Chapter 432: Record
On March 27, when the internationals went to the national team, Inter Milan still won the Italian Cup, in this game, Dick sent a four-four-two formation, goalkeeper Cesar, defenders Maggio, Pasquale, Arbeloa and Andreoli, midfielders Mascherano, Farinos, Semioli, forwards Di Natale, Martins and Toney, such a lineup swept Atalanta at home with a score of 3-0, Tony, Martins and Di Natale scored a goal each as Inter Milan became the last team to reach the last four of the Coppa Italia.
In addition to Inter Milan, the other three teams in the final four are Cagliari, Roma and Udinese, Inter Milan were lucky to draw Cagliari as their opponents in the semi-finals, and Roma and Udinese will face each other in the other semi-finals, and the two legs of the semi-finals will be played in May, which means that Dick can focus on the league and UEFA Cup for the next month or so.
For this, Dick felt that it didn't matter, because he didn't take the Italian Cup game to heart, basically relied on the excellent performance of the substitutes all the way up, even if the semi-final game was during this period, Dick didn't care to continue to let the substitutes find their form in the game, even if he lost, he would not have much of a problem.
What makes him even more headache is the call-up of the national team, now is the time when the game is intense, Inter Milan has been called up so many main players to leave at this time, it must have a big impact on the continuity of their state, in this case, Dick can only bear this situation.
To Dick's annoyance, Adriano was injured in the international game, and although the injury was not serious, he still had time to rest, meaning he would miss the next game away to Bologna and the two League Cup quarter-finals, and it is unclear whether he will play in the next league game at home to Cagliari.
Best of all, will he be able to make a comeback in time for Inter Milan's Italian derby away to Juventus on April 21? Although Adriano's current performances are not as decisive as they have been in history, no one can ignore how important he is to Inter.
"Take care of your injuries, understand?" When Dick saw Adriano, he said directly: "We can play well without you in the next few games, what you have to do now is to try to come back before the game against Juventus, you will be very important to us in that game, don't think too much, recuperate with peace of mind, don't think about forcing a quick comeback, that will not be good for you or Inter Milan!" ”
Dick knows that this season in history, Adriano's performance in the second half of the season is far less eye-catching than the first half of the season, in addition to the characteristics of being thoroughly eaten and the state is not as good as the first half of the season, his injury is also a big problem, Adriano is dragging his injured body to play the Champions Cup knockout round against AC Milan before recuperating, until the end of the season did not play much, this is not a good thing for him and Inter Milan, he does not want Adriano to drag the injury to play too many games, Instead, it will affect the results of the whole team.
If you want to rest, you have to rest well, we have a lot of good strikers.
After the players returned from the national team, Dick began to train on the second plan - Cruise became the candidate to replace Adriano, although his ability to break through with the ball is far less than Adriano, but the ability to pull out the ball, receive and other abilities is no worse than Adriano, and at the end of the season, Cruise tends to perform better.
Cruise had scored eight league goals in the previous games, albeit unremarkable, and all games combined to double figures, and under Dick's arrangement, he was able to score almost every time he came off the bench, and now is when he starts to show what he can do.
Replacing Adriano with Cruise is no problem in terms of receiving, but it lacks the tactical changes after the midfield dribbles and forces the breakthrough, Dick does not have the kind of player who can dribble the ball in the midfield to kill a bloody way, so Dick has also fine-tuned the tactics, replacing Pandev's position with Semioli, who has excellent breakthrough ability on the wing, and maximizing the characteristics of two center forwards - this will also be the main formation of Inter Milan in the next period.
Before the league rekindled, Inter Milan ushered in the away game against Vienna Rapid, which was just the right time for Inter Milan to train.
Goalkeeper Toldo, defenders Córdoba, Materazzi, Cannavaro and Zanetti, midfielders Zanetti and Stankovic in the middle, Perrotta and Semioli on the wings, and Toni and Cruise in the attack.
In this game, the pace of Inter Milan's frontcourt attack slowed down a little, but the threat of suppressive attack was much greater, Toni was at the front, Cruise retreated from time to time to make the ball, Stankovic's organizational ability is not a strong point, but his ability to share the ball and control the ball is quite good, plus Perrotta's timely forward and Semioli's forced breakthrough on the side, this style of play is more threatening in the positional battle.
