Inter Milan's season can only be described as a "rollercoaster". The summer brought about some significant changes. Leonardo left his role as coach.
His replacement was Gian Piero Gasperini - an unspectacular appointment which yielded unspectacular results. Gasperini's insistence on playing a 3-4-3 formation with the players at his disposal was mind-boggling. The defence was too slow and system stifled the influence of Wesley Sneijder. Needless to say, Gasperini lasted only a few weeks after some terrible results including a home defeat in the Champions League by Trabzonspor and a humiliating 3-1 loss to Novara in the league.
Claudio Ranieri was drafted in to be Inter's latest saviour. Results improved, but only slightly as Inter hovered around the relegation zone for much of the winter. Samuel Eto'o had been sold in the summer and his replacements were either injured, in Diego Forlan's case, or failing to settle like Mauro Zarate. Diego Milito and Giampaolo Pazzini were mis-firing plus the defence was leaking goals. Meanwhile the infamous "Tinker Man" struggled to settle on a system, let alone a starting eleven.
Strangely, an upturn in Inter's fortunes coincided with an injury to Sneijder. Ranieri finally stuck on a simple 4-4-2 formation which seemed to bring the best out of summer signing Ricky Alvarez. He appeared to thrive on the responsibility of replacing Sneijder's creativity in midfield. Milito started scoring again and Inter were right back in the title race in January. However, Sneijder's return gave Ranieri a selection dilemma, ultimately forcing him to change his system to accommodate him which lead to another horrendous slump including a Champions League exit at the hands of Marseille.
Ranieri was eventually shown the door and replaced by youth coach, Andrea Stramaccioni. Inter looked a rejuvenated side during the run-in, culminating in a superb 4-2 victory over Milan which ended their rival's title challenge but in the end, the young manager was unable to completely clean up the mess left by his predecessors.
Now Inter will have to go through the qualifying rounds just to get into the Europa League. A huge fall from grace from the dizzy heights of the Treble two seasons ago.
