Another re-scheduling apparently happened again for Serie A match between As Roma against Inter Milan as after only being relocated from 20.45 kick off into 15.00 on Saturday, the Lega Serie A have to move the day into Sunday as well.

This situation arrived because the snow problem apparently still can’t be solved on Saturday despite having the match being pushed forward into an evening kick off, as at the moment the weather already showed some serious situation.

There’s a fear that the match won’t be played at all this weekend but apparently according to the latest news from Italy, things can be sorted out on Sunday, which is a good news for football fans considering Roma v Inter is one of the most anticipated match this week. Obviously, the fans around the globe that watch from television must be content with the fact that they can’t enjoy the comfort of watching two, three big games in a different day but having the games being played is obviously more important.

Aside from the Roma against Inter, there are also another important match which was being re-scheduled due to bad weather issue, that game is Ac Milan’s encounter against Napoli. That tie was supposedly set for 20.45 kick off on Sunday but got pushed up to 15.00 on the same day, despite the Rossoneri was actually asking for a postponing instead.

The bad weather in Serie A this winter have really been disturbing the competition as until now there have been several matches that got postponed because of this situation. A condition that raises the worries of many people, hoping that a solution can be found immediately not only for this current month but for next season, so there will be no more canceled match as of today.

 
photo credit: batrax

Thiago Motta’s departure from Inter Milan apparently leaves an interesting facts which was revealed by his agent, Alessandro Canovi, stating that there’s actually some conflict of interest going on regarding the player’s future before finally moving to Paris Saint-Germain.

Canovi hinted that the Nerazzurri’s management, lead by Massimo Moratti and Marco Branca are very eager to sell the player, while coach, Claudio Ranieri actually isn’t that keen in losing Motta, who has been an important figure for Inter until this season.

Canovi further explained that Moratti and Branca’s decision to let Motta leave for Paris was because they understand that the player already lost his appetite in playing for the Nerazzurri. However, Ranieri still believes that the Italian international is still very much needed by his team especially since this season Inter’s record when playing without the ex-Barcelona man has been pretty poor.

“Massimo Moratti and Marco Branca understood the player’s state of mind, as he could no longer find the motivation to play with the Nerazzurri until June. Staying to the end of the season would’ve been a difficult situation. Claudio Ranieri wanted him to stay, because there are few players like Thiago Motta and it’s only normal a Coach would not be eager to let him go,” Canovi stated.

Many expert believes that losing Motta is a big loss for Inter, especially now their starting to lose another grip in the league, although the investment being made looks pretty promising indeed. After the
ex-Barcelona player’s departure, the Nerazzurri picked up two interesting players, Angelo Palombo from Sampdoria along with Porto’s Freddy Guarin, who have been catching many eyes of talent scouts from big teams.

However, despite already acquiring Palombo and Guarin, there’s still some doubts about Inter’s ability in coping with Motta’s departure since the latter does have different characteristic compared with the previous two names. Obviously the proves on whether the Nerazzurri can really cope well with the departure of an important act in midfield especially since Wesley Sneijder hasn’t been himself this season.

photo credit: fenderjaguar

Having already “lose” several matches in the past few weeks due to bad weather, Lega Serie A commissioner decided to make a change for some matches for this upcoming week in order to avoid another forced postponing.

The rescheduled games are, As Roma v Inter Milan, Cesena v Catania and Ac Milan v Napoli, who will now be played in the afternoon instead of their previous evening schedule, hoping that the cold weather won’t be troubling yet at an early hour.

Two matches, Roma v Inter and Cesena v Catania will still be played on Saturday, while Milan v Napoli also isn’t changing any dates despite previous request from the Rossoneri vice president, Adriano Galliani, asking to change the game into different dates. This decision seems to be welcomed well by the clubs as no objections been filed following the fixtures changes, although it remains to be seen whether changing hours would be an effective decisions for those teams.

The weather have been a problematic situation in Serie A for the last few seasons, mainly because the quality of many stadiums in the league that hasn’t been updated, giving difficulties for both players and also supporters. Moreover, there have also been some ideas of changing the schedule especially in winter time by expanding the holiday, so when the fixtures starts, the cold weather won’t be much of an issue anymore.

