Nima Tavallaey - Why Luciano Spalletti is not the 'new' José Mourinho
At first glance it is very tempting to draw a comparison between the two former coaching rivals given the stability that Spalletti's Inter have exhibited so far this season. Especially defensively, where Inter under the former Roma coach's guidance, have demonstrated a defensive stability last seen under the Special One. However, the comparisons don't stand up to scrutiny when analysed deeper as the facts simply don't back the claim that Spalletti is merely replicating what Mourinho did during his 2 seasons in charge of the Nerazzurri.
When José Mourinho took charge of Inter ahead of the 2008/2009 season, replacing Roberto Mancini, the Portuguese tactician took over a team that had won 3 Serie A titles on the trot but had failed to go past the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The team was built to win titles and had a strong winning mentality with a solid central line in place starting with Julio Cesar in goal, via Walter Samuel and Ivan Cordoba at the heart of defence through the middle of the pitch with Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stankovic up to the genius of Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front.
Luciano Spalletti on the other hand arrived at an Inter which was in shambles having finished 7th the previous season during which they'd had 4 different coaches. Roberto Mancini resigned 2 weeks before the season began and was replaced with Frank De Boer who was sacked on November 1st which prompted Primavera coach Stefano Vecchi to step in for a week before Stefano Pioli was appointed. Pioli in turn was sacked on 9th of May following a string of bad results at which point Stefano Vecchi returned to guide the team to the end of the season.
There was nothing in place, let alone a winning mentality to fine-tune when Spalletti took over, instead he had to start from scratch imposing yet another new tactical regime to a squad that'd had been forced to play every formation known in football during the previous 6 seasons. From Benitez possession football to Leonardo's 'fantasia' and Gasperinis 3-4-3 to Ranieri's strict 4-4-2 via Mazzarri's rigid 3-5-2 back to Mancini's and De Boer's diametrically opposite interpretations of the 4-3-3. The only thing these aforementioned gentlemen have in common is the fact that they are male homo sapiens who make a living managing football clubs. Add 2 ownership changes, with each bringing in their own Directors to impose different directions and it is easy to see that stability was not an adjective synonymous with Inter.
Compare that to when Mourinho took over from a coach that had been there for 4 seasons having won the Serie A the last 3 of those seasons and an owner who had run the club since 1995. What made Mourinho's tenure special at Inter was the fact that he was the right man in the right place at the right time, whilst also being gifted everything he wanted in terms of players requested. Mourinho himself admitted that he insisted on Muntari, Mancini and Quaresma being brought in during his first season and he got them all. When that didn't work he famously green lighted the transfer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Maxwell to Barcelona in exchange for Samuel Etoo and €65 million which in turn financed another 4 signings Mourinho had hand-picked to be able to win the Champions League.
The contrast could not be starker with the Inter that Spalletti took over in June with the Nerazzurri being handcuffed to obey UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules and hardly going on a spending spree similar to the one they had enjoyed under Mourinho. Skriniar was signed with Caprari being used as part of the payment and Borja Valero cost them reportedly less than €7 million with the Spanish midfielders team-mate at Fiorentina, Matias Vecino being paid for by two annual instalments.
If any similarities are to be drawn they should be made with Giovanni Trapattoni's Inter dei Record. The legendary Trapattoni guided Inter to the Serie A title during 1988/1989 season in record breaking style, having taken over a Nerazzurri team that had not won any silverware in 5 years and were accused of constantly underperforming. A few years back I interviewed one of the pillars of that team, central defender Riccardo Ferri, and when asking him why he rated Trapattoni as the best coach of all time he replied: “a great coach is very similar to being a great chef. A great chef can go into any kitchen and cook a world class meal with whatever he can find in the pantry. Trapattoni built a world class team with pretty much the same players he found when he came in 1986.”
It is too soon to give Spalletti the same Guide Michelin Chef status that Ferri gave to Trapattoni as the season is only 11 matches old, but so far Spalletti has managed to get Inter to play and act as a top team, both on and off the pitch, with essentially the same players he found when he arrived. It took Trapattoni 3 seasons to perfect and fine tune his black and blue ingredients into a 3 star dish. How long, if ever, will it take Spalletti to turn this Inter kitchen into one Gordon Ramsey would be proud of? Only time will tell, but if it were to happen, the comparisons should be made to Trapattoni and not Mourinho.
Nima Tavallaey Roodsari