After the humiliating defeat to, then bottom of the table, Siena, rumours began to circulate that Inter president Massimo Moratti was considering firing his fifth coach since the departure of Jose Mourinho in May 2010, with the likes of Walter Mazzarri linked to the job.
Moratti has since came out and defended his coach saying, “I’m not saying it out of stubbornness, I think Stramaccioni is a bright coach,
“He works to make things run smoothly and he suffers when things don’t go well.
“Things aren’t going terribly but nor are they going well, but the team, the players, need to know the fans believe in them.”
However, it is believed that the tactician is still on a shaky peg and if he fails to guide Inter to a Champions League spot then Moratti will begin the managerial hunt again.
After coming to the rescue at the end of last season, it seemed Stramaccioni was untouchable and it would seem absurd to even murmur the words ‘Stramaccioni’ and ‘sacked’ in the same sentence, but with performances fluctuating this season, it does call into question his future at the club.
A major disappointment of the Stramaccioni era, so far, is the lack of youngsters that have been integrated into the team. After guiding the Primavera team to success in the Next Generation Series, many expected Strama to be the one to finally break the mould and give the youngsters a chance in favour of the old guard, who were and still are very dominant in this Nerazzurri side.
As always when dealing with youngsters they need time to develop and must not be thrown in at the deep end, but must be given the right amount of playing time to gain valuable experience.
The Italian tactician has partly failed on this matter with the likes of Phillipe Coutinho, who has since been sold to Liverpool, and was given very little chance after so much hype and expectation surrounding the Brazilian at the beginning of the season.
One positive for Interisti this season however, is Juan Jesus, who has broke into the team at the age of 21 after been given his chance against Torino earlier this season. He grabbed the chance with two hands and has performed well this season with some dominating performances in the heart of the defence.
Another criticism of Stramaccioni is the supposed ‘provincial’ defensive, counter attacking style he has played this season.
Despite the large amount of scrutiny, it has been relatively successful with the Nerazzurri sitting in fourth place just one point behind that prestigious Champions League spot, even after a some poor results of late. With the players at his disposal and the lack of a playmaker, he has been forced into playing a counter attacking style.
This season was the beginning of a new project at Inter and it all began so well with Stramaccioni being hailed as ‘the next Mourinho’ and after the win against Juventus, and Inter were being tipped as potential Scudetto challengers.
However, since then it has went sour for the Nerazzurri and after some poor results Stramaccioni is no longer the sweetheart of calcio fans like he once was.
In spite of some poor results it would seem a puzzling move by Inter to sack the young tactician and he definitely has the credentials to be a long term success with the Nerazzurri. As always however, in the world of calcio and impatient presidents nothing is certain.
