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| | Wednesday 12 March, 2008 | | Blog: Mancini mystery | | Why did Roberto Mancini quit this way – petulance, bad timing or sheer manipulation? Susy Campanale isn't sure, but she knows it ain't good |  |  | | I shan't even begin to discuss Inter's latest European flop. The lack of a Champions League mentality, the inability to step up against the big sides, their woeful disciplinary record, the embarrassing way they gave up completely with 20 minutes to go or Zlatan Ibrahimovic's painfully flawed performances that mean he'll never win the Ballon d'Or no matter how many flicks and tricks he pulls off against the likes of Reggina. No, this blog is solely about Roberto Mancini's bizarre decision to quit and the extremely mysterious way he went about announcing it.
Just to recap – Mancini did the usual round of television and radio interviews after the game and mentioned nothing about wanting to resign. Only when he got to the print media conference did he suddenly blurt out this comment: "I think that these will probably be my last two and a half months on the Inter bench. After four years, and even if I have another four years left on my contract, I will leave Inter. I have already told the players and President Massimo Moratti. It has nothing to do with the Liverpool defeat, as I would have made the decision anyway."
When leaving the stadium he walked past more camera crews and refused to comment on that announcement, insisting: "I only want to talk about the game." Meanwhile, the players admit they are stunned and knew nothing about this.
Something's going on here and whatever the explanation, Mancio doesn't come out looking good. The first scenario is that he always thought he'd taken Inter as far as they could go and was going to leave despite penning a new four-year contract only a few months ago. In that case, why announce it now with the team and fans already at a low ebb and their Serie A lead reduced to six points? That's certainly not going to help anyone.
Scenario number two is that Mancini made this decision after their Champions League exit and wanted to keep his dignity intact by telling everyone it was simply time to move on, thus avoiding having to be defensive while the media and some sections of the support inevitably call for his dismissal and the arrival of Jose Mourinho. That would be at best taking the easy way out and at worst not even trying to defend his very positive record at a club not known for picking up silverware.
The third option is the most troubling. Mancini knew he was going to be criticised, had heard the Mourinho rumours and was upset after the post-match interviews, so he made this shock 'announcement' in much the same way as a wife asks if she looks fat in this outfit – as a prompt for President, players and fans to say: "Oh no, you're wonderful, don't change a bit!"
Aside from being petulant, manipulative and selfish, it could also be a major bluff that doesn't pay off. There's every chance they will all turn around and nod dismissively, eyeing the muffin top spilling out of the too-tight jeans.
Whatever the explanation, Mancini has made a bad situation far worse.
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Ignoring Mancini’s ego (if that is ever possible) do you not think that he is putting himself forward for the Italy job? Let’s be honest, win or lose Donadoni is not going to hang around Coverciano after this summer’s tournament. As a respected journalist would you please do me the favour of telling him not to bother? With his track record in Europe and his inability to manage Italian players (Inter are made up of foreigners, as their name suggests) our beloved national team will end up looking like Steve McClaren’s England. Chelsea looks to me to be the perfect destination for him, but best tell Roman that he can forget Europe, again. Instead it weird how the words Inter and turmoil go hand in hand.
Guy Sorce, Loughton
How is it possibly fair to base Inter’s Champions League on the Liverpool tie?? Although we played very average for two legs, the tie was robbed with Materazzi being sent off (extremely unfairly- but you will never write about that). That killed the tie after 30 minutes and it was always uphill. Add to that bad form, injuries and total lack of confidence which has crept in, it’s more a circumstance situation rather than Inter just aren’t good enough and flopped.
Don’t forget six months ago Inter were clearly streets ahead of the rest and won five Champions League games in a row with ease. You can’t base Inter not being good enough for solely Europe, as it has filtered through to the domestic season as well, so it’s a bigger problem. It’s called a form slump.....something Milan have experienced in Serie A for the past two and a half seasons!!!
er_living
Can you ask Susy Campanale to stop writing about Inter? They may deserve a lot of their criticism, but the charmless, unfunny, smug (and boringly relentless) way it's delivered isn't journalism of any note or indeed kind. Whatever wrongs she feels the Nerazzurri have done (and it must be personal) can she please get over it? I can't get to anything worthwhile in her prose as I can't get over the chip on her shoulder. Got to be Juventus, only red-handed cheats can be so bitter...
