TheHalfBackBlog
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Full blog found at https://fmaddictionblog.wordpress.com/
Prelude
The city of Milan is steeped in football history with the two Milan clubs being leading clubs in Europe. The club was formed in 1908 and has since gone on to win 18 Serie A titles and 3 European titles. The club hasn’t won a trophy since the 2010-2011 season where from then on in have had multiple owners and managers and haven’t been able to mix it at the top of Serie A.
The 2017/2018 Pre-Season has been littered with big money signings. None more so than our city rivals AC Milan. AC have brought in no less than 9 players for a staggering combined fee of £160 Million. Juventus who have carved up the Serie A winning the title for the last 6 years.
Inter have become the forgotten giant in Italian football and it’s time they were brought back to the top and competing for major honours once again.
Episode 1 - Typical Italian Defence
It was a new era, rookie manager Half Back was venturing out of his native England and going to the land of Pizza and Peroni. Italy! Half-Back is new to management but has his philosophies which are based on great Italian sides of the past. Don't concede, pinch a goal.
As stated in the prelude Inter Milan have been on a decline since 2011 and have had a dry spell in regards to silverware, despite their lucrative collection from the past 109 years.
Upon arriving at the San Siro it was clear to see the foundations were in place for a strong and athletic defensive side, with the flair to unpick teams on the break. It would just take some careful planning and management from myself.
As mentioned I was looking to play with a defensive mindset and ensure we were keeping the ball out of our net as often as possible. After all, if we don't concede we can't be beaten. For that reason I have decided we will be lining up with a 4-3-3-0 (Stikerless) formation with a defensive mindset. Now I know your saying "But you have got Icardi!" Fear not, I have a plan for him and it will soon be revealed.
My plans for Pre-Season were to use a core 20 players, get them all match fit, used to the new formation and get to grips with our corner routines. In regards to transfers I felt the main areas for improvement were in the fullback department, and unless the right player came up, I wouldn't spend. I was going to be shrewd in the market and ensure that the clubs finances were put first.
In regards to outgoings there was only one notable departure and it was French winger Jonathon Biabiany who went to Leicester City for £4 Million. Although this wasn't much it was money off the wage bill and one less player to try and keep happy, who realistically wasn't going to feature much.
Pre-Season started slow with the lads struggling to get to grips with the attacking side of the formation. Defensively we started off sound but there was still work to do and improvements to be made. As the friendlies went on the lads got to grips with the style of play and the formation and results picked up. The last three games were evidence of this scoring 9 goals and conceding 0.
All in all it was a positive Pre-Season and hopefully we could carry this momentum into the season. We kept 5 clean sheets in 7 games, again hopefully a sign of things to come.
Finally we shall set some targets, monthly and season long. Each episode we will address these and monitor progress.
Season targets:
Episode 2: Derby success amongst mixed emotions
Welcome to the second chapter of my Inter save. The forgotten Milan. This episode will look at one feature game, a quick review of other games and a review of my targets/set new targets.
Our season kicked off with arguably the biggest game of the season. AC Milan. What a way to have your first competitive game in charge. Talk about being thrown in the deep end. AC Milan were also entering into the season with a new manager, the experienced Vincenzo Montella, and their 9, yes 9 new signings. This was going to be a battle.
In the build up to the match I decided I was going to be respectful throughout, refrain from getting caught up in the hype and focus on the task ahead. The same can’t be said for our opposition. Montella openly came out and called out Handanovic as the “Weak Link!” Very unprofessional and hopefully something that will come back to bite him on the ***.
Going into the match we were going with our tried and tested formation although, what was news to me was that my original plan of Murrilo and Miranda at CB would need to be rethought, Murrilo was suspended! Big loss for a big game. Ranocchia had big shoes to fill.
The Icardi Plan. Icardi was going to play as a Shadow Striker, but in the AMC position. Theory behind this is to give him more space to operate but keep us in a compact defensive shape.
The game was cagey, as could be expected for such a big game in the first game of the season. Unusually we weren’t controlling the ball with AC Milan taking the lion’s share of the ball. Both sides were limited to a shot apiece, of which neither were on target. Maybe the second half would open up more?
The second half started brightly for us with Icardi finding space in the box and forcing a smart save from Donnarumma at his near post.
66 minutes in and the second half was predominately controlled by us having many shots on goal and keeping Donnarumma busy. Eder came on to replace Perisic out wide left.
83 minutes in and the game has opened up again with Inter looking the more threatening. A corner was won and from the resulting set piece, a penalty was given. Riccardo Rodriguez had pushed Miranda. A chance to nick the 3 points. Up stepped Icardi who calmly slotted the penalty away into the bottom corner.
85 minutes gone. 1-0 Inter Milan.
That’s it, no last minute scares a 1-0 win against city rivals AC Milan to kick off the season.
