, the ageing Figo, then Quaresma and Mancini under Mou)
- we also lacked a good quality pure leftback (apart from Grosso and Maxwell that didn’t last long and weren’t that good to begin with), and a “libero” style CB with good ball distribution (we had only Materazzi for that and he was declining after the WC)
With those limits, prior to Mourinho we never were able to step up our game (both in tactics and determination) to compete at the top of european football.
Still, the core was very solid, lots of powerful, intelligent and focused players at the top of their game, many very good strikers… so in the end we were able to brute-force dominate the league for long.
In the triplete year, thanks to Barca going crazy for Ibra, we were able to address all that in a magical swoop.
We got an on fire Milito to replace Ibra, Sneijder as the perfect trequartista, Eto’o and Pandev crucially working their ass out as makeshift wingers, Motta to assist Cambiasso, and Lucio to partner Samuel, with Chivu/Zanetti freed to fill in as makeshift left backs.
It all clicked marvelously, lit by Mou’s determination, and it ended up being the perfect swan song for an hugely successful cycle.
Because, make no mistake, it was clear that it was a swan song.
The core squad was getting past due date, and the additions that were able to step up the whole game could not be counted on to be much stable, with the exception of Sneijder.
Milito, it was clear that the triplete season was his apex. Lucio was old. Motta had been plagued by injuries for his whole career. The second lines in midfield were just half decent (Muntari, Mariga…)
And most importantly, the signature 4231 that we played so effectively in the second half of the season could not be sustained, because it crucially depended on Eto’o and Pandev sacrificing themselves in unnatural roles, and we had no backup at all for them.
It could work for 4 months, but not any longer.
I think Mourinho knew that very clearly, and also knew that the club was somewhat in denial, both for enthusiasm and lack of further funding commitment. So he was eager to flee in style.
What happened after that, it is the club’s responsibility.
Benitez blended very badly with Inter’s environment, but he too had clear the squad limitations and asked for Mascherano and Kujt, at the very least, to address part of that. He got Coutinho and Biabiany.
After that, the club has kept crying misery, but in reality has mostly wasted valuable funds on either third rate players, or decent players with the wrong characteristics.
And they ended up selling Eto’o which was the n°1 reason that enabled us to stay afloat and compete up until spring last season.
End results, now we have a squad that has all the flaws listed above, just like 3-4 years ago, with the same core that is now too old, tired and well fed to make up for that.
I’m quite scared for the future…
It’s very long but also a strong opinion, i like your comment
Santon, Balotelli, obi, nwankow, faraoni, cristieg, caldirola, biraghi and alibec.
Also, “Mourinho’s short termism with regards to team building” – You do realise the Chelsea team he assembled 6 years ago are still competing for titles? with the core of the team still in tact?
Re Chelsea – not for long tho! The grandads are out to pasture soon.
Mourinho has been gone for over 5 years though now. Can’t blame Mourinho for lack of change once he left. The first thing he did with Real Madrid transfers were bring in Ozil, Di Maria, and to round out some spanish talent Canales and Pedro Leon. You can’t say he only thinks short term for squad building.
And how sorry do you feel for Canales and Pedro Leon, bought by giants and never given a chance?
One the one hand if I were them I would never have gone to Madrid, but on the other hand the practice of hooverng up all the good players and then only letting them leave on loan with shitting-oneself clauses attached, or on sales with “buyback” caveats (which should clearly be illegal) attached is nothing short of despicable.
Mike, what does that list of of youngsters have to do with Mourinho?
They’re all ex-primavera that got the routine promotion to be tried in the first team, without any Mourinho direct involvement (and Faraoni was even bought after Mou’s departure).
And if anything, the only one who actually debuted in Serie A under Mourinho, Santon, ended up being burned in the process.
I don’t think it’s fair to criticize Mourinho for short-termism at Inter, but those names mean nothing in that regard.
what the heck? didn’t mourinho win everything with inter?
you can’t blame short termism leading to victories everywhere dude…
What? If Inter wanted to build a team for the future they would’ve kept Mancini. They wanted instant European success and Mourinho got it. Not his fault with their failure in the transfer market and appointment of managers afterwards.
What the “Short termism” of Mourinho. Don’t blame it on him. Chelsea still one of the big four club. I don’t like fool comment like this.
I more agree with Awahs opinion.
Inter – The partnership at the back seemed more assured today, with lucio and samuel having played many games together. But Lucio’s lack of pace still caused him problems and he was lucky lille were slow in building up attacks. Samuel had a good game today though, scoring a goal and dealing with every ball into the box, a game made for him. Zanetti pulled back the years to charge up and down the right wing, getting a very good assist and taking advantage of hazard not tracking back. Chivu didnt have as much a impact, having to deal with sow and cole and debuchy down the right.
Motta had a okay game, keeping his position well (a problem for inter the other day) and making simple but key passes to help inter compete in the middle.
Cambiasso played well, helping chivu down the left and breaking up play. His passing was poor though when he should have kept possession with simple balls, and i would have liked to see him burst forward a few times to overload lille in attack. Stankovic was poor, his passing was poor, didnt get forward at all enough, and created little chances for his team mates.
