So, unsurprisingly after Inter’s defeat at the hands of newly-promoted Novara in midweek, Gian Piero Gasperini has been sacked as head coach, after just five games in charge. I don’t think anyone would have been shocked by the news, and few can argue after such abject displays from the Nerazzurri. However is his replacement, Claudio Ranieri, the right man for the job?
Gasperini was a bizarre appointment to begin with, and the fact that he was so low down on Massimo Moratti’s shortlist – even below the likes of Sinisa Mihajlovic – always meant that he would have to get off to a terrific start to the season to avoid the inevitable pressure that comes with managing a club of Inter’s size.
However, needless to say that didn’t happen. Having taken just a point from his side’s three league games, the former Genoa coach leaves them one place above the relegation zone and unlikely to win the Serie A title, mainly thanks to the incompatibility of his favoured 3-4-3 formation at Inter, and his unwillingness to change from that.
Gasperini used a 3-4-3 formation in around 74% of the games in which he was coach of Genoa from 2006-2010, and used a three man defence in almost 80% of games – very successfully, it has to be said. It is therefore unsurprising that when he came to Inter he tried to implement this system, but it was clear from the outset that it wasn’t going to work with the squad he had at his disposal.
In the 4-3 defeat at the hands of Palermo the three man defence was constantly undone by balls over the top, with the lack of pace from the centre-backs and lack of defensive work from the midfield leading to an embarrassing loss. Yet he persisted with the same system in all bar one of the games, with his stubbornness resulting in his sacking.
However I don’t think that Gasperini should be subject to all of the blame. Moratti knew that the 53-year-0ld was very attached to a system that wasn’t going to work at his club and even also pursued Marcelo Bielsa, a coach just as attached to his radical three man defence. Therefore, for the Inter owner to come out and say that the coach “will eventually change [to a four-man defence]” after Gasperini’s poor start to his Inter career is nothing short of ridiculous.
It is because of Inter’s current woes that I believe that in Claudio Ranieri, Inter have got the ideal man to take the reigns and guide them out of trouble. The ‘Tinkerman’ isn’t afraid to change things if they aren’t going well – occasionally to his detriment.
What’s more, he has a track record of taking charge of some of the biggest clubs in Italy and being a solid, if unspectacular coach with adaptable and relatively simple tactical systems. In all likelihood he isn’t a long-term appointment, but without doubt he’s be a coach guaranteed to get Inter out of the mess in which they currently find themselves.
Follow Jack Sargeant on Twitter: @sargeant_j and be sure to check out Jack’s sports blog as well.
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