Dominic
Being a massive Interista I am amused at the degree that Inter's success in Serie A has rattled all Juventus and Milan fans. You are all like scared little children running around pointing fingers trying to figure out what went wrong. If you’re a Juventus supporter maybe you should worry about actually qualifying for a Champions League before you point out Inter's short comings. And if you’re a Milan supporter, well I don't even think there is a need for me to say anything at all, oh dear me! FORZA INTER forever, Champions League 2009 is ours!
Fabian
Don't bother understanding it, Dominic. Anyway, they will probably have to remove this blog after Mancini's latest declarations :-) Because all the more reason now, but even before Mancio explained himself I thought the same thing I'm thinking about Susy's blog right now- It's USELESS!!
R Alvares
Being a lifelong Inter fan I remember the pain and the heartache of many a miserable season that ended in nothing, but Mancini has become our most successful manager for 40 years!!! This man has brought to Inter a style of play, made us competitive and hard to beat (just ask Milan fans, they know a thing or two about losing to Mancini’s Inter!!) and more importantly the Scudetto!!
I do agree with you Mr. Sorce in that Mancini is not ready for the Italy job. I firmly believe however that Mancini’s decision to quit is more than likely down to the media’s constant campaign of hate towards Inter which sees our name dragged through the gutter week in, week out with stories of favourable refereeing decisions, in-fighting and anything else that they can make up to unnecessarily stir things up at the club. Mancini is a winner and an Inter team without him at the helm would be a weaker one for it!!
Claudio, Bedford
For Christ's sake, stop this woman from writing on Inter! Who knows what her problem with our team is. The fact that she is a 'journalist' does not give her the right to use the site to insult our team time and time again. Grow up and learn a bit more about Inter and football before releasing your vitriol.
Dimitris
The world and ex-Liverpool players all saw Materazzi's sending off as ridiculous in first leg with neither incident being worthy of a yellow card. Of Burdisso's in second leg Andy Gray called the decision "shocking" and replays showed no contact. For someone who solely wished to discuss Mancini you got plenty of ill-conceived digs in at Inter. No "big side" having lost three of its key backline players and reduced to 10 for the majority of the tie would have fared any better than Inter. Take Terry, Caravalho and Cole from Chelsea and reduce to 10 and even against this ordinary Liverpool side the result would have been Liverpool going through. Do the same with Man Utd or Barca and again Liverpool would progress.
No I feel the real reason you won't tackle Inter's Champions League exit and focus instead on Mancini is because you don't have a credible way to attack the Nerazzurri for their elimination. I couldn't help but think of "The Duck" while you tore into Ibrahimovic, the 30 goals in half a season saviour of Milan and how well he did against Arsenal. And what of their Ballon D'Or winner? How effective he was!
Mark, Newtownabbey
Good article once again despite the gripes from Inter fans. In my view Mancini reckons that he has done as much as he can with this set of players. Despite all the money spent, they still look a long way short of a class act, which is what really rankles with the Inter fans that I know. They do not play with the style that some of the great Italian teams of the past have shown and that comes down to the fact that they do not have any truly 'great' players in the team. The term 'great' is bandied about all too readily these days. What Inter have is a collection of hard working players, some of whom are very good, some are mediocre, but none are truly great. Ibrahimovic flatters to deceive on the big occasion and only his ego can outshine Mancini's. The midfield is hard working but lacking the flair and individual brilliance needed to turn a tight match against top opposition. Materazzi is an accident waiting to happen and there seems to be a great deal of ill feeling between certain players in the squad. The President has been far too loyal to certain players and I think that Mancini knows this but cannot foresee any changes.
Brian
Well said Susy, I always thought he was not really good enough, He seems to have few man-management skills and little tactical ability. As for his record, one half season at Lazio? The Champions League was his chance to prove his team were really the top side recent Serie A stats made them out to be, and they are obviously not. Thanks for this one Susy. I would say the Nerazzurri's trousers were always too big for him anyway!
Simon
The truth is Mancini is tactically inept. Against a team lacking confidence he should have and could have finished Liverpool off in the first leg by going at them. Instead he let Liverpool have plenty of possession, thus gaining belief and getting the crowd behind them. Even when Inter had XI on the pitch they lacked any cutting edge. The truth is they are overrated. It is another anti-climax in the Champions League after Villarreal, Valencia and now Liverpool. It is also a squad game and Inter have so many 'superstars' they keep reminding us about that injuries and suspensions are more poor excuses for what has been another season of failure and disappointment in Europe. I'm sure their bitterness and anger at the referee will subside, but they should be analysing their own performances and asking why they failed yet again.
Mike, Derry
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