However, improving stadiums or expanding the holiday would also bring problems, as for the first idea, it would take sometime before teams managed to get their home base updated with the latest technology. Meanwhile, giving extra time off for players, eventually will make the competition gets longer, something that probably isn’t something profitable for television, which is the main financial support for Serie A teams.

photo credit: mitsurinho

There is an interesting battle going on at Inter at the moment between the manager Claudio Ranieri and Inter’s best player Wesley Sneijder. And it is a battle that Sneijder cannot win.

Sneijder was taking off at half-time during Inter‘s defeat at Lecce last weekend and when asked about being substituted after the game by Sport1, Sneijder said:

“The coach’s decision. I’ll probably talk with him about it tomorrow.”

The problem for Sniejder is that he does not fit into Ranieri’s style of play. Asked about Sneijder, Ranieri said:

“Sneijder must learn the language that Inter is speaking: everyone must attack and everyone must defend. I’m not worried about keeping great players on the bench.”

Talking specifically about the Lecce substitution, Ranieri went off to say:

“It wasn’t only Wesley, but also the two strikers should have interpreted the match better. We were too stretched as a team. Sneijder is an important element, but he must learn the language the team are speaking. At Barcelona everyone fights to win the ball back. There are no big egos. The best teams in every league play well whether they are attacking or defending. I said it would be wonderful, but difficult, to slot in quality players like Sneijder and Forlan. If these players fit into the the framework of the team, we can improve. If this doesn’t happen I won’t waste time thinking about it too much and will fall back on the team that has been getting the results so far.”

Ranieri said there had been no run in with Wes for the time being:

“I haven’t spoken to Sneijder yet, I probably will during the technical meeting this evening. I see him playing behind a lone striker or behing two forwards: to make an attacking midfielder successful behind two players requires sacrifices on the part of everyone. When we play compact, we get results. If we can’t playing two forwards and Sneijder, I have no scruples about making changes. It doesn’t take me long to work things out. Having players available has never been a problem for a coach. A quality squad allows variations in the formation, so you can use the players who are fittest and gradually slot in the others.”

As I said this is a battle that Sneijder cannot win, and I expect to see Inter sell him during the summer, and use the proceeds to make Inter younger and more athletic.

Inter Milan were the busiest team on transfer deadline as they brought in three players and let two leave.

Inter signed both Fredy Guarin and Angelo Palombo to reinforce their midfield and also Juan to help out with their defence.

The additions of Guarin and Palombo allowed Inter to finally allow Thiago Motta to join Paris Saint-Germain for around €10m.

Inter coach Claudio Ranieri had said on Monday he had “no fear” that Motta would be departing the club he joined from Genoa in 2009.

However, Motta leaves Inter having made 83 appearances for the Nerazzurri, famously winning the treble in 2010.

A number of other deals were completed just as the transfer window shut in Italy.

Roma sent Chilean midfielder David Pizarro to Manchester City on loan until the end of the season. Pizarro shone on occasions for Roberto Mancini’s Inter Milan in 2005-06 but after three good seasons at Roma, injury and fallouts with managers started to cut his appearances.

“Pizarro, I know him very well, he is a good player and a good midfielder,” Mancini told Sky Sports after the 1-0 league defeat at Everton.

Serie A leaders Juventus moved to strengthen their midfield on transfer deadline day by signing Simone Padoin from Atalanta and also let Vincenzo Iaquinta and Ciro Immobile leave.

Toni signed for Dubai’s Al Nasr and now fellow World Cup winner Iaquinta moved to relegation-battling Cesena until the end of the campaign.

Elsewhere, Lazio loaned Antonio Candreva from Cesena and sent Simone Del Nero the other way. Cesena also signed Mario Santana from Napoli.

Meanwhile, Albania international Erjon Bogdani joined Siena on a four-and-a-half year deal, also from Cesena.

Wesley Sneijder says he wants an explanation from Claudio Ranieri as to why he was substituted at half-time during Inter’s defeat at Lecce this weekend.

When asked about his withdrawl after the game by Sport1, Sneijder said:

“The coach’s decision. I’ll probably talk with him about it tomorrow.”

Inter tactician Ranieri however, had a more logical explanation for his decision to replace Sniejder:

“He was not playing badly but I wanted to restore [defensive] security,” Ranieri explained, pointing out to his side’s frailties when getting caught out on the counter attack. “We’re still not developing well with 4-3-1-2 [and] we can express ourselves better with 4-4-2. Can he play in behind the forwards? We’ve said it many times before, he is a central player that must be free to make mistakes. He’s a trequartista, he cannot be conditioned to play on the outside. He could play in a 4-4-1-1 but we must then strive to adapt well to a diamond [formation in midfield. We tried it [the diamond] today but we have seen again that the team didn’t cope well with it. We were unable to press well and I changed it. In future we will try maybe with a 4-2-3-1, with [Diego] Forlan on the wing and Sneijder a bit behind the striker. We should try that because in the first half today we did not have the necessary solidity.”

