Build Up To Sunday

By: Neil | November 27th, 2008

Is Inter struggling? If you answer yes, then you’re not very familiar with the success of Jose Mourinho. A team managed by Mourinho is only struggling when the year is done and they have no trophies to add to their collection. Currently Inter are first in Serie A and first in their Champions League group. If you look at a couple of Champions League results – 3-3 draw with Anorthosis, 1-0 home loss to Panathanaikos – it looks like Inter are struggling, but Mourinho is a pragmatist who only cares about where things stand at the end. The media, as usual, is trying to create a crisis where none exists. The good news for Napoli is that all the pressure is on Inter ahead of Sunday’s clash.

Last time the teams met it was a memorable victory for the Partenopei. Marcelo Zalayeta scored a third minute goal, and Napoli hung on to give Inter their first loss of the season. Here is a cool video of that game’s opening few minutes, shot from inside the San Paolo:

Former Napoli and Inter player Luigi Simoni believes Napoli can pull off another surprise and deny Inter again. There are a couple of important differences from last year, though. First, Napoli’s win was at the San Paolo, and there is still a huge gap between our home and away form. Second, Inter managed to improve managers in the off season. Only in the world of calcio can a team win the scudetto, fire their coach, and bring in someone better. But currently Inter have the best in the business. If you go to the wikipedia article on Jose Mourinho, it goes into good detail on how he’s won at every level he’s managed.

Despite Inter’s quality, Napoli have a never say die attitude, and ever since reaching Serie A the team has saved its best performances for the biggest teams. There’s no reason to expect anything different on Sunday. Reja is still deciding who to play upfront with Lavezzi. I would like to see Russotto start a game, but you need someone experienced in this situation. My vote would go to Denis, who still needs to justify his large transfer fee. Although he has five league goals, three of those came against Reggina at home. He’s got to start doing more in big games, and there’s no better time than Inter on Sunday.

Napoli have also been linked with a number of names in the mercato: Velez Sarsfield left midfield Emiliano Papa, Besiktas forward Filip Holoska, and Basel goalkeeper Franco Costanzo. As usual these are just rumours, and in many cases the claims are made by agents in an attempt to increase their client’s value.

I’ll be back later with an official preview. Forza Napoli !!