On the side, there is a cross after the breakthrough of Semioli, there is a rush from Tony in the penalty area, Crews can be of great help at the edge of the penalty area, plus a heavy gunner like Stankovic and a lubricant like Perrotta, Inter Milan's attack is not as good as before, but it seems to be more comprehensive and difficult to prevent.
The Vienna Rapid players cursed in their hearts - Inter Milan had basically been a mix of half-main and half-substitutes in the UEFA Cup before, which made them intend to try to beat Inter Milan at home to win prestige, who knew that these guys started to get serious after reaching the quarter-finals, such a set of starters, not only played them hard, but also caused them to suffer a stormy attack without much preparation......
In the 21st minute, Semioli forced a cross from the side, and Toney pressed the opponent's defender in the penalty area to rush to the top, and Inter Milan led 1-0.
In the 32nd minute, Inter Milan played a beautiful match in the front, Cruz received a pass from Stankovic after retreating, and then distributed the ball to Perrotta, this direct pass was excellent, Perrotta inserted into the penalty area, and when he saw Toni being targeted by the opponent, he did not pass the high ball, but passed directly to the triangle, and passed the ball diagonally from the bottom line to near the penalty spot, and after the pass, Cruise who stepped forward met the ball and pushed it directly, and the ball flew straight to the far corner of the goal, and Inter Milan led 2-0.
In the 60th minute, it was Cruise who retreated to get the ball, and then passed the ball to Stankovic at the top of the arc of the penalty area, Stankovic saw that no one came up to defend him for a while, he immediately raised his foot and shot the ball out, the ball had an arc that flew upward, bypassing the hand of the Vienna fast goalkeeper, and hung straight into the corner of the goal, three to zero!
It wasn't until 3-0 that Dick was replaced by Recoba, Martins and Karagunis to give the substitutes more opportunities to play, and Inter Milan maintained the lead until the end, with a 3-0 away score, so that most of them have entered the final four of the League Cup!
After returning to Italy, Italian reporters reluctantly discovered the fact that from the beginning of this season's official matches to the present, Inter Milan has not lost a single official match! After 29 rounds of league play, they won 20 and drew 9, won four games in a row to reach the semi-finals in the Coppa Italia, won all six games in the knockout round of the League Cup, won three wins and one draw in four games in the group stage, and now they have maintained a 33-game unbeaten streak throughout the season, going hand in hand on three fronts!
Although they have not played a Champions League this season, it seems that such an unbeaten record is a little less valuable, but what if they can continue their unbeaten run? Unbeaten until the last game of the season, and then winning three titles?
There seems to be no team on the entire continent that has been able to achieve such a great result in a single season!
Unbeaten since the start of the season...... Even if there are no factors such as participating in the Champions Cup, if Inter Milan can accomplish such a feat and win three titles at the same time, then there is no doubt that they can make their achievements this season more full of gold!
"Haven't you lost until now? I didn't pay attention. Dick asked the reporter in some surprise, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he laughed: "Well, no wonder I don't feel like I've seen our team lose in a long time...... But isn't that a normal thing? We've got a lot of quality, we're in good shape, we're playing well, it's good to have that result, we're two months away from the end of the season, 16 games, and hopefully we'll be unbeaten in those 16 games as well. ”
"You know, I love to set records."
Dick's words undoubtedly mean that he wants to lead Inter Milan to a new record of unbeaten in any game throughout the season - reporters don't know which team has set such a record, but at least one thing is certain that there are only a handful of teams in the five major leagues that can maintain a season unbeaten league season, and if you count the days after the European competition, none of the five major leagues can do this!
In fact, if a team is participating in the Champions Cup, it is almost impossible to do this, Inter Milan can now set such a record, and the absence of the Champions Cup is also a big factor, after all, they have not faced too good opponents in the League Cup, if they can guarantee an unbeaten season, then it is actually a bit opportunistic, but anyway, if they can win three titles and remain unbeaten, Dick is bound to lead the team to set an unprecedented record!
Some good people have begun to discuss how likely Inter Milan is to create such a result, the next nine opponents in the league, only Juventus can beat Inter Milan, the next opponent of the Coppa Italia may not be able to pose a danger to Inter Milan, and there are not many serious opponents in the League Cup now......
"Don't worry about any records, what we want to do now is to win the championship." Privately, Dick said the same thing to the players.