With the Nerazzurri slipping down to fifth in the table after winning just one of their last six league outings, things are beginning to look bleak for a club that was supposedly competing for the title following a hot start to the campaign.
Club owner Erick Thohir knew what he was getting when appointing the former Manchester City boss.
Roberto Mancini was the man who masterminded the Citizens’ first title in 44 years, as well as three Scudetti in his first spell at the helm of Inter and several Coppa Italia successes during his time managing in Italy.
There is no doubting the 51-year-old’s managerial ability. He has a philosophy he sticks to, which, most of the time, reaps rewards and garners results, and carries with him a reputation of being one of the best managers in the world in recent years.
He does, however, come with baggage.
Mancini is renowned as being a strict authoritarian who is no stranger to falling out with the players working under him. Whilst at Manchester City, for example, Craig Bellamy cited the Italian’s man management style as the reason for the breakdown in communication between the pair, claiming the now-Inter Milan manager did not allow the Welshman to complete his own training programme.
A similar occurrence appears to be brewing at the San Siro, with club captain Mauro Icardi and Mancini rumoured to not be on speaking terms, which has inevitably put many of Europe’s elite on red alert over the availability of the Argentine, who was last season’s joint-top-scorer in Serie A with 22 goals.
At only 22 years of age, this is worrisome news for Inter fans, with the former Samp man being one of the best young strikers on the planet and in good goalscoring form this season, even with the Nerazzurri faltering as of late. Icardi is not a bad egg either. He is someone who gives 100% to any side and any manager he works under, so long as he is not treated unfairly and publicly shamed in the media.
If it came down to it, Interisti should prefer the club to cut its ties with the Italian manager rather than the Argentine striker.
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And it is not just Internazionale’s no.9 either who has been publicly humiliated by his manager. Following Inter’s 2-1 home loss to Lazio, a game in which Felipe Melo was sent off for a late horror challenge, Mancini claimed Melo had “ruined Christmas”. The rumours circling the media following the match was that Inter’s dressing room was in disarray during as well as after that game. Inter Milan have won just twice in the league since then.
Man management and media skills aside, the 51-year-old has also been criticised for his work on the sidelines, with many believing his tactics are the cause for the Nerazzurri’s abrupt downfall in recent weeks.
In the season’s opening rounds, Inter were receiving plenty of praise for their resolute and structured defensive unit, with Mancini seen as the man who orchestrated the implementation of these tactics. The only issue for the Milanese club appeared to be its inability to create chances and score more than one goal a game.
Now that Inter are conceding more goals and failing to pick up points in the manner they were earlier in the season, this lack of creating and scoring has increasingly come to the fore.
The truth is that the problem was always there, but just being simply masked over by an efficient defence. It is a cause for concern that, even though defensive performances have seemingly changed throughout the course of the campaign, the production coming from midfield has not, and Inter do not have an identity whatsoever in their play on the pitch. Not at the start of the season, not now.
With all of Inter’s summer signings having been given enough time to settle into the squad and acclimatise to Italian football, the onus is on the manager to ensure he gets enough out of his players so that they play in a positive way. This has not occurred, so the fault lies with Mancini, who has built one of the most talented squads in Serie A (even despite selling Mateo Kovacic and Xherdan Shaqiri) but is underachieving with it.
The constant blaming of his own players in the media and the negative style in which has been utilised for much of the season shows Inter Milan are lacking identity on the pitch and direction off, with Mancini being the main, if not sole, culprit for this.
With a monumental clash coming up on Sunday against fourth-place Fiorentina, who thumped Inter 4-1 at the San Siro the last time the two met in the league, Mancini must ensure he gets his tactics spot on and his players motivated if they are to stand any chance of winning this match and later going on to reclaim a top three berth. It is also vital Mancini does this if he wishes to keep his job.
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