After bagging their first league victory in a month (an amazingly “ugly” 5-2 win over struggling Parma), the men in the Inter Milan jersey and manager Rafael Benitez are under more pressure than ever to earn a result against Lazio this week. Just six months removed from an amazing treble under “The Special One”, the team is in absolute shambles, sitting in 5th place already 7 points off of league leader’s AC Milan’s pace. Last campaign, Mourinho’s men were sitting pretty in 1st place.
The defense has been atrocious thus far, with Maicon virtually losing all motivation and respect for playing the game after being torn apart in the Champions League by Gareth Bale and company. Lucio has been equally as awful. The replacements for these men have been no better, as Marco Materazzi at center back and Ivan Cordoba manning the right side have yielded nothing of substance. The team is also starting to show its age up top, with Diego Milito looking far removed from a 22-goal campaign of a years past. On the other side of the coin, Lazio seem to be flourishing. The team currently sits in second in Serie A, only 3 points behind AC Milan. What a difference a year makes (a vast improvement over last season’s 12th place finish in the league). Lazio is really grinding out the results, strangely the trademark of the Mourinho-led Inter squad last season. The Biancazzurri have only notched 17 goals in 14 matches and conceding a respectable 11.
Despite Inter finally getting a win in league play, the side is still looking hapless. 3 of the 5 goals scored were off of deflections and the defense should have been punished by former Inter-man Hernan Crespo much more than they were, as he missed a couple of sitters. The match easily could have gone the other way, despite the score-line not looking that way. The defensive woes are too easily exploitable. I don’t see how this squad doesn’t get taken advantage of on at least a few occasions on in this fixture, as Lazio will be motivated and in front of their own fans. By Inter’s standards, Benitez should have been fired after the embarrassment at White Hart Lane. Now, he’s on a game-by-game evaluation and a Lazio victory will seal his fate. Benitez has changed the winning Inter tactics drastically since his arrival for no apparent reason. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Expect it to happen.
Lazio win 3-1 over Inter Milan. Rafa gets the nix.
