Jose Mourinho walks from the touchline after seeing
his Inter side draw 0-0 with Fiorentina.
On the face of it last
night's goalless draw at Fiorentina was hardly a disaster
for Inter. The Viola, who had
won each of their previous four league matches, have developed into
a potent Serie A force under Cesare Prandelli, and both sides can
reasonably claim to be suffering from tiredness following a
schedule of four matches in 10 days.
After nine matches Jose Mourinho's
side remain two points behind the early frontrunners Udinese and
Napoli and there is still plenty of mileage left in this
refreshingly open title-race.
The problem for Jose Mourinho, though, is that over the last
three years Inter supporters have got used to winning. This time
last year the Nerazzurri were unbeaten in the league, top of Serie
A and three points better off than they are at present. Unlike this
year, they had not lost the Milan derby and neither, at any stage
in the campaign, would they come close to falling behind their city
rivals who, with their 2-1 win over
Siena last night, moved ahead of Inter in the league for the
first time in three years.
Mourinho's arrival was expected to hail a new all-conquering era
in which a fourth consecutive league title would be a cakewalk, and
the Champions League the cherry on top. Of course, to continue the
gastronomical analogy, the proof of the pudding will be in the
eating, but last night's result will not have pleased the powers
that be at Via Durini, particularly as it has been five years since
Inter last endured two consecutive 0-0 draws.
President Massimo Moratti didn't part with £48m on Ricardo
Quaresma, Sulley Muntari and Mancini, not to mention £7m a year on
Mourinho, to see the sort of flat displays that have produced
stalemates with 10-man Genoa and a Fiorentina side missing their
two best players, Alberto Gilardino and Adrian Mutu.
"The league standings in October don't interest me," said
Mourinho, following the match at the Stadio Artemio Franchi, which
saw Mancini hit the bar after just five minutes and Zlatan
Ibrahimovic and Victor Obinna miss half-chances. However the home
side, who were denied a clear penalty when Giampaolo Pazzini was
fouled by Nicolas Burdisso, improved to finish the stronger of the
two sides. Given the size of his squad Mourinho's words ring
hollow.
As Alberto Cerrutti writes in the Gazzetta dello Sport: "Dear
Mourinho, this won't do. If this is your Inter, first place will
only slip further away because you can't expect to win the Scudetto
with 0-0 draws. There is still time to recover but the lack of
character and the tactical confusion with which Inter approached
Fiorentina is a worry. It's true that Prandelli's side had won four
matches in a row but their key absences should have been better
exploited by someone who can afford to leave Adriano and [Julio]
Cruz at home.
Mourinho decided to get tough this week, matching his actions -
a new no-nonsense crewcut was in evidence - with deeds by dropping
Cruz for failing to respect his defensive responsibilities against
Genoa. Adriano, meanwhile, was frozen out for turning up to
training late for the second time in the space of 10 days after a
soirée spent sampling the delights of Corso Como with compatriot
and fellow hell-raiser Ronaldinho. Adriano had reputedly threatened
to sulk his way all the way back to Brazil, where he spent six
months on loan at Sao Paolo last year after similar shenanigans and
a falling out with Roberto Mancini, but he has since been advised
otherwise by his agent. "His will be a very long road back, that's
for sure," said Mourinho.
An iron rule reaps rewards so long as results are favourable but
neither his decision to get tough on players guilty of
"insubordination" nor his opting for a 4-2-3-1 rather than his
customary 4-3-3 have acquired the desired results. Admittedly,
injuries to Patrick Vieira, who made a second-half substitute's
appearance last night, Esteban Cambiasso, Muntari, Luis Figo,
Olivier Dacourt, and Luis Antonio Jiménez have left the Nerazzurri
short of numbers in midfield of late but the lack of creativity and
spark is more symptomatic of Mourinho's cautious approach than any
missing personnel.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the most unpredictably gifted
players of his generation but appears evermore isolated among
Inter's 'US Mourines' - as la Gazzetta referred to them this week -
while at £25m Quaresma, even at this early stage, is fast becoming
the most expensive flop since Juan Sebastian Veron. Much has been made of his so-called
'trivela', but isn't it just a toe-punt by a one-footed
player?
While Inter were slipping to fourth place, Kaka scored the
winning goal for the second match running to help Milan leapfrog Inter into third place, and
move to within a point of the joint leaders. Filippo Inzaghi marked
his return to the side with the opening goal, which was cancelled
out by Simone Vergassola's equaliser before Kaka struck from the
penalty spot.
Injury-ravaged Juventus's revival continued as they followed
wins over Real Madrid and Torino with
a 2-1 success at Bologna courtesy of two Pavel Nedved
strikes, but Napoli and Udinese continue to set the pace at the
top. The Azzurri continued their remarkable start to the season as
German Denis fired a hat-trick in the
3-0 defeat of Reggina, while Udinese's 2-0 victory at Catania was even
more impressive. Without the injured Antonio Di Natale, the
Friulani became the first away side to score at the Stadio
Massimino and end the 100% home record of Walter Zenga's obdurate
side.
Results: Fiorentina 0-0 Inter, Chievo 1-2
Lazio, Genoa 2-1 Cagliari, Bologna 1-2 Juventus, Catania 0-2
Udinese, Lecce 1-1 Palermo, Milan 2-1 Siena, Napoli 3-0 Reggina,
Torino 2-1 Atalanta