Clean Sheet number 1.
Game 2 Fiorentina (H)
In the first half we dominated possession throughout, without making any clear cut chances. Handanovic made many saves keeping us at 0-0 before Candreva broke down the right and whipped a low ball in to which Perisic met and drove home. 1-0 Half Time.
7 minutes into the second half and Perisic returned the favour following some good work by Icardi to deliver a cross to the back post which Candreva finished nicely. 2-0.
83 minutes in and following a spell of pressure from Fiorentina, Miranda conceded a penalty having been deemed to have pushed the striker. Handanovic was having a great game, and he continued this by saving the penalty!
Full time 2-0.
Clean sheet number 2.
Game 3 Sampdoria (A)
Our third game saw us on the road again, this time to Sampdoria who were sitting 2nd in the league winning both of their opening fixtures. More bad news to follow is that Kondogbia, Skriniar and Murillo would all be missing through injury.
After a dull first half with no chances of note, on the stroke of half time Medel broke through the right hand side and delivered a ball which was met by the right boot of Mauro Icardi. 1-0.
They always say you are most vulnerable right after you score. 1 minute later a loose pass from D’Ambrosio saw us countered down the right and Sampdoria equalised in the 45th minute.
Goal! Second half and once again Candreva whips a ball in for Perisic which is deflected in and counts as an OG. 2-1
Again just two minutes later Ranocchia concedes a penalty for handball. 2-2.
Full time, 2-2, not a good result or performance.
Game 4 Bologna (H)
7 minutes in and Miranda connects with a sweetly delivered free kick by Peresic 1-0.
2 minutes later Candreva fired a free kick into the top right hand corner. 2-0
86 minutes in and we win a penalty following a corner. Icardi 3-0.
62% possession. 3-0 win. Clean sheet number 3.
Game 5 Atlanta (A)
40 minutes in, 14 shots and 71% possession later Medel slides Icardi through who finishes coolly. 1-0.
57 mins in and Atlanta level it with a pulled back cross which was headed out of reach. 1-1.
2 mins later slack marking allowed the Atlanta striker to get free in the box. 2-1 down, work to be done!
65 mins Illicic sent off for Atlanta! Big chance!
Full Time 2-1 defeat. My first loss and a very disappointing one having dominated the game.
Game 6 Sassuolo (H)
Two early goals from Candreva and Icardi set us off on the right foot before being pegged back mid-way through the first half. Icardi then restored the 2 goal advantage just before half time. 3-1.
We shut up shop after this and saw the game out. 3 more points.
All in all a mixed set of results which overall we can be proud with. Below is a review of the monthly targets and an update on the season targets.
Season targets:
Episode 3: Perfection, oh so nearly!
Thanks again for returning to my blog to read all about whether I can take Inter Milan back to the top of Italian football. Going into the month of October we had got off to a pretty good start in the league. But it was time to kick on and try create a gap at the top of the table. Maybe a breakaway.Last episode I had set the following targets for the upcoming games.
Results:
Results went our way in October as we controlled all our games from start to finish. Before the month I had identified the first two games as the toughest of the month. Torino and Lazio. Easy. Both were comfortably dispatched 3-0 and 1-0 respectively. After keeping clean sheets in both games and winning both, my hopes and expectations changed. I now wanted to go the month with a 100% win record, and not letting a single goal. Our next game saw us dispatch Verona 3-0, but then we hit our stumbling block against SPAL. Somehow despite having 31 shots to SPAL's 3, we were held to a 0-0. All that was left was to keep our final opponents of the month Crotone out for a full month of clean sheets. Firstly, we secured the win, but unfortunately it weren't to be. We conceded following a header back across goal, leaving Handanovic in no mans land. A 3-1 win was enough to secure the 3 points though.
Table
So after that month, we're top of the league right?
Nope.
Somehow the rest of the league have been keeping pace, but surely not for much longer?
Finally a review of the targets:
Season targets:
So that's the story so far, please do check out my blog at https://fmaddictionblog.wordpress.com/ as posts are much more frequent! Thanks for reading!
Prelude
The city of Milan is steeped in football history with the two Milan clubs being leading clubs in Europe. The club was formed in 1908 and has since gone on to win 18 Serie A titles and 3 European titles. The club hasn’t won a trophy since the 2010-2011 season where from then on in have had multiple owners and managers and haven’t been able to mix it at the top of Serie A.
The 2017/2018 Pre-Season has been littered with big money signings. None more so than our city rivals AC Milan. AC have brought in no less than 9 players for a staggering combined fee of £160 Million. Juventus who have carved up the Serie A winning the title for the last 6 years.
Inter have become the forgotten giant in Italian football and it’s time they were brought back to the top and competing for major honours once again.
