The Roads Less Travelled …

It must be maddening to be an Inter fan. Every season starts with the exit of some big names, the entry of others and a renewed hope that this is the year when Inter show the world what a great team they are. Sadly for Inter fans, they have to hope for the next year now after being dumped out by a plucky Villareal side inspired by the Argentine playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.

After having lost out to Juventus in the Serie A race, Inter’s only hope of some credible silverware was in Europe. They probably had the easiest route (if there is anything like that in football) to semi-finals of Champions League facing a depleted Ajax and debutants Villareal in the knockout rounds. They dispatched the young Ajax team out of Europe with some authority, sparking genuine hopes in their fans that maybe there is still light at the end of tunnel. And yet again for them it was the headlights of an onrushing train which crushed a disjoint and underperforming Inter team at the El Madrigal today.

What is frustrating about Inter is the inconsistency of their star players. Adriano looks like the shadow of the player he was a year back when defenses fell apart with his charging runs. Figo, Stankovic, Veron, Martins, Recoba - all stars and matchwinners on their day were merely lumbering around the pitch today, seemingly with thoughts more important than the match occupying their heads. And the coach Roberto Mancini clearly had no plan B in case his first choice lineup failed to work. Compared to the compact Villareal team they looked pedestrian and had it not been for their goalie Toldo the margin of defeat would have been much heavier than the final 1 - 0.

So what should Inter do?

First and foremost build a team. One thing I see lacking in Italian football is a willingness to give a manager or coach the time and resources to build a team. This requires both the management and the fans to look beyond the next season. All the great teams who have made their marks were built over a period of 3-4 years before their greatest show. And the building block of a great team is a coach who believes in building one and not assembling one. Inter have to look no further than their own team in 1960s under the
legendary Hellenio Herrara (the coach who made catenaccio fashionable).
Today, one has to look over to England to see examples of such individuals - Mourinho, Benitez, Sir Alex, Arsene Wenger - they all have their own footballing philosophies but the common link is that they believe that a team is dish to be cooked and not a salad to be put together. In the continent, there are Paul Le Guen, erstwhile of Olympique Lyon and in future of Rangers or Frank Rijkaard leading the second Barcelona revolution.

Or maybe the easiest thing would be to take a lesson from Manuel Pellegrini, the coach of the current Villareal side - one of the smallest in Spain and now in the semis of CL in their maiden appearance. I think, there is no better example of a team being more than the sum of the individuals than Villareal.

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