On Sunday, the odds were all staked against Cagliari to beat Inter for the first time at the San Siro since 1995.
The Sardegna team were coming from three successive defeats and no one really gave them a glimmer of hope to emerge from Milan with three points in their bags. However, Cagliari went on to annihilate a stunned Inter, beating them 4-1 for their first win of the season.
Buoyed by their midweek 2-0 home win over Atalanta, Inter entered Sunday’s game brimming with confidence.
Victory over the bottom side in the Serie A would have enabled them to consolidate their position behind early pace-setters Juventus and Roma.
In their previous home fixture, Inter had registered an easy win against Sassuolo (7-0). Also a 1-0 away win at Dnipro ensured Walter Mazzarri’s men were off to a positive start in the Europa League.
But, instead of keeping up their positive momentum, Inter misfired badly against Cagliari, allowing the modest visitors to score four goals inside 34 first-half minutes.
Inter never got going. Pablo Osvaldo’s 18th minute leveller was an isolated moment of hurrah for the hosts.
Defensively, Inter were all over the place and in attack they lacked ideas and were unable to unlock Cagliari’s defence.
The fans are now accusing coach Mazzarri of lacking the necessary guile and tactical nous to lift Inter
The upset epitomised Inter’s major problem – a serious lack of consistency.
Last season, Mazzarri could only manage to lead his team to fifth place as Inter finished 18 points behind third-placed Napoli.
In 2013-14, the 18-times champions were involved in too many draws (15) some of which against opponents from the lower half of the standings.
The fans are now accusing Mazzarri of lacking the necessary guile and tactical nous to lift Inter.
For sure, it has always been a matter of so near yet so far syndrome for the Nerazzurri ever since Mazzarri replaced Andrea Stramaccioni last year.
In the away matches at Torino and Palermo this season, Mazzarri seemed happy to take home a point on each occasion. Another coach would have probably deployed an attack-minded formation to try and take maximum points from two trips against non-formidable opponents.
Week after week, Juve and Roma are confirming that they are heads and shoulders above the rest. Again, they will be the protagonists of a two-horse title race.
In my opinion, there are five teams with the potential of finishing third and claim the last-remaining Champions League berth. Inter could be bracketed among these teams with the others being Fiorentina, Milan, Napoli and Lazio.
Milan and Lazio are not playing in Europe this season so they might have an edge over the others. In Inter’s case, Mazzarri can count on reserves of strength and thus their involvement in the Europa League should not hinder the side from doing well in the Serie A.
From what we’ve seen so far and on the basis of what happened last season, Mazzarri’s Inter are lacking a winning mentality. The side does not have the drive to go out in search of success on a consistent basis.
Indeed, Inter tend to alternate between brilliant and ordinary performances and that has been happening quite regularly. It is one of the characteristics that distinguish them from the top teams.
Mazzarri’s primary focus has always been not to lose matches, particularly those away from home. But his approach is clearly hindering Inter from progressing and, perhaps, improving on last season.
Luckily the season is still in its infancy so there’s ample time for Mazzarri to revive Inter’s hopes and lead the team to a sequence of positive results for them to get back in the reckoning.