Why Roberto Mancini Is the Wrong Man for Inter Milan

The dismissal of Walter Mazzarri as head coach of Inter may or may not have been the right move, but appointing Roberto Mancini as his replacement was a mistake.

Club president Erick Thohir finally ran out of patience with Mazzarri with the team sitting in ninth place in the Serie A table after 11 rounds and opted to appoint former manager Mancini in his stead.

Inter fans should have some very fond memories of Mancini, who led the side to three consecutive domestic titles from 2005-06 to 2007-08, as well as two Coppa Italia crowns and two Italian Supercups.

While that is an impressive feat on paper, however, most Serie A fans will remember that Italian football was in turmoil at the time in the wake of the Calciopoli scandal.

With Juventus in the doldrums and other top Italian sides also reeling with the after-effects of the scandal, Inter were by far the strongest side on the peninsula at the time.

Anything other than a Scudetto in each of those years would have been an underachievement.

It should not be forgotten that things had become rather stale at the San Siro by the end of Mancini's tenure of 226 matches.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

There were reasons he and former president Massimo Moratti agreed to part ways, despite the titles.

The relationship between Mancini and the board had soured and there was a great desire around the club to achieve more than just domestic success.

Mancini's replacement, Jose Mourinho, outdid his predecessor by guiding Inter to an historic treble in his second year in charge.

The Portuguese supercoach had achieved what Mancini could not by winning the Champions League with the Nerazzurri.

All that the Italian manager proved in his time in charge, then, is that he was capable of leading an extremely strong team to league success in the absence of any genuine competition.

The current Inter squad is nowhere near as strong as the group Mancini had at his disposal during his first stint with the club.

Unlike Mourinho, he has rarely shown an ability to inspire his players to feats which are seemingly beyond their abilities.

Nor is he known as an attacking coach.

Mancini's dour tactics have often grated with the fans of the clubs he has coached, including Inter and Manchester City.

Defensive football can be forgiven, even celebrated, if it breeds success, as Mourinho showed, but not if results are merely mediocre.

Thohir has spoken of restoring Inter as one of the top 10 clubs in the world, in part by appealing to the US and Asian markets.

To do that they should be aiming to play attractive football while seeking trophies. Mancini is not the man to lead such a charge.

Overall, the reappointment of Mancini was a strange move by Thohir, and one which is unlikely to reap rewards.