Adriano did not play, Inter Milan still beat Livorno away, and to the delight of Inter Milan fans, despite AC Milan's 5-2 home win over Lecce, Juventus stopped their progress on the road, they were drawn 1-1 by Parma away, Inter Milan overtook Juventus with 41 points, and climbed to the top of the standings for the first time this season!

"Is Juventus flat? That's the good news. Once we're in the first place, it's hard for any team to catch up with us. We're strong now and it's not difficult for any team to grab more points than us. ”

Dick's remarks in the post-game press conference made a lot of reporters feel a sense of déjà vu — and then a lot of people noticed it, as was the case five years ago in '98-'99.

At the beginning of that season, Trapattoni's Fiorentina led all the way to the winter championship, and in the case of Inter Milan and Juventus's poor performance, Eriksen's Lazio started a strong catch-up, and after the winter break, with Barty's injury and Edmundo's brain cramps again, Lazio overtook Fiorentina, after the victory over Bari, Eriksen said in an interview that "when we get to the top, it's hard to catch up", and then what? AC Milan came from behind to win seven consecutive victories over Lazio, who had a seven-point lead, and finally won the league title at the centenary celebration!

The discovery got the journalists excited – does that mean Inter Milan will fall short in the final round? It's not that they are superstitious, but because Inter Milan's current momentum is very similar to Inter Milan in Cooper's first year in charge, and it is also a variety of points grabbing, the only difference is that Cooper relies on defense, and Dick now relies on offense, will they also fall at the last moment like Inter Milan that year?

You know, they are only one point ahead of Juventus and two points ahead of AC Milan!

The match was played in midweek, and three days later, Inter Milan faced Sampdoria in the 18th round of the league.

Sampdoria have been quite good this season, they are now in fifth place, holding down traditional powerhouses such as Roma Lazio Parma, only four points behind fourth-placed Udinese, Antonioli, Castellini, Volpi, Palombo, Fraki and other strong players have performed quite well this season, even on the road, they don't seem to be afraid of Inter Milan......

In this round of league history, Inter Milan completed a crazy comeback in the last six minutes after falling behind by two goals, which can be called an epic reversal, Dick vaguely remembers such a game, but he didn't know it was this round.

However, under his leadership, Inter Milan played more steadily with one less classic.

Adriano was not able to lose weight to the satisfaction of Dick before the start of this game, so Dick continued to hide him - in fact, Adriano himself let go, anyway, this round of the league is no longer in time, the next midweek is the Coppa Italia game, or concentrate on losing weight, and strive to play in the next round of the league - although this manager is a very good person, but in this regard, he really says nothing, and it is better to be obedient.

So Dick continued to adopt a new line-up - he is ready to gradually adjust the characteristics of the players in the front court from now on, using rotation to change the tactics more, and also allow more players to play their form.

Dick sent a similar four-three-three lineup in this game, there were no changes in the goalkeeper and backline, in the midfield, Mascherano came on, and Zanetti formed a double midfield, Perrotta took turns, Stankovic was put in front of the two midfielders to run, Di Natale started, his ostensible position was a full-back, in fact, Dick put him in an ambush behind Toney, Semioli got the starting position, and his task was to run on the right side to feed Toney.

In Adriano's absence, Toni naturally has to take on the burden of scoring goals, and such a formation that focuses more on wing assists was created to achieve such a purpose, and at the same time to tell Adriano that Inter can win even if you are not there......

Dick is very clear about this, the last round did not play in this round, the reason why Adriano will be so honest, and it has a lot to do with the last round of Inter Milan's easy victory, if the last Inter Milan did not win or won very difficult, Adriano will inevitably have "Look, without Lao Tzu or not good" and other ideas, when such thoughts become more, the players will naturally become arrogant, and they will not be too easy to discipline.

Many managers don't understand this truth, but because they are under pressure, especially in Serie A, the position of the head coach is often precarious, and he can win a game, even if he relies on stars - so for a long time, Serie A has produced the most "one-man teams", even if it is a giant, because the head coach can't suppress those stars most of the time.

