Based on this week's evidence, "Serie A" Inter and "Champions League" Inter are clearly two very different teams. Napoli realized this at their own expense Sunday, extending their 14-year long winless streak at San Siro (the Nerazzurri chapter) by one more match. José Mourinho's made winning by a one-goal difference a habit lately, but the [. Click to continue reading...

One certainly can't say Jose Mourinho had not warned his players earlier this week. On paper, a home match to Panathinaikos seemed like an easy routine job for Inter, just the Portuguese manager's concerns had a strong smell of pre-tactical (José-patented) "mindgames". Instead, those concerns were well-founded. Click to continue reading...

The Jose Mourinho stamp on this Inter Milan team is set. Now more than ever. Strong & well-organized tactics, a determined athletic performance from all players, and a winning mentality: the psychological drive necessary to come out as victors in the ever-difficult Derby d'Italia fixture. And too bad if the match-winning goal came through a fortunate [. Click to continue reading...

At long last, the much awaited Derby d'Italia (at its 151st historical edition) is back! Sure, we had little "snacks" like Milan vs. Inter and Roma vs. Lazio on the way, and they did their job at building our appetite until now, but everyone here knows the most anticipated dish in this Serie A 2008-09 [. Click to continue reading...

José keeps his promises. On the match eve, Mourinho had said "Juve will only stay on top until Saturday evening". Said & done, Inter Milan won 2-0 courtesy of one Mr. Ibrahimovic: Zlatan was in stunning form tonight, and apparently he's been also practicing his free-kicks (his second goal was clocked at 124 km/h! Click to continue reading...

Tolstoy once wrote that "the two most powerful warriors are patience and time". Inter needed a lot of the former in order to beat their UCL opponents Wednesday night... and 44 minutes of the latter. But boy did those 44 minutes seem long. If there is one sure thing this year's Champions League will [. Click to continue reading...

His last match in the starting eleven had been over six months ago, but one has to seriously wonder if even a Totti at 200% capacity would been able to stop the Inter tsunami crashing over Roma on Sunday. Conceding four goals in your home stadium is already tough enough to swallow, but if that [...] Click to continue reading...

Those of you who have been reading the Italy Offside blog longer than 8 months now, know that February 13, 2008, was a sad date for Serie A fans worldwide. On that day, one of the greatest and most entertaining bloggers I've ever had the pleasure to read stepped down from her post, leaving hundreds [. Click to continue reading...

Ibrahimovic has many nicknames... among the self-explanatory "Ibrahimagic" and "Ibracadabra", even "Zlatan!" seems like something a magician would say before he pulled a rabbit out of a top hat (kinda like "Shazam!"). Inter first goal vs. Bologna Saturday night, illustrates just how appropriate the Ibrahimovic-Magic association can be: a marvelous mid-air backheel execution that few [. Click to continue reading...

The love-story between Mourinho and Inter has hit its first hurdle. Losing the Milan derby was already a big no-no moment this week-end, but Wednesday's home draw to Werder Bremen really did not sit well with some Nerazzurri supporters, who did not hide their discontent in the San Siro stands. And with good reason. Click to continue reading...

Or should I say... R80? Either way ladies & gentlemen, Ronaldinho could not have picked a better day to score the first Serie A goal of his AC Milan career. With the first edition of 2008-09's "Derby della Madonnina", the Rossoneri have struck a big blow to Inter and José Mourinho's big "confidence plan". Click to continue reading...

Uzunca bir süredir kitapçı raflarında alıp alıp geri koyduğum bir kitaptı. Sonunda alıp okumaya başladım. José Mourinho: Başarının Anatomisi. Portekizli'nin İngiltere'den sonra İtalya'da da ortalığı karıştırmaya başlaması kadar yeni futbol kitaplarının çıkmayışı da bu satın almayı zorunlu hale getirmişti. Click to continue reading...

Excessive self-satisfaction: that was really the only flaw of Inter Milan Sunday. With the score up by three, Abbruscato's goal, a crossbar, and two great saves by Julio Cesar reminded the Nerazzurri matches last for 90 minutes. Other than that, José Mourinho's really dominated their Torino opponents, and deservedly closed the game with a 3-1 [. Click to continue reading...

Olé José. Julio Cruz's likely destined to leave a big "ass mark" on the subs bench this season, but Inter Milan is "cruising" nonetheless. Carried forth by the genius of Ibrahimovic, the timely finish of Amantino Mancini, and a new-found Adriano (ok, he only played for 10 minutes... but that's stil good right? Click to continue reading...

I'll surprise a few by saying this, but this Inter team reminds me a lot of the late 90's Juventus. Not so much with regards to playing style, but with respect to a few other factors. For instance even when their match performance is far from extraordinary, the Nerazzurri manage to rake in 3 points, [. Click to continue reading...

€24.6m (plus bonuses) and the transfer of Vítor Hugo Gomes Paços (Pelé) to Porto: that's how much bringing Ricardo Quaresma to Inter cost Massimo Moratti. In other words: the most expensive Serie A transfer of the year (so far), but based purely on skills the lad seems to be worth every penny. "I am glad [. Click to continue reading...

