Player Focus: Mazzarri Showing a Lack of Faith in Kovacic
Before Croatia’s friendly with Switzerland in St. Gallen last week, Mateo Kovacic faced the local media. Just over a year had passed since his coach at Dinamo Zagreb, Krunoslav Jurcic had pulled the teenager to one side during a training camp in Bosnia and told him to pack a bag. He was moving to Inter and would be given the No.10 shirt vacated by Wesley Sneijder. “‘Seriously?! I said. It was like a dream for me.” But it hasn’t been of late.
These are frustrating times for Kovacic. Regular minutes have been hard to come by at San Siro under Walter Mazzarri. “It’s not my place to comment on the coach’s decisions or why I don’t play at the moment,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Maybe the reason is tactical. He plays a more defensive football, the kind of football that doesn’t suit me for now, but of course I have to adapt to the team and to his style of play. I need work and time. I hope that will come soon.”
Kovacic’s words soon got back to Mazzarri. “I don’t think he meant to say what got reported,” he explained. “I think he meant that he has to improve the defensive side of his game. He believes in what I tell him. I’ve spoken to him about it.” Mazzarri has been criticised for his handling of Kovacic. After Inter’s 3-1 defeat to Juventus in the Derby d’Italia at the beginning of February, he blamed him for the first goal. “Kovacic should have come out to close Pirlo down but when he didn’t do that we ended up having a man less in midfield, which is what happened when when they scored.”
This played into the narrative of Mazzarri as a piangina - a cry-baby. It’s always someone else’s fault. Never his own. One minute it’s the penalties denied to Inter [a justifiable lament]. The next it’s a young player making a mistake, not the superiority of his team’s opponent. To be absolutely fair to Mazzarri, he had been asked a tactical question - who was picking up Pirlo? - and he gave a tactical answer. “Some of the things I said were misinterpreted by people who wanted to misinterpret them,” he said.
That maybe so. But all this incident has done is consolidate the impression that Mazzarri doesn’t have time for young players. Kovacic wasn’t the only one to speak out during the international week. Saphir Taider did too out of concern for his place in Algeria’s squad for the World Cup.
After explaining his vision in terms of investing in youth, signing players aged 26 or under, new owner Erick Thohir appears to have compromised following discussions with his coach. The purchase of Hernanes, 28, and the agreement reached for Nemanja Vidic, 33 in October, to join this summer are, in part, an indication of that. The need to get back into the Champions League as soon as possible means that Inter, to an extent, can’t wait for youngsters to come good.
Thohir is still expected to insist they do, though, and that may become a source of friction with Mazzarri. He didn’t appoint him, and while the Indonesian is backing the former Napoli coach, Inter plan to review things at the end of the season when the intention is to draw up a strategy for the next three years. The expectation is Mazzarri will stay, but it’s no secret that Thohir admires the Ajax coach Frank de Boer, a talent developer extraordinaire.
And there’s no doubting Inter have got talent. Either in their academy which has been under-utilised in recent years - Balotelli, Destro, Bonucci to name but a few have all been sold - or in their squad which could supply the team with a young spine of Juan Jesus, Andrea Ranocchia, Kovacic, Taider and Mauro Icardi.
The clamor for Kovacic to play more is understandable. Relatively little was known about him on his arrival, only that he’d been attracting the attention of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Real Madrid, and that he’d been compared with various Croatian stars of past and present like Luka Modric, Robert Prosinecki and Zvoni Boban - all very different players. He captured the imagination.
The idea of Kovacic was powerful. How could it not be after they gave him the No.10 shirt and all that it stands for? Worn by the likes of Luisito Suarez, Sandro Mazzola, Lothar Matthäus, Ronaldo and Roberto Baggio, by honoring Kovacic with it the club sent out a message: we’ve got faith in this kid, he’s worthy of it, he’s good. And so the expectation was that he’d play more.
Instead, Kovacic has averaged 46 minutes per game this season. He has made 24 appearances, but on only four occasions has he started and not been substituted. He’s come on off the bench 15 times. Without continuity, match rhythm, a feel for the team, how can Kovacic be expected to find his feet and realise his potential? His stats have involuted.
Kovacic’s WhoScored rating has fallen from 7.26 last season to 6.79 in this. His minutes per accurate pass has risen from 0.9 to 1.6, so too has his minutes per accurate through ball from 205 to 512 and his minutes per key pass from 44.6 to 64. He needs more trust, more understanding and to be allowed to make mistakes. You feel he got that last season under Andrea Stramaccioni, Inter’s former senior youth team coach. But under Mazzarri, not so much.