Reading between the lines of Ranieri’s comments, it is clear that he is having trouble fitting Sneijder into his preferred style of play. That is why I expect Sneijder to be sold this summer, as Ranieri prefers to play without him these days.

Not many surprises arrives on week 20 in Serie A beside Inter Milan’s seven winning streak end in the hands of Lecce after Guillermo Giacomazzi netted the only goal that clinched the victory.

The Nerazzurri did actually put the ball in the net twice in the second half but all of those goals were correctly disallowed by the referee because of offside.

Claudio Ranieri didn’t really commented much about the disallowed goals as he was more concerned with his team’s performance against Lecce, something that should’ve been seen earlier since Inter last couple of games were pretty poor despite getting the three point. The defeat brought the Nerazzurri back to fifth place as Lazio dethroned Ranieri’s team previous fourth spot, making things much more interesting in the coming weeks.

For the moment the Scudetto race leaves Juventus and Ac Milan getting toe to toe as the one point margin stands until this upcoming midweek where the league starts again. This weekend, the Turin giant successfully defeated Udinese 2-1 with goals from Alessandro Matri, while Milan destroyed their visitor, Cagliari 3-0 at San Siro, thanks to the contribution of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Antonio Nocerino and also Massimo Ambrosini.

Week 20 also seen Lazio and Genoa being successful as the Biancocelesti stormed Chievo 3-0 with goals coming from Hernanes and also Miroslav Klose’s double in the final minutes of the match. Meanwhile, the Marassi outfit managed to stun Napoli, beating Walter Mazzarri’s team 3-2 with Rodrigo Palacio’s brace and Alberto Gilardino’s strike. The Partenopei did made things interesting though after Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi scoring within just two minutes, giving the last 10 minutes a difficult time for Genoa.

Complete Serie A result for Week 20:
Catani a v Parma 1-1; Juventus v Udinese 2-1; Fiorentina v Siena 2-1; Cesena v Atalanta 0-1; Chievo v Lazio 0-3; Genoa v Napoli 3-2; Lecce v Inter 1-0; Palermo v Novara 2-0; Roma v Bologna 1-1; Ac Milan v Cagliari 3-0

photo credit: .a_dit.

Getting into the final days of January transfer window, Inter Milan reportedly are getting really busy as they’re currently looming on their plan to release Thiago Motta and search for his replacement immediately.

Reports revealed that at the moment the Nerazzurri are working on sealing former Juventus’ target, Freddy Guarin, as the potential new player to replace Motta, who is very keen on leaving if Claudio Ranieri’s team doesn’t want to extend the former Barcelona man’s contract as soon as possible.

Confirmation about Inter’s interest on Guarin has been revealed by the Colombian international’s agent himself, who has been in Milan to work out the potential deal between Nerazzurri and FC Porto. The representative revealed that nothing is concrete at the moment but there’s a strong will to make the deal come through considering Juventus have already pulled out their interest in bringing the midfielder this winter.

“I am working on getting him to Inter. There is nothing official yet, but I hope the deadlock can be broken,” Guarin’s agent revealed.

The latest devolepment about Guarin’s future is very interesting since not long ago the player himself stated that he only wants a move to Juventus this winter, rulling out other options. However, since the Turin giant apparently chose to sign Martin Caceres instead, the Kolombian seemingly willing to take other options instead.

Meanwhile, Inter themselves are also considering other options should their approach on Guarin fails, as reports suggested that the likes of Antonio Candreva and Kevin Constant as possible candidates . Aside from Juve and the Nerazzurri, reports in Italy also suggested that Ac Milan could also be on therunning for the Colombian international, who have been attrackting many eyes since performing well for Porto last season.

photo credit: batrax

Napoli ended Inter Milan’s wonderful winning run in the Italian Cup thanks to two goals from Edinson Cavani, the result automatically puts the Partenopei advancing into the semi final where they’ll meet Siena.

The match also marked the return of the Southern Italian club’s Argentinian forward, Ezequiel Lavezzi, who has been out for quite sometime due to thigh injury, however he still hasn’t found his touches as just yet on the night.

