Sneijder plans talks with Ranieri

Sneijder plans talks with Ranieri

Inter’s Wesley Sneijder intends to speak
with coach Claudio Ranieri over his half-time
withdrawal in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at
Lecce.
After being handed his first start in Serie A by
Inter since returning from a couple of
months out with a muscular problem, the
Netherlands international failed to shine in
his usual role behind in-form striking duo
Diego Milito and Giampaolo Pazzini and was
replaced by Ricardo Alvarez in the interval.
When asked about his substitution after the
game by Sport1, Sneijder replied: “The
coach’s decision. I’ll probably talk with
him about it tomorrow.”
Ranieri explained the tactical change was
because he he is struggling to work out
exactly what to do with Sneijder.
“He was not playing badly but I wanted to
restore (defensive) security,” he said,
alluding to the fact that Inter had been
caught out on the break a number of times
during the first half.
“We’re still not developing well with
4-3-1-2 (and) we can express ourselves
better with 4-4-2.”
“Can he play in behind the forwards?
We’ve said it many times before, he is a
central player that must be free to make
mistakes.”
“He’s a trequartista, he cannot be
conditioned to play on the outside.”
“He could play in a 4-4-1-1 but we must
then strive to adapt well to a diamond
(formation in midfield).”
“We tried it (the diamond) today but we
have seen again that the team didn’t cope
well with it: we were unable to press well
and I changed it.”
“In future we will try maybe with a
4-2-3-1, with (Diego) Forlan on the wing and
Sneijder a bit behind the striker.”
“We should try that because in the first
half today we did not have the necessary
solidity.”
Sneijder was repeatedly linked with a move
to Manchester United last summer and this
latest development could spark further
speculation over a possible move to Old
Trafford.