Dai Shan

The best thing to happen for the Azzurri this year was that Malago did not allow Pirlo to become coach & insisted on Mancini. Italy needed a top, experienced coach, and Mancini is the only one who has successfully delivered a youth rebuild for Italy before. Good to see the Azzurri rediscover their hunger today against one of the best teams in the world. There is a long way to go in this youth revolution, but the first steps are promising.

Inter just got Mourinho-ed. Inter did well tonight. The players gave it their all. Bisseck, Lautaro, Augusto, Hakan & Diouf had a good game. Proud of the way Inter fought till the last minute. We can't really ask for more. Sure, the keeper made a mistake or two, but he also made a lot of saves. For the money we paid for him, he is proving his worth. Hopefully he will get better with time. There is no need to make a scapegoat out of him. This high press of Chivu's doesn't work against really top teams, because Inter just don't have that level of quality. You can blame the keeper or the defenders, but despite all the possession & attacking play, Madrid were just slicing through Inter's midfield & defence on counters like a knife through butter. If Inter want to make such a system work against the likes of Madrid or PSG, the club has to buy players like Paz, Kone, Romero, Alisson, Palestra, etc instead of settling for cheaper 2nd/3rd choices. If not, this system will work against the likes of Cagliari or Monza or even Napoli, but thats about it. This is unfortunately our level, and thats the reality. The rest is just hopes and dreams.

What a comeback! From going down 0-2 against Allegri-ball to winning 3-2 in injury time is absolute madness! The sight of Lautaro Martinez climbing up the stands at San Siro after a winning goal is football heritage.

Inter management have done well in the last few years considering the crippling financial constraints. In this context, it cannot be a good thing when the Director of Sport suddenly quits. The rumours suggest this is a issue about length of contract & salary hike. But it has to be more than that because Ausilio has been with the club for almost 3 decades. He had voiced his frustration with dealing with Broketree, I wonder if that had a part to play in this. Here is what Ausilio said earlier this summer: 🗣️ "Our ownership is a bit particular, and having Marotta as a go-between between us in the sports area and them helps us convey our ideas: sometimes it works well, other times less so." "The problem is that the management operates within strict budget limits, which sometimes prevents us from being decisive in negotiations. At other times, it would just take investing a little bit more to reach a result. The clunkiness of the decision-making chain can be penalising, especially when speed makes all the difference." "Marotta has become stricter now as President compared to when he was the CEO, as he is much more aligned with the owners. He is now more presidency-oriented and more severe in his financial management." "When I talk about the difficulties in conveying ideas to the ownership, I am referring precisely to this decision-making chain that starts from the sporting management and must convince the owners to finance purchases. Speed is everything in the transfer market." Whichever way you look at it, we are losing someone who was fighting against Broketree's crippling internal constraints. And that can never be a good thing.

Chelsea have become a full time player trading exchange. They also play football.

Inter fans had a lot to celebrate today, 4 Inter goals, Esposito's performance, Diouf, Bisseck, Stones debut, etc. That made it even more endearing to see San Siro reserve its loudest cheer & a standing ovation for a young lad coming on in the final minutes wearing his father's legendary shirt: STANKOVIC 5

English players have high visibility globally. Buying them is great 'free' PR for a club looking for a new buyer. That could be one of the reasons for the English revolution at Inter, or at least the lever Marotta might be pushing to convince Broketree to spend a little over their silly transfer limits. Chivu also wants higher intensity play, he has said as much. EPL players are used to playing at a higher intensity. Looks like Marotta is killing two birds with one 'Stone'