Is Ranieiri the right man to rejuvenate Inter?

You can’t completely undo a mistake, but if you catch it quickly enough, you can minimize its effect.  That’s what Inter Milan are hoping for, as well-traveled manager Claudio Ranieri attempts to turn things around following Gian Piero Gasperini’s short and disastrous stint.

There are many reasons as to why Gasperini was sacked less than a fortnight into the Serie A season.  But football statistics point to two big ones, an inability to defend on the road and score at home.  In away league defeats to Palermo and Novara, Inter scored four goals but conceded seven, including five in the second half.  Defending was much better at the San Siro, but they were held scoreless in a goalless draw with Roma and a humiliating 1-0 defeat to Trabzonspor. 

If you’re managing at a club with a high reputation, high expectations, and a win-now mentality, you can’t progressively get worse and expect to keep your job for very long, so it’s not a surprise that Inter made a change so quickly. 

But can "the Tinkerman" steer Inter back to where they should be? His track record of success in terms of silverware isn’t what one might expect of a manager with the CV he has, and recent stints at Juventus and Roma didn’t end well. 

However, of the presently available options - excluding Carlo Ancelotti, who seems to be settled in England and has ties to archrivals AC Milan that run too deep - Ranieri is the best one. 

While his trophy haul is far from impressive, he has a history of building and rebuilding, which goes back to his days at Cagliari, where he led the club from Serie C1 to Serie A in successive seasons.  And at Roma, he took over off the back of consecutive defeats to open the 2009/10 campaign, and after some early stumbles, he led them on a run that saw them go unbeaten for 24 straight Serie A matches and move top of the table late in the season before eventually finishing second, only two points behind his new employers.  That bodes well for Inter, as AC Milan, Napoli, and Juventus haven’t gotten too far ahead in the Serie A table. 

And unlike Gasperini, who persisted with his preferred 3-4-3 formation despite it not at all fitting his personnel, Ranieri isn’t averse to making changes, and his decision to immediately return to the tried-and-true 4-4-2 looks to have paid immediate dividends, as Inter won 3-1 at Bologna on Saturday to notch a much-needed win.