Napoli’s match up against Inter in the Cup is something that Mazzarri and his boys waited as they’re looking to take revenge on last season’s failure in the same competition against the Nerazzurri. The home team took the initiative immediately from the kick off and created several openings, notably from Cavani and also Marek Hamsik.

Some controversies already arrived in the first period when Wesley Sneijder escaped a straight red card after committing a horribly dangerous tackle on Walter Gargano, which could really sent the Uruguayan into medical room. However, the match continues without anyone getting red carded as both teams created goal scoring chances with the Partenopei being a little bit ahead maximizing their home turf advatage.

Despite being more dominant in the attack, It took around 50 minutes for Napoli to take the lead and it was Cavani who crafted the opening from the spot kick after Thiago Motta tripping the Uruguayan striker in the penalty area. The Nerazzurri tried their best to get back into the game but the Partenopei hold on well until the final minutes and even managed to seal the victory deep in extra time from Cavani’s double in the match.

Meanwhile, in the other match, 10 men Siena stunned Chievo with a goal from substitute player, Mattia Destro, who scored from point blank after receiving a flick from midfielder Alessandro Gazzi. The result puts Giuseppe Sannino’s side into the semifinal, which is a rare occasion for them and it would be interesting in seeing whether they will go for broke considering they will be facing Napoli in the next round.

Match Reports:

Napoli v Inter 2-0
Goals: Cavani pen 50, 93 (Napoli)
Napoli:De Sanctis; Campagnaro, Cannavaro, Aronica; Maggio, Gargano, Inler (Dzemaili 81), Zuniga; Hamsik (Dossena 87), Lavezzi (Pandev 65); Cavani
Inter:Castellazzi; Maicon, Ranocchia, Samuel, Chivu; Zanetti, Thiago Motta (Zarate 76), Cambiasso, Obi (Alvarez 46); Sneijder, Milito

Chievo v Siena 0-1
Goal: Destro 54 (Siena)
Chievo: Puggioni; Frey, Morero (Paloschi 64), Mandelli (Bradley 80), Acerbi, Drame; Vacek, Cruzado, Hetemaj (Kirilov 87); Moscardelli, Uribe
Siena: Farelli; Belmonte (Bolzoni 66), Rossettini, Rossi, Angelo; Mannini (Terzi 51), Parravicini, Gazzi, Grossi; Gonzalez (Destro 51), Reginaldo

photo credit: Tanzen80

Despite recent denials from Inter Milan, their possibility of losing Thiago Motta to Paris Saint Germain this January is apparently pretty huge especially after the player himself isn’t having any issue in leaving Claudio Ranieri’s side.

According to the player’s agent, Alessandro Canovi, they are now waiting for the Nerazzurri’s approval over PSG’s offer and should the Italian giant agreed terms with the French outfit than the player will start negotiating about wages and contract.

Although Canovi basically stating that his client won’t be forcing Inter to sell him but the agent simply hinting Motta’s will to move from San Siro especially because there’s only around 18 months left in his contract. Apparently, the Nerazzurri’s management refusal in negotiating new contract for the midfielder last summer becomes the player’s reason in listening to other offers, especially if it’s much more interesting that what his currently have.

“Inter have informed us that they have received an important bid from PSG . We are waiting. Only after Inter have told us of their decision will we communicate our position. His future is in their hands.If Inter and Paris SG find an agreement to sell Motta then we will inform ourselves. Only then would we listen to Paris SG’s offer,” Canovi stated. “Motta has a year and a half left on his deal, If there had been a renewal, which we asked for in June, then the situation today would be totally different.”

Despite stating that his client would be open for a move to PSG, Canovi confirmed that the latest rumors stating that Motta has already agreed personal terms with the French outfit is not true at all. The agent ensured that he or his client hasn’t started any conversation at all with any Paris based club’s entourages as they’re honoring Inter’s position in the deal.

We haven’t had any contact with the French officials and we haven’t spoken about money. The figures in the newspapers are not real. It’s pleasing that people such as Carlo Ancelotti and Leonardo are interested in Thiago, but we haven’t started any economical talks with them,” the agent added.

It would be interesting to see whether Inter would really agree shipping Motta away this January considering he has been a very important figure in the Nerazzurri’s midfield, especially after recovering from injury. The former Barcelona player’s return to the center of play pretty much helped the club’s improvement in form after playing pretty woeful in the earlier part of the season.

photo credit: fenderjaguar