Dick sold the king Vieri of the past six years as soon as he came up, it is not that he has such a mind in it, Vieri has been supporting Inter Milan alone in the past few years, such a player is certainly not a new manager can be suppressed immediately, Dick is not afraid of Vieri, but if there is infighting, it is the results of the whole team that will be delayed, and the most precious time.

So after reaching a consensus with the management, Dick solved the problem in the simplest and most brutal way, selling Vieri and rebuilding a new team, and rebuilding on the ruins is much easier than rebuilding in a residential area, at least, the former does not need to have the trouble of "forced demolition......

In the process, Moratti has remained silent, while Facchetti agrees with Dick's opinion that the salary space saved by selling Vieri for Inter Milan is enough to support Adriano, Toney and Pandev, and these three people, who are now the main trident of Inter Milan's frontcourt, have performed very well, and the three have combined to bring in 28 goals, which is more than Vieri has scored in any past season!

The core of the rebuilt Inter Milan will of course be Adriano, but a core cannot become uncontrollable and indispensable, especially when Dick knows what Adriano will become in the future if he does not listen to discipline, he will not let Adriano feel that Inter Milan will not be able to do without him.

Becoming obese is just a wedge, and from the very beginning of the season, Dick has emphasized this without being obvious – Adriano you are important, but not the most important thing, without you we can still win the game.

It was because of this indoctrination that Adriano now only regretted why he ate too happily during the winter break, rather than thinking that Dick was nitpicking – of course, because of Dick's good results in previous years, although he did not say to the Inter players on the training ground: "I'm the European champion, you're nothing, so you have to listen to me." "But in fact, as long as the players of Inter Milan think of the aura of so many championships that this guy carries, they will be in awe of him - in the football circle, it depends on strength! Without strength, no matter how correct your way of doing things is, you can't suppress those arrogant soldiers!

In the second round of the league after the New Year, Inter Milan once again played without Adriano.

This situation makes the Inter Milan fans who watched the game a little worried, after all, Sampdoria is also a top five strong team, although they have no superstars in the team now, but they have a vote of strength, since the relegation and return, Sampdoria's vitality is also gradually recovering, without Adriano, can it really beat the other side?

Although Dick said after the last round that "we have two super strikers, not one", and Toney has now scored eleven goals in the league, he seems to be unreliable compared to Adriano's kind of striker who can create chances with the ball......

Toney doesn't really care about this view, he was originally from the grassroots, has been overlooked, this season can play in a big club like Inter Milan, and has scored double-digit goals, reaching the highest peak in his history, his self-confidence is also growing.

His height, his strength, his ability to head the ball, his impact in the box are the strength of his foothold, and Dick has played his and Adriano's characteristics quite well this season, which is why the first pair of super strikers in Serie A this season have reached double figures.

From the very beginning of the game, Inter played relatively easy, and then ten minutes later, Toney proved his ability and ability to play as Inter's main striker.

Stankovic distributed the ball to Semioli, Semio used his speed to force a break through the opposing full-back, and then crossed with his feet, the quality of which was not particularly high, but Toni relied on his strength to force down the opposing central defender Castellini, and then flicked the ball into the corner with a powerful header!

Inter Milan were 1-0 up at home and it was Toney who scored!

"Tony! Tony! Tony! The Inter fans shouted excitedly, and now they are relieved, and sure enough, as Dick said, there is no Adriano, and Tony!

Before the end of the first half, it was Toney who received the assist Zanetti's cross and headed it over, and Di Natale, who was ambushed in the box, extended the lead to two goals with a very difficult volley!

After taking a two-goal lead, the rest of the game was ready to play.

Dick brought on Recoba and Crews in succession, replacing Semioli and Di Natale, and although Sampdoria scored through Toneto and Kutuzov, the two substitutes also scored, Cruz first received Toney's ferry and smashed the ball into the box and then created a chance for Recoba with a brilliant long-range shot, and the Uruguayan scored Inter's fourth goal with a brilliant long-range shot!

Four to two, Toney scored one goal and two assists, showing the demeanor of a top striker!

Adriano in the stands was a little nervous, in the two games he did not play, Toney scored two goals, two assists, and helped Inter Milan score six points......

That's exactly what Dick needs, Adriano, needs some sense of crisis.