Episode 1 - Typical Italian Defence
It was a new era, rookie manager Half Back was venturing out of his native England and going to the land of Pizza and Peroni. Italy! Half-Back is new to management but has his philosophies which are based on great Italian sides of the past. Don't concede, pinch a goal.
As stated in the prelude Inter Milan have been on a decline since 2011 and have had a dry spell in regards to silverware, despite their lucrative collection from the past 109 years.
Upon arriving at the San Siro it was clear to see the foundations were in place for a strong and athletic defensive side, with the flair to unpick teams on the break. It would just take some careful planning and management from myself.
As mentioned I was looking to play with a defensive mindset and ensure we were keeping the ball out of our net as often as possible. After all, if we don't concede we can't be beaten. For that reason I have decided we will be lining up with a 4-3-3-0 (Stikerless) formation with a defensive mindset. Now I know your saying "But you have got Icardi!" Fear not, I have a plan for him and it will soon be revealed.
My plans for Pre-Season were to use a core 20 players, get them all match fit, used to the new formation and get to grips with our corner routines. In regards to transfers I felt the main areas for improvement were in the fullback department, and unless the right player came up, I wouldn't spend. I was going to be shrewd in the market and ensure that the clubs finances were put first.
In regards to outgoings there was only one notable departure and it was French winger Jonathon Biabiany who went to Leicester City for £4 Million. Although this wasn't much it was money off the wage bill and one less player to try and keep happy, who realistically wasn't going to feature much.
Pre-Season started slow with the lads struggling to get to grips with the attacking side of the formation. Defensively we started off sound but there was still work to do and improvements to be made. As the friendlies went on the lads got to grips with the style of play and the formation and results picked up. The last three games were evidence of this scoring 9 goals and conceding 0.
All in all it was a positive Pre-Season and hopefully we could carry this momentum into the season. We kept 5 clean sheets in 7 games, again hopefully a sign of things to come.
Finally we shall set some targets, monthly and season long. Each episode we will address these and monitor progress.
Season targets:
- Top 4 finish
- Semi final of the Coppa Italia
- 19 league clean sheets (50% of all games)
- Average possession of +55% across the season
- 6 goals from corners
- Avoid defeat against AC Milan
- 14 points out of a possible 18
- 3 Clean Sheets
- 1 goal from a corner
Episode 2: Derby success amongst mixed emotions
Welcome to the second chapter of my Inter save. The forgotten Milan. This episode will look at one feature game, a quick review of other games and a review of my targets/set new targets.
Our season kicked off with arguably the biggest game of the season. AC Milan. What a way to have your first competitive game in charge. Talk about being thrown in the deep end. AC Milan were also entering into the season with a new manager, the experienced Vincenzo Montella, and their 9, yes 9 new signings. This was going to be a battle.
In the build up to the match I decided I was going to be respectful throughout, refrain from getting caught up in the hype and focus on the task ahead. The same can’t be said for our opposition. Montella openly came out and called out Handanovic as the “Weak Link!” Very unprofessional and hopefully something that will come back to bite him on the ***.
Going into the match we were going with our tried and tested formation although, what was news to me was that my original plan of Murrilo and Miranda at CB would need to be rethought, Murrilo was suspended! Big loss for a big game. Ranocchia had big shoes to fill.
The Icardi Plan. Icardi was going to play as a Shadow Striker, but in the AMC position. Theory behind this is to give him more space to operate but keep us in a compact defensive shape.
The game was cagey, as could be expected for such a big game in the first game of the season. Unusually we weren’t controlling the ball with AC Milan taking the lion’s share of the ball. Both sides were limited to a shot apiece, of which neither were on target. Maybe the second half would open up more?
The second half started brightly for us with Icardi finding space in the box and forcing a smart save from Donnarumma at his near post.
66 minutes in and the second half was predominately controlled by us having many shots on goal and keeping Donnarumma busy. Eder came on to replace Perisic out wide left.
83 minutes in and the game has opened up again with Inter looking the more threatening. A corner was won and from the resulting set piece, a penalty was given. Riccardo Rodriguez had pushed Miranda. A chance to nick the 3 points. Up stepped Icardi who calmly slotted the penalty away into the bottom corner.
85 minutes gone. 1-0 Inter Milan.
That’s it, no last minute scares a 1-0 win against city rivals AC Milan to kick off the season.
Clean Sheet number 1.
Game 2 Fiorentina (H)
In the first half we dominated possession throughout, without making any clear cut chances. Handanovic made many saves keeping us at 0-0 before Candreva broke down the right and whipped a low ball in to which Perisic met and drove home. 1-0 Half Time.
7 minutes into the second half and Perisic returned the favour following some good work by Icardi to deliver a cross to the back post which Candreva finished nicely. 2-0.
83 minutes in and following a spell of pressure from Fiorentina, Miranda conceded a penalty having been deemed to have pushed the striker. Handanovic was having a great game, and he continued this by saving the penalty!
