Team Focus: Mancini Hoping for Perfect Start on Inter Return in Milan Derby

Sulley Muntari is developing a reputation for, if not underestimating his opponent, perhaps taking them a little too lightly. Remember last season, for instance, when he told Il Corriere della Sera before the draw for the last 16 of the Champions League: “I hope we get Atletico Madrid. On paper they’re the weakest.” Atleti were unbeaten in the group stages, would knock Milan out, reach the final and improbably win La Liga for the first time in 16 years.

Talking to the Milan Channel this time ahead of Sunday’s Derby della Madonnina, Muntari downplayed the impact of a new manager bounce at Inter following the sacking of Walter Mazzarri and return of Roberto Mancini. “He’s a great coach,” the midfielder explained, “and he has done well wherever he has worked. He’ll do his bit, but at the end of the day he won’t be out there on the pitch. It all depends on the players.” Milan fans must hope that Muntari’s comment doesn’t come back to haunt him. Still there is an element of truth to what he said.

The suspicion with Inter is that, while Mazzarri and his tactics held the team back, their issues extended beyond him. The players’ character has been questioned. And with the exception of the Napoli game when Inter twice fell behind but fought back to claim a draw, they have folded when things have gone against them. Lip readers caught Mazzarri saying: “We’ve got no balls” during the 4-1 defeat to Cagliari. Too often his players’ would make inexplicable mistakes like Fredy Guarin’s back-pass away to Livorno last season, which threw away a precious win and gifted their relegation bound opponents a draw.

“It’s like they’re doing the opposite of what I ask them,” Mazzarri murmured as Inter were held by Bologna in April, another team destined for Serie B. And they weren’t doing it pointedly either. They just couldn’t follow instructions. It’s revealing, is it not, that more or less all the players were behind Mazzarri and still were at the time of his dismissal. Unlike the fans they didn’t blame him. They felt complicit themselves too. To add a layer of perspective to this argument, consider this: Inter are third in Serie A for errors leading to a goal [4] behind bottom of the table Parma [7] and Verona [5]. The vastly experienced summer signing Nemanja Vidic has certainly been most culpable.

Key players have been out of form too, no more so than Rodrigo Palacio, their top scorer in each of the last two seasons with 41 goals in all competitions. Yet to get over Argentina’s defeat in the World Cup final when he missed a presentable chance, he is still without a goal in 743 minutes of play this season, blowing a penalty and hitting the woodwork against Atalanta before skying a chance at Parma. Dani Osvaldo’s absence through injury hasn’t helped either; 13 of Inter’s 17 goals have been scored while he has been on the pitch. And so with one partner a shadow of his former self and the other in the infirmary, a lot of the goalscoring burden has fallen on Mauro Icardi, who went into the international break looking shattered.

Changing Inter’s mentality, the in-game casualness, lapses in concentration, poor decision-making, recovering the injured and rebuilding confidence is arguably the greatest immediate series of problems facing Mancini. The shock experienced at the course of action taken by the club, serving as a wake up call, and the need to impress the new manager should at least make Inter’s players more alert in the short-term.

The other predicament Mancini has to contend with is the composition of the squad. It has been built to play a particular system: the Mazzarri 3-5-2. But is this particular dilemma a false one? As Mancini said at his unveiling, he has played three-at-the-back before at Man City [the players were uncomfortable] and at Galatasaray, so he could resort to it. Owner Erick Thohir has never made a secret of his wish that the team play a back-four though and, from his first training sessions, Mancini seems that way inclined.

One of the major disappointments with Mazzarri is that he never started in a formation other than his 3-5-2 or a subtle variation of it. He would change in-game to a back-four but it was almost always a sign of desperation in a complicated situation when Inter were chasing a game, like in the 2-0 defeat to Parma. It was so ad hoc he never really gave it a chance. And that is perhaps because Mazzarri’s game-plan and successes in the past have been driven by wing-backs like Christian Maggio and Juan Camilo Zuniga at Napoli and Jonathan and Yuto Nagatomo at Inter.

Injuries to them, and one of their back-ups Danilo D’Ambrosio, really put a spanner in the works for Mazzarri this season. And it’s a situation Mancini will find hard to resolve because none are natural full-backs at ease in a four-man defence. If you were wondering, that’s exactly why Roma sold Dodo to Inter this summer. He’s a wing-back, not a full-back and so didn’t fit in Rudi Garcia’s 4-3-3.

Another puzzle for Mancini to solve is Inter’s build-up play. If you were to only read the statistics, you could be forgiven for thinking they were performing well. They’ve attempted the most through balls per game [4] and get more crosses into the box than anyone else [26]. Only Juventus [19.3/158] and Napoli [17.2/154] have recorded more shots per game and created more than Inter [17/150]. However, quantity hasn’t always translated into quality. Just 13 of those chances can be classified as ‘clear-cut’. Inter rank eighth in Serie A in that regard.

A reason for this is how slow they have been in getting their act together going forward, which has allowed opponents to get organised and make it difficult for Inter to break them down. Midfielder Gary Medel is making more touches per 90 minutes [93.1] than any other Inter player. He isn’t a deep-lying playmaker. Too often he picks a sideways pass instead of a forward one. Then there’s Mateo Kovacic. Inter’s No.10 does have the vision to make a killer pass but often holds onto the ball too long. He makes the most dribbles per game [3.9] on the second highest dribbling team in Serie A [10.8 per game]. Kovacic needs to release it quicker. Crucially though he also needs his teammates to move and open up spaces.

This is what Mancini has principally been working on since his appointment and the return of Inter’s core players from international duty: the fast circulation of the ball from back to front in as few as three passes. He’s seeking to make Inter less ponderous and more purposeful, more direct. He’s also ringing the changes. Vidic looks likely to be dropped as Inter move to a back-four. Medel’s place seems at risk too with Yann M’Vila and even Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s characteristics being more suited to what Mancini expects from a central midfielder. Guarin also appears set to return to prominence because he can add kilometers and drive in the middle. Meanwhile Kovacic could be pushed further forward behind Icardi and Osvaldo or Palacio in the 4-3-1-2 that Mancini has in mind. Either that or Palacio might float in that zone. Then it’s up to them to channel the newfound enthusiasm generated by Mancini’s return.

“I don’t have a magic wand,” Mancini said. “We have to get back to winning ways through work and write another great story.” Where better to start, in that case, than against Milan. Wouldn’t that be some opening to his second act at Inter?

Who will come out on top in the Milan derby this weekend and what did you make of Inter's decision to reappoint Mancini? Let us know in the comments below