It was a great performance.

But the team almost always plays well with Barella in the line-up. For me he's more important than Sensi.

 

Dimarco was many people's MoM BTW

I like his play and have done every time I've seen him.

But he is apparently going to Verona on loan as soon as Spinzzaola is signed

 

I wasn't impressed with him before but he certainly showed quality in this match.

 

Barella with 2 assists against his ex club, good crosses. He assisted Lukaku for a headed goal like the Milan derby earlier this season.

Hell yeah. I'm glad you mentioned it. His first game back from injury wasn't great (understandable) but he looks like he's regaining some form quite quickly. Very encouraging.

 

Another Coppa win, this time at the expense of Fiorentina. Glad we got a bit of revenge on them after they drew with us in Serie A earlier this season at the death.

Rather average/uninspired first half til we scored after some quick exchange of passes with the ball landing at Candreva's foot. Started the second half VERY well, should have made it 2 as Lautaro, Alexis, Vecino and Bastoni all had chances only for Viola to equalize. I was like.. here we go again... from 1-0 to 1-1 just like Atalanta, Lecce and Cagliari.

Thankfully Barella had a Verona moment to save us.

Lautaro involved in both our goals. His one touch pass to Vecino leading to the second goal was nice. Quick thinking.

good thing it didn't go to ET, we didn't need that.

 

Barella: 'I don't do easy goals!'

By Football Italia staff

Nicolò Barella joked that he only scores difficult goals, as Inter pushed past Fiorentina 2-1 to set up a Coppa Italia semi-final with Napoli.

The young Italy international scored the winner after Antonio Candreva and Martin Caceres goals, a scorching volley from the edge of the box.

“I tried and it went right into the far bottom corner. I must learn to score easier goals,” smiled Barella on Rai Sport.

“We deserved this victory and the qualification to the Coppa Italia semi-final. We must give more in Serie A, but we’ve also been a little unlucky in some circumstances. There’s time, it’s a long campaign.

“My adventure at Inter is going very well, everyone has faith in me and we are doing something important.”

This evening also saw Christian Eriksen make his debut for Inter after the €20m transfer from Tottenham Hotspur.

“He is world class and will raise the quality level of the whole squad. I hope he can soon make San Siro explode with joy,” concluded Barella.

 

I watched this yesterday, Barella played an amazing game regardless of the goal IMO. You really got an amazing midfield roster now, Barella - Sensi - Brozo - Eriksen - Vecino - Borja Valero - Gagliardini for three spots is very very solid.

 

There's still no really strong DM in there though.

And Brozovic has been a bit patchy this season. He's always fantastic and the start of the season but then drops off in the winter time.

I suppose at least now we have depth.

But the club will likely move for Castrovilli and maybe Tonali in the summer. Although Juve will likely get Tonali

 

You don't necessarily need a super strong DM, though especially playing three in the back.

 

Fair point.

I think the midfield is balanced when Brozo and Sensi aren't physical wrecks and Barella is not injured/suspended. Then we can probably go toe to toe with anyone. But Sensi's injury record is so bad, Brozo never gets any rest and Barella can't always be relied upon.

Hopefully Eriksen becomes Mr. Reliable for us because it's rare the other 3 are all fit, full of energy and not suspended

 

I think we do need a strong dm, someone physical and tough.

In the CL we played 6 matches and conceded 9 goals.

In 2020 we have 0 clean sheets in 6 matches played across Serie A and Coppa Italia. That is not good.

 

COPPA ITALIA, THE SEMI-FINAL DATES: INTER VS. NAPOLI
The first leg will take place at San Siro on 12 February, while the return fixture will be played on Thursday 5 March at the San Paolo

MILAN - Inter's 2-1 victory over Fiorentina saw the Nerazzurri qualify for the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia. Now, a two legged encounter against Napoli awaits.

Antonio Conte's side will take to the San Siro pitch for the first leg at 20:45 CET on Wednesday 12 February. The return fixture at the Stadio San Paolo in Naples will be played at 20:45 CET on Thursday 5 March. The winning side over the two legs will then face either Milan or Juventus in the final.