Tactically, sure, Kovacic needs to learn, particularly when out of possession, but it’s galling to see that when Esteban Cambiasso is out of form, it’s Zdravko Kuzmanovic getting the nod between Fredy Guarin and Hernanes. Inter paid €14m for for Kovacic. He’s still only 19 and if they were to abandon him as a lost cause they’d perhaps risk making the same mistake they made in selling the player Mazzarri claimed he didn’t close down in the Derby d’Italia: a certain Andrea Pirlo. Inter gave up on him too soon in 2001. Interisti hope history won’t repeat itself with Kovacic.
Should Kovacic be starting for Inter? Let us know in the comments below
If that bit about De Boer is true, I hope to God it becomes a reality. What Inter need isn't large name signings (though Hernanes has been nice so far). They need someone who's willing to trust their youth academy. I had a lot of hope for Stramaccioni but it turns out that he doesn't trust his young players that much. It's just frustrating to see the likes of Donati starting for a top team in Germany when he could be playing for Inter instead. Bessa is also another talent that goes nowhere because of the lack of trust. Will hurt even if Tassi gets the same treatment!
fuck mazzari no more words please kovacic don't leave inter
Bah, overcriticism on a teenager is simply disgusting. Too much words about one player = putting pressure. On carnivals people gather and burn the wooden dall and they think that this will take their problems away. The team of Inter - Guarin, Nagatomo, Palacio, Alvarez, Cambiasso, Milito, ... all good players, solid positioning on the pitch like on table football, but there was no chemistry in the team at all, no spark, no team spirit. Why is that, that is the question. Hernanes with his energy woke the team up a little bit.
Doing this he risk at first of being anticipated from the opponent marking him, then he risks to loose the ball due to a bad first touch for the instant pressure, and third there's no reason to try to dribble always everyone from 50 meters to the post. He gives no advantage to his team doing this, he only loses several dangerous ball in front of the defence, and even if he completes the first dribble he loses the second because he doesn't look up and think but goes on straight.
Bah the primal mistake has been inter buying him for 14M, he's been overpayed. For me the right place for him is an on loan location in a small team, in serie B for example. He's very young and all this hype and pressure don't help him, everyone should stop believing that he's a sure future top player and let him play. Tactically he's very poor and he must complete and improve his technical abilities because apart from a great dribbling and sensible foot he's weak in ball conduction, use of the body, long passing, shooting, tackling, taking the right decision. And I mean he has no clue at all on how to do that because no one taught him. In Croatia you can simply count on your talent, at this level you need to be very solid on every aspect to even be on the pitch without making awful mistakes. When I watch him play I see that he gets the ball waiting for it without trying to dodge the opponent, than he tries always immediately to dribble everyone without look up and thinking what to d
Same old story. Insigne suffered too. It's irrational on Mazzarri's part, as he never forgave Insigne the occasional mistake the way he did Pandev. But Pandev is older so his mistakes are just mistakes, they happen, but Insigne or now Kovacic, well it must be because they're young.
OK.Last two games for his national team Kovacic made two beautiful and important assists, but in Inter whole season 1 assists and no goals. In Croatia a smile from ear to ear, in Inter agonizing face expression like Atlas carrying a burden. I think ideal environment for him would be Arsenal or Borussia D., but no point discussing it - Inter decided firmly to keep him. On the other side, if current coach stays and keeps up with his strictness, Mateo will progress more slowly then he should. There are no doubts about Mateo's talent. In using of space, key passes and organizational abilities (ok, and dribbling) he is potentially even better than Modric because he is more dynamic, but has to improve in shooting and defensive aspects. I don't want to talk much about wrog attitude of coach Mazzari to Kovacic, but I don't understand his moves. One example, he emphasises to media mistakes vs Juventust of 19 year old player instead talking to him in 4 eyes.This is immature.
Certainly has the potential to succeed for Inter. He's still young though and needs time to develop, but if handled properly, can be a real star for them.
Inter should under no circumstances lose faith in Kovacic. Hopefully he will be at the club long after Mazzarri has left and it is my view that the new look Inter should be building the team around him. He is after all the player with the best potential in our club, a club that should include world-class players (which I believe Kovacic will become very soon) If treated right Kovacic could become one of the best in the world and also stay loyal to our club. The mistakes of the past should be learnt from and if history repeats itself (like with Pirlo) there will be many Interisti who will be unable to forgive Inter for letting this youngster slip through their fingers just to keep a mediocre coach (Mazzarri) happy.