Sneijder played well, a constant threat to lille and inters most dangerous player with his direct dribbling, but he played too deep today, having to play as the link man (due to the midfield being to conservative) he needed to be nearer goal and linking with the forwards. Milito played well, providing a direct attacking option, and holding up the ball well. Zarate made some good runs today as well, playing off milito and he looked a threat when he got on the ball.
Overall, Inter needed to be more adventurous in midfield to get sneijder involved in the game higher up the pitch.
What I saw (as an Inter fan, I’ll focus a lot more on Inter’s side of things):
-Motta sitting very deep, usually a sign of wanting to keep possession, in this case I think it was as a reaction to the space left against Juve’s midfield. Lille never got a run at Inter’s centre-backs, as Motta was always there. I guess Cambiasso, while far better than Motta in that role, was played on the left for his energy (plus he went up against Lille’s flair players more often than Motta). We’ll see how the situation with those two develops throughout the season.
-At times, Zarate was leading the line and Milito was the second striker, probably for the former’s pace.
-While ZM likely disagrees, I never saw Inter looking uncomfortable. Lille had plenty of possession, but Inter seemed quite happy to let them keep the ball knowing Lille were unlikely to trouble them. Lille’s chances came from long range shots and deep crosses (that Lucio and Samuel are always going to win). While not as perfect as Mourinho’s Inter against Bayern or Barcelona (absolute domination without keeping possession, and lethal whenever they did have the ball), not even close, but there was a sense of confidence among the defenders.
-4312, while it can be narrow and lacking in creativity, seems like the best “get back on track” formation, this was evident today. Lucio and Samuel at centre-back are likely to win all arial battles, so the freedom of Debuchy never seemed like much of a concern. With Cambiasso, Motta, and Stankovic sitting deep, Lille struggled to attack.
I fully expect Ranieri to switch to a 4-3-3ish shape once Inter’s defence sorts itself out.
I think motta and cambiasso work in deep midfield, they match eachover quite well. I just dont thinks stankovic was the right choice, they needed more creativity and threat from midfield – maybe sneijder play deeper in a midfield 3? Would mean less secure defensively, but cambiasso and motta can cope i think.
Zarate had a good game, making runs in behind, while milito created space by dropping deep, this could be a useful partnership.
And i agree, samuel in particular dealt with any ball into the box, it was a shame lille didnt try to get hazard and sow in behind more.
I think the main problem was the conservative midfield, which meant sneijder had to drop deeper to link play, and away from goal. Either Inter play a 3 man midfield with sniejder included. OR play a more attack minded CM, and allow sneijder to play closer to goal where he can be a real threat.
Lille – Chedjou got caught out by milito and zarate making runs in behind, his concentration was pretty bad throughout and his mistakes led to most of the chances. Beria provided nothing down the left flank attacking wise, when he had no direct opponent (zarate would have had to track back, wasnt gonna happen) and didnt really help defend that well either. Debuchy had a great game, getting forward really well, and was Lille’s best player.
Mavuba did a good job on sneijder, keeping him from creating chances by pressuring him throughout the game. Pedretti helped lille control the game and he created some good chances from deep.
Cole was took up good positions helping overload the right flank, but he created little, lacking the passing skills to open up Inter. ZM had a good point with sow and hazard having a much better game if they had played higher up the pitch where there pace could have really effected Inter. Sow especially, as he lacks the build up play on the right to play that deep. Jelen was isolated and dominated by samuel today. He contirbuted little in attack and won nothing in the air really.
Overall, Lille could have fielded hazard and sow higher up the pitch and caused problems with there pace, but instead played too deep. This didnt help sow as he lacked the skill to dribble past defenders.
It was surprising how little Hazard saw of the ball, even if he wasn’t playing higher up the pitch. Lille seemed confused in the final third, trying to cross in balls with one forward trying to beat Samuel and Lucio. I think if Lille had focused on keeping the ball on the ground and playing through Hazard more centrally they would have generated more shots and at least kept some possession in a dangerous area of the field. When Inter aren’t cohesive defensively, the recklessness of their defenders is usually realized, more guile in the final third could’ve exploited this.
Actually, if Lille beat CSKA and Trab’, they will qualify. Judging from the precedent match, It’s do-able. I think they will qualify.
i think garcia got it wrong, either you play your classic 433 with one pacey striker (sow) or you put a statement and want to dominate possession and territory with de melo and 3 offensive midfielders able to create danger but you can’t do both like garcia tried
i think he got scared of lucio and samuel, that’s why he put two pacey strikers and pedretti for the long balls
he also did not put balmont on the field, looks like even garcia underrates him because he’s key to their rythmn and fluidity
i would have played my second option with de melo, hazard, cole, payet/obraniak and balmont for a higher rythmn and fluidity instead of pedretti’s long balls on counter attacks
BTW i didn’t watch the game or read ZM’s post so i’m just guessing right now, give me 5 minutes to see if i’m not repeating ZM’s stuff or else
Balmont was injured, that’s the reason why
EDIT/ Wrong post
I think we will start seeing Motta in the role in front of the defense more often. With Sneijder on the field, Motta will never really be in a trequartista role; he also is not cut out for the LCM and RCM roles due to his lack of mobility. Cambiasso has that range of movement, and we saw that he would both assist attack and come back to help the defense. Stankovic had the highest offensive workrate in the midfield and tracked back the least. When Alvarez came on, the formation was a 4-4-2 (which is Ranieri’s preferred formation) with a very narrow left midfielder (Cambiasso). This may not have been the best course of action, but the lack of a genuine winger in the squad gives Ranieri no choice.