Due to Inter's involvement in the Coppa Italia, the kick-off time for the Serie A TIM match between Inter and Sassuolo on 8 March has been changed. This fixture will now take place at 15:00 CET instead of 12:30 CET.

COPPA ITALIA SEMI-FINALS

First legs (all times CET)
Wednesday 12 February 2020
20:45 Inter vs. Napoli
Thursday 13 February 2020
20:45 Milan vs. Juventus

Return legs (all times CET)
Wednesday 4 March 2020
20:45 Juventus vs. Milan
Thursday 5 March 2020
20:45 Napoli vs. Inter

---

schedule doesn't look good.

9 Feb:
Milan derby, against a Zlatan inspired Milan side in better form than us in 2020

12 Feb:
Coppa semis first leg v Napoli, big game and Napoli are on the up after wins against Lazio in Coppa and juve in campionato

16 Feb:
Lazio away, obviously a tough game against a team that is having a great season

20 Feb:
Ludogorets away, need a result, at least a scoring draw but ideally a win

Conte will have to rotate smartly while also fielding strong sides in Coppa and EL. Both cups should be taken seriously as imo our chances of winning either is better than winning Serie A. Let's hope we don't pick up injuries and players start recovering, an important period of the season is upcoming.

A new striker being signed today before the deadline is a must. Imagine if Alexis gets another injury, we'd have Lautaro, Lukaku (already fatigued) and Esposito for 2 positions in 3 competitions!

We will need a clean sheet in the home game v Napoli, and we can score there - though come March they will probably have Koulibaly back unlike the 1-3 game which he missed through injury. Would certainly take a 1-0 home win in the first leg.

 

Anyone watching Napoli?

I missed the first 25 mins

 

Typical Coppa game.

Players totally devoid of interest, 2 mph tempo , no energy, no enthusiasm.

Perfectly representative of the Coppa Italia.

 

LOL

Looks like Politano is coming on. He'll probably score.

 

God the passing has been X-rated.

Brozo, Sensi and Barella all in autpilot mode. So many mis-hit passes

 

Zielinski misses a sitter

 

LOL

Has all the intensity of a mid-July friendly in a World Cup year

Allowing the big teams a free pass to the semis hasn't worked

 

Deflected Fabian Ruiz goal

No way we are winning this.

Barella, Lautaro, Lukaku, Brozo all invisible this evening. Probably taking it easy with a view to Lazio on Sunday, which is fair enough

 

75th minute and no clear chances created.

Absolutely incredible.

To be fair Napoli have only had two

 

Ah well that's pretty much the end of the 'Coppa Dream' LOL

Nearly a goal for D'Ambro in the 94th but overall a stunningly awful performance.

Sensi x-rated again.

Brozo a physical wreck.

But it was to be expected.

Nonsense competition, the players are shattered after Milan, and Lazio are up Sunday.

Total waste of time.

 

1-0 isn't too bad. We still have a shot.

 

 

red and his anti Coppa sentiments..

Obviously the club and Conte care about it, and there were 60k in the stands I believe last night. So clearly red is in a tiny minority.

Even juve and Milan tonight fielded pretty much full strength sides in the other semifinal.

Serie A is still long, it won't be decided if Inter win or lose or draw on Sunday but Coppa is much shorter and honestly, I would take a season of finishing second/third and winning Coppa or EL and consider it a good start under Conte.

Anyhow I doubt we will win at San Paolo twice in the same season. And honestly our win there this season was down to Napoli gifts. They didn't give away any last night. Who knows though, let's hope for a Pazza Inter comeback.

Ruiz seems like having a knack of scoring against us. This goal is not the first time Brozovic is exposed, imo a pure dm is a summer priority even if we sign no one else.

While I disagree with red about the Coppa's importance but yeah I agree that aside from the late DD chance, Ospina just had to make routine saves. Our players lacked accuracy/precision. Either the shots were off target (Lautaro a couple of times, Biraghi fk, Eriksen) or straight at Ospina (Brozovic, Lautaro, Lukaku..)

