Roberto Mancini Will Face Very Different Challenge on His Return to Inter Milan

In the summer, Inter Milan signed Walter Mazzarri to a lucrative contract extension. On Friday, Mazzarri was "relieved of his duties" at the Nerazzurri, and Inter welcomed back Roberto Mancini 10 years after hiring him for the first time.

Welcome to Italian football, where a manager is only as safe as his recent results allow.

In truth, of course, Mazzarri's sacking had been on the cards for a long time, the sword seemingly taking an age to fall from its precarious position above his head. Some had predicted the Italian would be dismissed if Inter lost to Napoli in their meeting at the Giuseppe Meazza this season, but in the event it took another four weeks for the change to come.

In that Napoli meeting, Inter rallied from behind twice to eventually draw 2-2, in a contest they actually controlled for large spells. But the larger problems at the heart of Mazzarri's eventual demise were still evident; a glaring lack of spirit and fight among the squad, a curious inability to defend properly for the full 90 minutes and a gross lack of invention in the final third were all very much in evidence.

Mazzarri stumbled on, but the draw was not a harbinger of more improved results to come. In the end another 2-2 game was to be the final nail in his coffin, as Inter again drew at home, this time to struggling Verona.

The result left the club ninth in the fledgling Serie A table, already five points behind third-placed Napoli and in arrears to other likely rivals like AC Milan, Sampdoria and Lazio.

Erick Thohir, the club's owner, felt the time had come to make a change. Before the Verona meeting, he said, "the fact remains I expect to get points over the next three games." A draw clearly did not match that demand.

In a statement, the club said, "FC Internazionale would like to announce that Walter Mazzarri has been relieved of his duties as first team coach. The club would like to thank Mazzarri for the commitment, dedication and professionalism he showed over his 17 months in charge."

Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

Central to Thohir's decision-making will have been the likelihood of the club attaining Champions League qualification this season had they remained under Mazzarri's guidance. It should not be forgotten that Inter are one of the European clubs most concerned by UEFA's financial fair play rules, as they struggle to balance the books after some errant recent spending.

Representatives from the club were in Nyon as recently as last week to explain to UEFA officials how they planned to meet FFP rules in the near future, with Champions League participation surely a cornerstone of that.

Not only was Mazzarri not on course to achieve that aim, but his side did not look capable of playing the type of football required for such an achievement. Mazzarri seemed to want his team to play on the counter-attack, but when teams came to Milan reluctant to attack the Nerazzurri with abandon (as most sides would naturally do), they seemed to lack any idea of how to impose themselves on a contest, seemingly relying on the individual brilliance of Hernanes or the sharp finishing of Mauro Icardi to keep their head above water.

Not that Mazzarri was completely to blame, of course. The club's high-profile summer acquisition of Nemanja Vidic on a free transfer has been an unmitigated failure so far, with the Serbian responsible for persistent and egregious individual errors that have invariably cost his side dearly.

Still, Mazzarri had a squad capable of doing so much better. The game against Napoli threatened to be a turning point, with elements of the performance, if not quite the final result, suggesting the players at least were willing to fight for their boss.

It seems it did not win the board over, however, merely delaying the decision for a few weeks.

At the time, ex-club president Massimo Moratti—still a key adviser to Thohir, although he has since departed the club completely—was asked if he would have already dismissed Mazzarri by now, were he still in charge.

"I'm a bad example," Moratti responded, in what was far from a glowing endorsement. "I sacked someone two days after they won the Scudetto [when Roberto Mancini was fired in 2008]."

The comment was prescient, if only because Mancini is the man Inter have (re)turned to in order to arrest their current slide. The move was announced later Friday—Mancini had attended the Cesena game last month and was seemingly ready to jump into the breach as soon as the call came.

In a statement announcing the arrival, Thohir said:

"

Our goal is to regain our rightful position as one of the very top clubs in Europe and that's why I am so happy to welcome back Roberto Mancini. His track record both at Inter and elsewhere speaks for itself, and his international experience and hunger for success will I know drive the team to the next level.

"

The move seems as much about appeasing the fans, who have become increasingly disaffected in recent seasons as the performances and results have dipped, as attempting to repeat the success of his first spell; the players, the board and the club dynamics have all changed considerably in the last six years.

In his first spell at the club, Mancini won the Scudetto on three successive occasions, helped by the relegation of Juventus (and points deduction of AC Milan) as a result of the Calciopoli scandal.

Inter were not exactly unchallenged in Italy, but they certainly had circumstances in their favour. They also had an expensive and star-studded squad—Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Francesco Toldo, Dejan Stankovic, Walter Samuel—that should have done far better in European competition than it actually did.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

It is perhaps instructive that when Moratti dismissed Mancini, in 2008, it was because of his desire for a manager who could deliver greater success in the Champions League (Mancini, as a contributory factor, had suggested he would resign after the club went out of the Champions League to Liverpool in 2007, angering Moratti).

That man was Jose Mourinho, who would vindicate Moratti's faith as the club went on to claim Europe's biggest prize in 2010.

"It was not a whim," Moratti said of the decision that summer. "The most simple solution would have been to have continued with the coach with whom we won three consecutive championships. 

"Nobody would have criticised me, everything would have been smooth. I intervened because I thought it was necessary, not against the coach, but in the interests of Inter."

Mancini has had a mixed time of it as a manager since leaving Inter, taking the reins at Manchester City and leading them to a first Premier League title in 2012, before losing his job a year later following persistent failures on the continent.

Then followed another disappointing spell at Galatasaray, one in which the club failed to win the Turkish title but did at least stumble into the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Mancini's task at Inter is, first and foremost, to qualify for Europe—succeeding at that level can wait, for now. In that regard he has a squad with the right profile at his disposal, albeit one that needs some redirecting after Mazzarri's poor direction.

Mancini has talent to work with, however. Mateo Kovacic and Hernanes offer two creative possibilities in midfield, while Icardi is improving as a forward (and, perhaps, is maturing as a person as well). Juan Jesus has potential in defence, while Samir Handanovic—a goalkeeper Mazzarri's Inter grew to rely on far too much—remains one of the finest No. 1s in Serie A.

The fans, and the board, will hope Mancini can come in and restore a more balanced, attacking style at the club—in the process driving them up the league and making them viable contenders for a top-three finish.

Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

Sacking Mazzarri now gives Mancini the second week of the international break to work with his team. Thohir will be hoping that ensures a "new manager boost" in the upcoming meeting with Roma and derby against AC Milan, two matches that could ignite the club's season.

"The real challenges will be against Milan and Roma," Thohir had said before the Verona game. "[They] can give us an important push up the table."

The pressure is now on Mancini to meet Thohir's demands. The fans will be excited by the appointment, but the new old manager arrives in very different circumstances to his first spell at the club. Roma and Juventus are now the two dominant forces in Italy, with Inter now the hunter rather than the hunted.

It will be interesting to see if Mancini is just as well equipped to handle that sort of challenge.