I think the January transfer window will be busy; I think Moratti has figured out that he cannot appoint a coach and not support his project. Two players should be added that are comfortable hugging the touch line and marking opposing fullbacks so that Inter is not so inherently narrow. Also, hopefully Andrea Poli will be that driving creative midfielder that we seem to lack at the moment.
“I think the January transfer window will be busy; I think Moratti has figured out that he cannot appoint a coach and not support his project.”
Right, because Inter hasn’t bought an entire team’s worth of players in the recent past or anything: Viviano, Jonathan, Nagatomo, Ranocchia, Alvarez, Poli, Forlan, Zarate, Pazzini just this calendar year…
Actually Inter do have a lot of talent, and I still think it will take some time to figure out.
Idea 1 – Why doesn’t Inter try to move Sneijder to pair with Milto or Pazz. Then they could have four Mids, Motta and Cambo in the middle and used Alvarez on one wing and maybe even Micon on the other wing, with or could interchain with a fullback rotation of Zanetti, Nagu, Micon
Idea 2 – 2 Mids, Cambo & Motta 3 Attacking Mids – Zarate, Sneijder, Alvarez; 1 Forward – Milto/Pazz – of course this probably wouldn’t be the best defensive line-up, it probably would be able to outscore most teams.
I think that’s a version of what Ranieri is going after, he just needs to be sure he can trust the defence to hold up (for now, they can’t, the bulk of his work is going into fixing that).
Eventually, I think there will be a switch to a 4-2-3-1, Zanetti/Cambiasso/Motta/Poli will be rotated in the midfield 2, Sneijder/Alvarez/Coutinho/Forlan rotating for the CAM role, Zarate/Coutinho/Alvarez for the wide roles, and Pazzini/Milito/Forlan/Castaignos for the CF role. Right now, that’s too many creative players and not enough functional players, Inter struggle enough to defend with just three creative players, add a fourth and there will be problems.
Inter should try andrea poli in midfield for a change.
Yeah but he’s been injured since the summer, with two different muscular issues. If everything goes right he should finally be available in a week or two.
There are few minor problem for Inter:
* They are aging.
* YET, their defenders are bombing forward (Maicon, Nagatomo, Lucio) and dont have the legs to track back.
* CM is sincere. But no legs to shield the defence.
My fantasy suggestion is too keep Zanetti as RB and Cambiasso as LB. A flat 4. Zanetti for perfect this game, didnt venture forward much, kept the opp wingers checked. I reckon Cambiasso can do same. Motta can be a CDM, again deep lying.
Then have Maicon and Nagatomo as 2 wingers who can bomb forward from wing, without any direct defensive responsibilities. Sneijder plays in his Sneijder position. And Pazzini/Milito as target man, with hope that they convert half-baked chances falling into them. Zarate/Obi can occupy the remaining position.
Zanetti—Lucio—Samuel—Cambiasso
————-Motta——————
Maicon———————-Nagatomo
———Sneijder——————-
——————Zarate————
————-Pazzini—————-
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A look at Inter’s choices regarding the defense taking in consideration their current form as well suggests that the team cannot play a high line. In a simplistic way of thinking that would mean that the forwards should not stay too high and should all drop deeper to move the ball towards the opposite side of the pitch. So why not use Sneijder just off the center forward? In addition to that why not use Forlan as the CF since he’s more than capable of dropping deep himself?
That leaves us with a 4-2-2-2 formation with
1) a back four of Maicon-Lucio-Samuel-Nagatomo and
2) a front two of Sneijder(fixed position)/Forlan(with rotation)
Midfield is another beast altogether. Since age is the limiting factor of this team I’d say go for passing accuracy/calmness in possession/positional awareness with the two guys in front of defense, so
3) a rotation apparently among Motta/Cambiasso/Stankovic/Poli(not old) would be fit
That leaves us with the best two candidates for the remaining two positions and they are
4) Alvarez and Coutinho
Of course this formation could not by any means serve as a panacea for Inter but hopefully it would provide the team with:
1) Control of the midfield
2) Width provided by the fullbacks
3) Four players upfront with energy and penetrative skills along with fluid movement (if given time)
4) More than one focal points during the attacking phase
http://opitacoboleiristico.wordpress.com/2011/11/05/no-ponto/
About Newcastle’s stunning campaing in 2011/12 Premier League by now.
It’s in portuguese.
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