Full time 2-0.
Clean sheet number 2.
Game 3 Sampdoria (A)
Our third game saw us on the road again, this time to Sampdoria who were sitting 2nd in the league winning both of their opening fixtures. More bad news to follow is that Kondogbia, Skriniar and Murillo would all be missing through injury.
After a dull first half with no chances of note, on the stroke of half time Medel broke through the right hand side and delivered a ball which was met by the right boot of Mauro Icardi. 1-0.
They always say you are most vulnerable right after you score. 1 minute later a loose pass from D’Ambrosio saw us countered down the right and Sampdoria equalised in the 45th minute.
Goal! Second half and once again Candreva whips a ball in for Perisic which is deflected in and counts as an OG. 2-1
Again just two minutes later Ranocchia concedes a penalty for handball. 2-2.
Full time, 2-2, not a good result or performance.
Game 4 Bologna (H)
7 minutes in and Miranda connects with a sweetly delivered free kick by Peresic 1-0.
2 minutes later Candreva fired a free kick into the top right hand corner. 2-0
86 minutes in and we win a penalty following a corner. Icardi 3-0.
62% possession. 3-0 win. Clean sheet number 3.
Game 5 Atlanta (A)
40 minutes in, 14 shots and 71% possession later Medel slides Icardi through who finishes coolly. 1-0.
57 mins in and Atlanta level it with a pulled back cross which was headed out of reach. 1-1.
2 mins later slack marking allowed the Atlanta striker to get free in the box. 2-1 down, work to be done!
65 mins Illicic sent off for Atlanta! Big chance!
Full Time 2-1 defeat. My first loss and a very disappointing one having dominated the game.
Game 6 Sassuolo (H)
Two early goals from Candreva and Icardi set us off on the right foot before being pegged back mid-way through the first half. Icardi then restored the 2 goal advantage just before half time. 3-1.
We shut up shop after this and saw the game out. 3 more points.
All in all a mixed set of results which overall we can be proud with. Below is a review of the monthly targets and an update on the season targets.
Season targets:
- Top 4 finish - Ongoing
- Semi final of the Coppa Italia - Ongoing
- 19 league clean sheets (50% of all games) - 3/19
- Average possession of +55% across the season - 54.83%
- 6 goals from corners - 0/6
- Avoid defeat against AC Milan - 1-0 win
- 14 points out of a possible 18 - 13 points
- 3 Clean Sheets - 3/3 Clean Sheets
- 1 goal from a corner - 0/1 (3 from Indirect Free Kicks though!)
- 13 points from a possible 15
- 3 Clean Sheets
- 1 goal from a corner
- Score 10 goals
Episode 3: Perfection, oh so nearly!
Thanks again for returning to my blog to read all about whether I can take Inter Milan back to the top of Italian football. Going into the month of October we had got off to a pretty good start in the league. But it was time to kick on and try create a gap at the top of the table. Maybe a breakaway.Last episode I had set the following targets for the upcoming games.
- 13 points from a possible 15
- 3 Clean Sheets
- 1 goal from a corner
- Score 10 goals
Results:
Results went our way in October as we controlled all our games from start to finish. Before the month I had identified the first two games as the toughest of the month. Torino and Lazio. Easy. Both were comfortably dispatched 3-0 and 1-0 respectively. After keeping clean sheets in both games and winning both, my hopes and expectations changed. I now wanted to go the month with a 100% win record, and not letting a single goal. Our next game saw us dispatch Verona 3-0, but then we hit our stumbling block against SPAL. Somehow despite having 31 shots to SPAL's 3, we were held to a 0-0. All that was left was to keep our final opponents of the month Crotone out for a full month of clean sheets. Firstly, we secured the win, but unfortunately it weren't to be. We conceded following a header back across goal, leaving Handanovic in no mans land. A 3-1 win was enough to secure the 3 points though.
Table
So after that month, we're top of the league right?
Nope.
Somehow the rest of the league have been keeping pace, but surely not for much longer?
Finally a review of the targets:
Season targets:
- Top 4 finish – Ongoing
- Semi final of the Coppa Italia – Ongoing
- 19 league clean sheets (50% of all games) – 7/19
- Average possession of +55% across the season – 54.09%
- 6 goals from corners – 0/6 (Maybe we need to rethink our tactics)
- 13 points from a possible 15 - 13/15 - Achieved
- 3 clean sheets - 4/5 - Achieved
- 1 goal from a corner - 0 - Tactic rethink
- Score 10 goals - 10 goals scored - Achieved
- 9 points from 9
- 3 clean sheets from 3
- 1 corner goal? Surely?
So that's the story so far, please do check out my blog at https://fmaddictionblog.wordpress.com/ as posts are much more frequent! Thanks for reading!
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