Inter Club Focus: The Rebirth Of Andrea Ranocchia
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Alessandro NestaAndrea RanocchiaAndrea StramaccioniClaudio RanieriGan Piero GasperinijuveJuventusLucioMarco MaterazziMilanWalter Samuelinter-logo-4/” rel=”attachment wp-att-18909″>It would be fair to say that Andrea Ranocchia did not have the best of starts to his Inter career. However, the tide seems to be changing and since the arrival of Andrea Stramaccioni – he looks to be a player reborn.
Ranocchia joined the Nerazzurri in January of 2011 in a deal worth around £18 million. He had a slow start, in which he made very few appearances. He was then thrown into the lions den when after a injury crisis and a suspension to Lucio, he was in the first team for the ‘Derby della Madonnina’ against AC Milan, in a game that was almost a title decider.
Inter and Ranocchia were ripped to shreds by a surprisingly fit Alexandre Pato, and Milan came out 3-0 winners effectively handing them the Scudetto.
The following season under the guidance of firstly, Gian Piero Gasperini and then Claudio Ranieri, Ranocchia continued to struggle to make any real impact on a poor Inter team and failed force the likes of Lucio and Walter Samuel out of it.
There was also talk of Inter looking to sell the youngster, with the likes of arch rivals Juventus linked. However, nothing materialised and thankfully Inter managed to hold on to ‘the frog’
Then came the turning point with the appointment of the young bright tactician Andrea Stramaccioni, as coach. ‘Strama’ looked to give the younger players a chance and Ranocchia looks to have grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
The departure of Lucio also helped with his development, having given him a much needed confidence boost. With Lucio in the team he often kept Ranocchia on the substitutes bench and at times looked to almost intimidate him. But now, Ranocchia looks to have took over from Lucio and has moulded himself into the leader in the defence, with some very solid and assured performances.
With Cesare Prandelli choosing to drop him from the Italy squad for Euro 2012 it looks as if this gave Ranocchia a real wake up call, and showed him that improvements were needed if he wanted to be a mainstay in the national team.
It is not to be forgotten that the original poor form was not all down to Ranocchia himself as the team was in turmoil at times and were still recovering from the loss of Jose Mourinho.
Especially under Leonardo where the defence was leaking goals and the Brazilian didn’t seem to grasp the concept that ‘you need to defend if you want to win football games’. Then came Gasperini who opted for a back three as he always has done. This of course, was a complete disaster and Gasperini was dismissed after just three league games.
Even with the back three being a disaster under Gasperini, it has been interesting to see how solid it has been for the whole team, and how good Ranocchia has been, after Stramaccioni recently changed to a back three to try and solve Inter’s defensive problems. Of course it must not be forgotten that the circumstances and team are much better at this point in time.
The key to the renaissance of Andrea Ranocchia seems to be down to a few factors. Firstly, Stramaccioni looks to have real faith in the young Italian defender and has looked to give him a real key role in the team in which he looks to be the main man in the defence, a role which he is thriving in.
Secondly, as mentioned earlier, the long overdue departure of Lucio in the defence, looks to have given Rancocchia renewed confidence, which was certainly missing from his game for a long time.
He has also earned praise from the one and only Marco Materazzi or ‘Matrix’ as he is also known, with the World Cup winner stating: “He’s showing what he can do, and this is the best way to respond. I know what a talented player he is, I’ve never doubted that, and now he’s answering his critics.”
Ranocchia has also took the legendary number 23 shirt, previously wore by Materazzi, who believes Ranocchia is his heir.
This season will be a telling one in Ranocchia’s career, but after a superb start it is looking like he is eventually showing the talent that earned him a move to the Nerazzurri. Let’s hope he can emulate his hero Alessandro Nesta, who he admired as a young boy and become a future Inter and Azzurri legend.