Goal.com article

by serieAkings Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:53 am

They even ran the quotes on their official club website! Claudio Ranieri proudly proclaimed to Inter fans in late January that midfielder Thiago Motta was staying at the club despite all the talk of a move to Paris Saint-Germain.

“I have asked that he stays and Motta will stay," boasted Ranieri. “I am convinced that Motta will stay. The club has assured me that he will remain until at least June. This is good because we don't have another midfielder with his qualities.”
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A fortnight on, with Motta gone and no replacement added, Inter were humiliated again on Sunday as they went down to a 1-0 home defeat to Novara. The Azzurri are fast becoming an emblem of coaches scorned at San Siro.

The missing drive and mobility in the middle of the park is plain for all to see as Inter struggle to come to terms with the Italo-Brazilian’s loss. The best midfielder in the world he may not be, but his value to the Nerazzurri side this term had been clear. And now without him they look pretty clueless.

Inter have lost four out of their last five matches, with only a 4-4 home draw with Palermo to their credit in that spell. The run bears an uncanny resemblance to the opening five games of the season, when a single draw in five brought about the end of Gian Piero Gasperini, crowned by a 3-1 loss to the same Novara side that won at San Siro yesterday.

But the similarities do not end there, as Gasperini claimed this week that he too had been overruled on transfers.

“[The Inter board] went after [Alexis] Sanchez, [Ezequiel] Lavezzi, [Carlos] Tevez. I was ready to challenge the world with Palacio, Milito and Eto'o," the former Genoa coach told La Gazzetta dello Sport last week. “We thought about [Arturo] Vidal. I liked [Radja] Nainggolan too but he wasn't considered worthy of Inter. I also liked [Domenico] Criscito, not to mention [Rodrigo] Palacio.”

Since that time, Palacio has won countless more admirers with his performances for Genoa, while Nainggolan’s asking price has gone into the eight-figure category and Vidal has become a mainstay of a Juventus side challenging for the title.

Of course, this is not a new problem this season either, with Rafael Benitez having been blighted by the same issues during his short spell in Pinetina.

“I had been promised many things [by Inter], but they did not buy me anything,” Benitez said earlier this season. “I requested [Javier] Mascherano and even Alexis Sanchez in January, who would have cost half of the fee Barcelona paid for him in the summer.”

Massimo Moratti and Marco Branca just don’t seem to learn their lesson. For two years under Jose Mourinho, it was the hugely successful coach who called almost all of the shots in the transfer market. The president and sporting director backed him, and they got their due reward. Two Scudetti, one Coppa Italia and, of course, a Champions League followed.

Benitez, Leonardo, Gasperini & Ranieri | Given no support by Moratti & Branca

Since then it has been the two men in the boardroom who have taken charge of the incomings and outgoings and the result has been a veritable disaster. Only really Giampaolo Pazzini of all of the signings has produced any real kind of profitable return on the field, and even he has struggled this term after his wonderful beginning to 2011.

All the while, the likes of Mario Balotelli, Samuel Eto’o and latterly Motta have not been replaced, and even Goran Pandev – who Mourinho brought in to excellent effect midway through the treble-winning campaign – has been allowed to join Napoli, where he has rediscovered that form once more.

Meanwhile, additions such as Diego Forlan, Mauro Zarate, Angelo Palombo, Houssine Kharja and Andrea Ranocchia have justifiably had many scratching their heads.

It is very true that Inter may still have struggled had some of the coaches since Mourinho been given a freer rein with the decision-making on the market, but at least there wouldn’t have been a succession of bosses dying wondering. Yes, they employ coaches rather than managers, meaning they are well within their remit to ignore the suggestions of the man they appoint, but that doesn’t mean their choices are the right ones.

With Moratti and Branca making bad decisions, Inter are spiralling out of control and sit six points off the Champions League play-off spot. They are slowly but surely getting the club they deserve having let success go to their heads. Meanwhile, Ranieri is gradually becoming just another coach whose reputation is being damaged thanks to the lack of support he has received from the Nerazzurri hierarchy.

And the real losers in all of this? The Inter fans, who have to watch this frustrating story on repeat every six months. It’s time Inter appointed a coach, and backed him.