Anytime you have a bad run of results or a change in ownership, one of the first rumors to surface is that the manager’s job is not not safe. When you have both happen at the same time, as we have with Inter at the moment, those rumors become a little louder. And that is what is happening at the moment with suggestions that unless Inter will their next two games (home to Sassuolo and away to Fiorentina) that Walter Mazzarri will be fired.
Inter have been on a dreadful run of form that stretches back to November as the Nerazzurri have picked up only one win in the last two-and-a-half months. The club has down to sixth in the table and are now 11 points away from the third and final Champions League qualification position.
To put Inter’s dismal run of form into some perspective, in their last 19 league games, only Sassuolo, Livorno and Catania have collected fewer than the eight points the Nerazzurri have managed.
So should Mazzarri be fired? I question some of his tactical decisions and I am not a fan of his three man back-line. But the former Napoli boss is presiding over an Inter team in transition. Since Jose Mourinho left in 2010 after wining the treble, Mazzarri is the sixth Inter manager. That is six managers in four years!
The problem is not Mazzarri. He is not getting any help from the board or sporting director Marco Branca. It is common knowledge that heading into the season, Mazzarri wanted a right sided wingback and another striker. The right sided wing back just arrived in Danilo D’Ambrosio but Mazzarri is still waiting for his striker.
When Mazzarri took the job in the summer, Massimo Moratti owned the club and Inter acted like one of Italian footballs biggest clubs. Now Erik Thohir is the owner and Italy are acting like a small club, having to sell before they can buy.
Firing Mazzarri is not the answer. What he needs is support from the board and Branca, and a transfer budget that will allow him to transform Inter.