"If the game ends in a draw, it won't be dramatic". Those were the words of the 'Special One' before Sampdoria-Inter. And a draw it was, thus somewhat spoiling the debut of José's Serie A adventure. The culprit in this occasion? Gennaro Delvecchio, author of the Sampdoria equalizer at the 68 minute mark, who rendered [. Click to continue reading...

In today's Gazzetta dello Sport, there's a great article by Antonino Morici that makes a preliminary analysis on José's Inter, at least based on their first-competitive-match performance in Sunday's Supercoppa. It's still early for season assessments, but given that Gazzetta are generally experts in all things Inter and AC Milan, this one's a pretty good read: MILAN, 25 [. Click to continue reading...

Ladies & gentlemen, the new Serie A season has been launched! Yes, Day 1 only begins on August 31 "officially", but Sunday night's Supercoppa appetizer provided enough excitement and entertainment, it almost looks like we're in it already. Indeed, the traditional pre-season clash between Scudetto champions and Coppa Italia winners resulted in 4 goals and 120 [. Click to continue reading...

There are two ways to look at Tuesday night's Bayern Munich vs. Inter Milan match. The first is to say this was a pretty boring game (because in all honesty, it was). It seemed as if neither team was sufficiently inspired to get the win, and this despite the prestigious nature of the fixture (it [.. Click to continue reading...

La Roma, dopo aver perso le speranze di portare in maglia giallorossa Adrian Mutu (29), è sempre alla ricerca di un attaccante da poter affiancare al capitano Francesco Totti (31). Nelle ultime ore la società romana sta sondando il terreno con l'Udinese per Fabio Quagliarella (25) e con l'Inter per David Suazo (28). Click to continue reading...

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The Times/Tom Dart - August 4, 2008 - Dowie unfazed by prospect of sack for success

It was one of the biggest shocks of the summer when Queens Park Rangers appointed Zinédine Zidane as manager. Oh, wait, that was just a rumour. They gave Iain Dowie the job. Click to continue reading...

Florent Malouda con tutta probabilità non si trasferirà nè alla Roma nè al Barcellona. Pierre Frelot, agente del giocatore del Chelesa, intervistato dall'Equipe, ha sbarrato la strada ad un possibile trasferimento del proprio assistito."Dopo un incontro con Peter Kenyon e Felipe Scolari voglio precisare che il tecnico mi ha ribadito la sua fiducia in Florent. Click to continue reading...

Alex Ferguson the Manchester United manager doubts Chelsea's ability to challenge for the Premiership and Champions League. He believes Chelsea's ageing squad may struggle to challenge his side for major honours next season.

He said "Chelsea are an experienced side and I don't see outstanding progress coming from a team in their 30s," he said. Click to continue reading...

"Non sono preoccupato per il Chelsea. Lo sarei solo se dovessero superare i risultati ottenuti da Mourinho, ma è dura pensare che riescano a migliorarli".
Sir Alex Ferguson ha voluto dare subito una stoccata di benvenuto al nuovo allenatore del Chelsea, Luiz Felipe Scolari, dicendosi sicuro che l'ex ct del Portogallo non riuscirà ad impensierire i suoi 'red devils' nella lotta per il titolo. Click to continue reading...

Born and bred in London on opposite sides of England's capital, Frank Lampard could very well be leaving home to rejoin former manager José Mourinho in Milan.

According to BBC Sport, Inter Milan have begun negotiations with Chelsea to bring the high-profile 30-year-old midfielder to Serie A. Click to continue reading...

Football source "France Football" has stated that Frank Lampard has moved from Chelsea to Internazionale. He will be managed by old Chelsea coach José Mourinho at the San Siro in a deal said to be worth €9m. The newspaper says that international midfielder Frank Lampard has signed a four-year contract with the Inter after playing at [. Click to continue reading...

There has been a Didier Drogba sighting. And guess what, he's doing something commendable. Crazy, I know.

Friday, Drogs was in Abidjan promoting his new book to donate a hefty monetary amount to the Grand Bassam orphanage. The Ivory Coast man presented a check for about 2,300 Euros to the facility.

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The news almost got lost amidst all the post-Cannavaro injury chaos, but José Mourinho's first official press conference as Inter manager already left its mark in Italy. Showcasing an almost perfect mastery of the Italian language, the ex-Chelsea manager lived up to his reputation; clarity, self-confidence, and witty repartee were all present in the 45 minutes Mourinho [. Click to continue reading...

Inter.it - Inter's new coach José Mourinho was unveiled to the press on Tuesday in a press conference at the training ground. This is what he had to say: Mr Mourinho, you described yourself as 'special' when you became coach of Chelsea in 2004, and they called you 'The Special One'. What do you want to be called now? Click to continue reading...

Ausgerechnet ein Portugiese soll nach dem Willen englischer Fans der neue Trainer von Englands Nationalmannschaft werden. Wir erinnern uns: Bei der WM 2006 und der EM 2004 sind die Engländer jeweils an Portugal gescheitert. Nun soll also José Mourinho aus den bestbezahlten Elfmeterversagern eine schlagkräftige Truppe formen, die sich für die WM 2010 qualifiziert.

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