Sucks to lose at home without scoring a goal especially when this Napoli conceded 3 against Lecce a few days ago, but I agree that the timing of this semi right after the derby wasn't good for us at all. Shitty schedule.

 

red and his anti Coppa sentiments..

So clearly red is in a tiny minority.



.

Obviously when the team gets to the semis of a competition it is stupid not to try and win it, especially when you have a chance of a Double at the end of the season.

But every Italian I've ever met - and I personally know maybe 20 to 30 Italian football fans from Milan, Florence, Rome, Palermo, Torino, Napoli i.e. a diverse and large enough sample size, especially when 100% of them say the same thing about the Coppa - agrees the Coppa is a lower-priority competition and always has been.

It can hardly be considered a MORE serious competition now that big teams are allowed to sleepwalk into the semis.

And if the Coppa is such a big deal, why did the players on both sides sleepwalk through the game like it was a summer friendly?? Why it take till the 94th minute to create a clear chance against this poor Napoli side? Do you honestly think we will have to wait till the 94th minute to create a chance when we play Napoli in Meazza in May in Serie A?

We all know Juve are obsessed with the idea of a Treble, so they will continue to play their starting 11 in the Coppa - that is a given. They also have the depth to do so, since they have 3 midfields and 2 defences.

Anyway, this discussion is fairly pointless. The players didn't play with intensity - that is a fact - and we are most likely out of the competition.

With a stronger, deeper squad we can perhaps challenge on 3 fronts next season, but this season their is only sufficient depth for one: Serie A.

 

Would you guys be interested in going deep into EL?

I might be traveling to Razgrad for the game next week. Is anyone coming? I can give you a lift from Sofia and back.

 

I would like to see us go far in the Europa League, Nacka also cares about EL I believe - but red and firdy don't care about EL.

Thanks for the offer, I will stick to TV though. But we would appreciate to see your posts after the match, take pics and share anecdotes here on XT.

 

Yeah let's agree to disagree about the Cups...








Until you belittle the EL next week and I argue with you, of course.

 

Ideally, we'd want to win all cups. But based on timing and resources, we have to make choices. If it's crunch time and securing a CL spot looks iffy while we have a tough run of fixtures, then a sacrifice may have to be made. You have to take a position and consider the opportunity cost. We can't pretend that that doesn't exist.

In 09/10, our squad had pretty decent rotation options. We were doing well in all competitions. Even then, our Serie A form suffered towards the end.

In recent years, our options haven't been very good at all. This season, injuries have made things even worse. At this stage, I'd say we play more subs in the EL and focus on Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

 

Ideally, we'd want to win all cups. But based on timing and resources, we have to make choices. If it's crunch time and securing a CL spot looks iffy while we have a tough run of fixtures, then a sacrifice may have to be made. You have to take a position and consider the opportunity cost. We can't pretend that that doesn't exist.

In 09/10, our squad had pretty decent rotation options. We were doing well in all competitions. Even then, our Serie A form suffered towards the end.

In recent years, our options haven't been very good at all. This season, injuries have made things even worse. At this stage, I'd say we play more subs in the EL and focus on Serie A and the Coppa Italia.

Agree 10,000,000% with this.

Reserves in EL please.

 

What if we 'sacrifice' EL and juve end up stealing the league as expected?

Look, our chances of winning EL are better than our chances of winning Serie A, so playing reserves in EL is a silly idea. Rotation, sure, change 3-4 players, perhaps go with Lautaro-Alexis and rest Lukaku, rest Godin and play Bastoni… normal things like that. But we should field a decent enough side in EL and should take it seriously. 100%

I am sure Conte will anyhow.

We are pretty much guaranteed CL football next season Firdy, 5th place Roma are 15 points behind us. Fifteen. We are no longer in the past 2 seasons of struggling to make CL.

 

What if we 'sacrifice' EL and juve end up stealing the league as expected?

That's like asking what's the point in using a condom when it might break.