A BAD INTER BANKS SIENA AT THE LAST MINUTE!
A FLASH OF CASTAIGNOS GIVES THREE UNEXPECTED POINTS!
RANIERI REJECTS: "WINNING WASN'T EASY"
VOTE: 6
Only the result is good. The rest (i.e. the performance) would be canceled en bloc and never to be repeated again. Ranieri's Inter had a hard time, but in the end, according to the ruthless law of football, they came out rejoicing from the "Franchi" stadium in Siena. A decisive paw from Luc Castaignos, who up until the moment of the goal had been simply unwatchable. But this is the life of the striker, and so, from a symbol of failure, the Dutchman found himself the man of the match. “We have to start running” Ranieri said in the pre-match. Many of us had interpreted the sentence as an invitation to score as many points as possible, but perhaps the Roman coach was simply asking for a little dynamism from his players. Inter are walking, and at this pace it will be difficult to attempt the comeback invoked by Moratti. To face the mangy Siena of Sannino, Ranieri thought of repeating the (partially) successful experiment in Trabzon, however having to change some interpreters out of necessity. The 4-1-4-1 with Zarate on the right and Alvarez on the left seemed, on paper, the best form to enhance the characteristics of the two Argentines, without dangerously revealing a less dynamic team. After a time however, Claudio Ranieri admitted the mistake by recalling both Zarate and Alvarez to the bench to make room for Obi and Castaignos. On balance a winning move, because it was the young Dutch striker who gave away the victory, but to be honest it all seemed more random than anything else. Absences remain an important alibi (Maicon and Sneijder are missing tremendously) but this Inter must do more if it wants to climb back up the ladder. Ranieri knows it, but he prefers to go from match to match: "We knew we had to come here and be humble, we knew we had to fight and suffer for ninety minutes, winning wasn't easy and for this I still have the pre-goal stress on me, slowly slowly I will acquire happiness”. Up until Saturday, the Nerazzurri coach had always talked about the Scudetto, but yesterday afternoon, perhaps saddened by the performance, he reduced his objectives a bit: "Qualifying for the Champions League is a goal, even if we would like to fight for the Italian flag, but it is logical that if he's in front and keep going at this pace it's going to be tough. I have to say that I'm also satisfied with our defence, because we conceded 17 goals and we moved well today." Final comment on the market, with Ranieri "forced" to back down after the joke on Tevez on Saturday afternoon: "It was just a joke, the truth is that there are insiders who monitor everything. If there's someone to catch, my president won't back down. But first I'll have to carefully evaluate the squad I have available." Which may even be enough to win in Siena, but it certainly doesn't authorize you to dream of glory.
