De Boer feels the heat after latest Inter dilemma
AFP
AFP, MILAN: The future of Inter Milan coach Frank de Boer was plunged into fresh doubt on Sunday after a 1-0 defeat at Sampdoria left his side mired in mid-table in Serie A.
Inter travelled to the Luigi Ferraris stadium looking to build on a 2-1 mid-week win over Torino that saw Argentine striker Mauro Icardi put two goals past England keeper Joe Hart.
But Sampdoria had other ideas, and when Fabio Quagliarella swept a loose ball past Samir Handanovic on the stroke of half-time Inter were left with a mountain to climb.
They resumed in determined fashion after the break, but Icardi squandered arguably their best chance of the half on 67 minutes when he glanced a header wide from Marcelo Brozovics cross.
De Boer, who was given the backing of the clubs new Chinese owners last week despite reports he is facing the sack, made a double substitution with 15 minutes remaining.
Eder and Antonio Candreva were replaced on the right and left sides of a three-man attack with Rodrigo Palacio and Ivan Perisic.
Sampdoria came close to doubling their lead, Handanovic coming to the rescue to block Ante Budimir after he was sent through by Bruno Fernandes four minutes from the end.
De Boers changes almost paid off in the dying minutes of injury-time as Inter poured forward, but after latching on to Perisics delivery, Palacio, who had stumbled to the ground, saw his effort come off the crossbar. Inter sit in 11th place and are now 13 points behind leaders Juventus, who, after a 2-1 win over Napoli on Saturday, hold a four-point lead on Roma.
Meanwhile, Juventus captain Gianluigi Buffon called for improvements despite a 2-1 win over title rivals Napoli that left the Serie A champions four points clear of an increasingly ambitious chasing pack.
But if the Italian giants are to beat the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona to the top prize in European club football, Buffon said a step up in quality is required.
It was a great win for us against a strong side that we all respect. Napoli made us suffer, said Buffon.
But we have to improve certain aspects of our game, and were still struggling to put the instructions of the coach into practice on the pitch.
Morale is high. But, I have to say again: if we want to enjoy a good run this season, especially in Europe, the quality of our game has to improve.
Napoli face Besiktas away on Tuesday looking to relaunch their Champions League campaign after a shock 3-2 defeat to the Turks at the San Paolo two weeks ago left them in danger of losing top spot in the group.
And in Serie A, Maurizio Sarris men have even bigger problems.
After selling Higuain to Juve for an Italian transfer record fee of 90m euros, Napoli are still without a proper centre-forward after the Argentines replacement, Arkaduisz Milik, was sidelined with a knee injury.
We lost one of the best forwards in the world and the club made the decision to buy young players, Sarri lamented after Saturdays defeat.
Roma, runners-up twice in succession in 2014 and 2015, are now seen as Juves principal rivals, although dropping points against supposedly inferior opposition as they did in a scoreless stalemate at Empoli on Sunday will prove costly.
Roma striker Edin Dzeko remains top of the league scoring charts on 10 goals, but the Bosnian was among the players who hit a blank at the Castellani stadium, where home keeper Lukasz Skorupski performed heroics.
Roma sit second at four points behind Juventus, but midfielder Daniele De Rossi said getting past Empolis astute defence was not easy.
