Home struggles derail Inter’s title defence

Despite their defeat in the Rome derby on Sunday, Lazio are still leading the Serie A standings with 22 points from 10 matches.

Milan are following closely behind, two points adrift, whereas defending champions Inter, still touted to be the strongest team in the division, are three points adrift of the top spot.

In Inter’s case, things are not going according to plan. The Nerazzurri, who have six points less with respect to their first 10 games of last season, have played well below par in recent outings.

Inter may have hit rock bottom on Saturday as, only five days after going down to Tottenham in the Champions League, they could only come from behind to salvage a 1-1 home draw with Brescia.

This poor outcome – Brescia’s first positive result after five defeats on the trot – further exposed Inter’s shortcomings.

Josè Mourinho’s Inter had built the foundations of their back-to-back league triumphs in 2009 and 2010 in their own backyard. At the San Siro stadium, Inter were simply unbeatable under the Portuguese coach and seldom dropped home points.

In season 2008/09, Inter won 14 of their 19 home fixtures. They were the only top division side to remain undefeated at home all season.

In the following campaign, Inter, along with Sampdoria and Palermo, remained unbeaten at home and went on to record 15 victories.

Things are completely different this time as Juventus, Sampdoria and Brescia have already avoided defeat when playing at Inter.

Last season’s treble winners are without a home success since the 4-0 mauling of Bari on September 22. Such a negative feat was unheard of during Mourinho’s two-year reign.

Inter have also experienced a steep increase in the number of injuries. This has forced Rafa Benitez to change personnel from one game to another, resulting in the team going through a bumpy period.

Like any other side, Inter, have to deal with injuries but never like this year. Mourinho was always against a planned rotation of players and, bar for injuries or suspensions, he used to stick to his line-up irrespective of the opponents and the competition in which they played.

Last season, on their way to winning the Coppa Italia, scudetto and Champions League, Mourinho managed to bring the best out of his entire squad.

In particular, three players – Douglas Maicon, Wesley Sneijder and Diego Milito – excelled and their 2009-10 contribution was paramount towards ultimate success.

By stark contrast, this season these three players have been a pale shadow of themselves.

Maicon was on the brink of joining Real Madrid in the close season but the deal failed to materialise in the 11th hour.

Even Milito was on Mourinho’s shopping list but then he was persuaded to stay put.

With the benefit of hindsight, Inter would have been better off had they cashed in on Maicon and Milito and invested on younger players.

Sneijder, buoyed by some outstanding performances for runners-up Holland in the World Cup, is strongly tipped to win this year’s FIFA Golden Ball albeit his recent performances for Inter have left much to be desired.

Inter are still in contention for silverware though. They have the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup, in Abu Dhabi, coming up next month. This could be the perfect occasion for Inter to revive their fortunes.

To be successful though, Benitez has to make sure that all his players are behind him and show the desire to win more silverware.

If complacency creeps inside the dressing room, then that would signal the start of the end of Inter’s golden era.

Serie A statistics

1st positive result for Brescia after five straight defeats as Giuseppe Iachini’s side held on to a 1-1 away draw at Inter. This was the first drawn result between these two sides since December 2000 (0-0). Brescia, after Juventus and Sampdoria, became the third side to leave the San Siro undefeated against Inter this season. On Sunday, Milan handed Bari a fifth straight defeat to close in on early pace-setters Lazio. This was Milan’s third successive win on the road, following victories over Parma and Napoli.

2nd successive win for Roma as they overcame Lazio to move further up the table. This was Lazio’s first defeat in Serie A since going down to Samp-doria on the opening day. Similarly, Napoli recorded their second straight win as they condemned lowly Parma to a fourth defeat this term. Parma are without a win since beating Brescia 2-0 on the first day.

4 penalties were taken last weekend. Alessandro Del Piero brought Juventus back in business from the spot to cancel Cesena’s early lead. Samuel Eto’o found the back of the net from a penalty to help Inter avoid a shock home defeat against Brescia on Saturday. Elsewhere, the tense capital derby went Roma’s way thanks to two second-half penalty goals scored by Marco Borriello and Mirko Vucinic.

5 sides – Inter, Roma, Catania, Bologna and Lecce – are still unbeaten at home. At the Renato Dall’Ara stadium, Bologna left it late to beat Lecce in a basement clash. For Alberto Malesani’s side this was their first success after a barren run of three draws and two defeats. Lecce have only one draw (vs Palermo 2-2) to show from their first six away fixtures.

6th positive result on the trot (four wins and two draws) for Juventus as on Sunday they came from a goal down to beat Cesena at home. In their last seven outings, Cesena only managed a home draw with fellow strugglers Parma. Sampdoria and Catania shared the spoils in the only goalless draw last weekend. Mimmo Di Carlo’s Samp are unbeaten in their last seven outings (two wins and five draws).

7 points collected by Fiorentina in their last three games. On Sunday, the Viola left it late to beat Chievo by a solitary Alessio Cerci goal. This was Fiorentina’s fourth win in six home meetings with Chievo. The Verona-based outfit have conquered the Artemio Franchi stadium on the other two occasions – 2-0 in August 2001 and 2-0 in April 2010.

21 goals were scored on the 10th day. Foreign players contributed with 11 goals while there were 10 first-half goals. Total number of goals scored so far is 223. Edison Cavani (Napoli), the joint leading marksman with Inter’s Samuel Eto’o with eight goals, grabbed the only brace of the day. Alexandre Pato (Milan), Alessio Cerci (Fiorentina) and Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus) all came on as substitutes and scored.