A Tough Start

Start from the beginning here!

Pep Guardiola's pre-season with Inter is quite short, with only two games billed - a trip to Zenit Saint Petersburg and a home tie against Lyon. Pep is furious with the pathetically minimal pre-season as it will give him virtually no time to test out his tactics in actual match scenarios and two extra games are arranged, rumoured to be arranged by himself personally.

It's the first sign of tensions between Pep and his new club but, regardless, the pre-season is a success with three wins and a draw, including a 13-0 battering of Rozzano on their tour in the US.

Pep's transfer window is one which has mostly been dictated by the transfers which preceded his arrival. There's a lot of activity, with Lautaro Martinez and Matteo Politano in particular catching Pep's eye in the pre-season.

The only players the Catalan is personally responsible for signing are Sandro Tonali, who is immediately loaned back to Brescia for the rest of the season, Joshua Veeckman, a Belgian youth international who slots into Inter's youth team, and Eljif Elmas, who is also loaned back to Fenerbahçe for the rest of the season.

When asked by media on the US tour, Pep calls the lack of funds available to sign a ready-made star player "challenging" but insists that he won't be selling any players just to free up more transfer budget. Daniele Padelli, the ageing goalkeeper, is the only departure from the club as Dynamo Kyiv take him for £1.1 million.

18th August 2018 - Napoli (A)

Guardiola's first game in Serie A is upon us and it's no easy task. The Nerazzurri must travel to the San Paolo Stadium to play against the league runners-up from the previous season, Napoli. The club now have Carlo Ancelotti in charge, the man who tried succeeded Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

Guardiola speaks in glowing terms about both Ancelotti and Napoli beforehand and rather typically goes quite overboard in his praise for them. He refers to Ancelotti as "the best manager in the world" and Napoli as "the best club in Europe last season", even though they factually weren't. Still, José's mind games involve ruthlessly attacking your opponent, Pep's involve showering them with compliments.

Guardiola's line-up is the 5-2-3 formation which has been used throughout the entirety of Inter's pre-season. There are debuts for de Vrij, Vrsaljko and Asamoah, whilst the rest of the squad is filled up by players who have already been at the club for a while. Notable names on the bench include Monaco loanee Keita Baldé, Lautaro Martinez and Facundo Colidio.

Within 7 minutes, Guardiola's team has already conceded its first Serie A goal. Skriniar completely throws Guardiola's philosophies out of the window and, upon receiving the ball from Handanovic, attempts to hoof it long to Icardi. Koulibaly wins the ball back and finds Callejon, who plays a great through-ball to Dries Mertens, who expertly hits the ball from his right and into the opposite corner past the Inter keeper.

Guardiola is seen yelling furiously on the touchline, particularly at Skriniar for not playing it out slowly from the back and the defender hangs his head in shame. This is not a club which has been tailor-made for Guardiola's football as it was at Barcelona, nor is it filled with players with the intelligence of Bayern Munich, nor does it hold the limitless resources of Manchester City. This is going to be the Catalan's greatest challenge yet.

Inter start to dominate the play a bit more for the rest of the half and they create a few chances, the most noteworthy being an absolute howitzer of a shot from Antonio Candreva which forces a great save from David Ospina in the Napoli goal.

In the 59th minute, however, Inter finally break through as Icardi holds up the ball on the right hand side of the penalty area before laying it off back to Candreva. Candreva looks up and whips in a cross, which is met by the head of Roberto Gagliardini, who heads it out of reach of Ospina, who is at full stretch. Guardiola punches the air as the equaliser is scored, though there is little beyond that. After all, they are still not ahead.

The final whistle comes and the game ends 1-1. An incredibly tough first game ends without defeat, though this is little solace for Guardiola who would have much preferred to win. The goal conceded shows there is still much work to be done, though earlier in the day Juventus scraped to a draw with Genoa, handing Guardiola an early lifeline. The lifeline may be needed sooner rather than later, as the next game is more difficult than the first...

25th August 2018 - Juventus (H)

Like Napoli before them, there's been a managerial change in Turin over the summer. Real Madrid, still in need of a permanent manager over summer, quickly identified Massimo Allegri as their man, leaving Juventus looking for a replacement. With little in the way of available names, they turned to a previous manager and appointed Antonio Conte, a man who both Serie A and Pep Guardiola know only too well.

The biggest concern for Pep is the addition to the Juventus squad of Cristiano Ronaldo, an absolute machine when it comes to scoring goals. However, when Allegri left for Madrid he decided to take Daniele Rugani with him, forcing them to sign Victor Ruiz in his place from Villarreal. A downgrade, for sure.

Pep's team sees two changes with the same formation. Ivan Perisic and Marcelo Brozovic make way for Keita Baldé and Bruno Valero, with Pep looking for more control over the midfield and creativity. The Juventus squad is predictable, as Conte's 5-2-3 matches Pep's, with Pjanic and Khedira going up against Inter's midfield of Gagliardini and Valero. The front-three is the biggest concern, with Ronaldo, Douglas Costa and Paulo Dybala making up the attack.

The game is a fairly even affair until the 21st minute, as Alex Sandro makes a bursting run down Juve's left. He slips the ball into Ronaldo, who glides around the edge of the penalty area and forces Valero to make a challenge. Valero obliges by bringing him down. Guardiola throws his arms up as Valero gives away a free kick right on the edge of the area, however the referee makes the television signal with his hands and Guardiola storms back to his bench, slumping into his seat and yelling in Spanish.

The penalty is awarded and Cristiano makes no mistake, sending Handanovic the wrong way. Once again, Guardiola's side find themselves a goal down early in the game.

The response comes quicker this time as, in the 27th minute, Candreva provides yet another assist, this time from a corner. Bonucci misjudges the flight of the ball completely and it falls kindly for Keita Baldé, who heads it past Szczesny. It's the Senegalese's first goal for the club and it has come at a crucial moment.

The rest of the half goes by with little incident and the two sides go in at half-time at 1-1. The San Siro applauds the team off the pitch but there's an undeniable sense that it could all go wrong at any minute.

As the second half gets underway, their fears are almost confirmed as Alex Sandro makes a bursting run inside and lets fly from the edge of the area. The shot is hard and low, but Handanovic is equal to it and makes a superb save, tipping it just round the post. There are shouts of annoyance from the Inter crowd as Sandro is given so much time and space on the ball.

The game soon swings the other way, as a throw-in from Asamoah on Inter's left finds Gagliardini, who plays a backheel around Cancelo to Keita Baldé. The ball is switched to the opposite flank and Vrsaljko brings it inside, laying it off to Candreva who goes from provider to scorer, lashing a low, powerful shot past Szczesny, who has no time at all to react before the ball has already hit the netting. 62 minutes gone, Pep's men lead 2-1. He cheers on the touchline, hugging his assistant. This could be a memorable victory.

Ten minutes later, Juventus are passing the ball around their midfield when Brozovic bursts forward, catching their defence off guard and giving him a straight run to the goal. The Inter crowd, and Pep, cheer him on, could this be 3-1? No. He spends too much time on the ball and an inch-perfect tackle from Bonucci takes the ball away from him.

Inter defend resolutely for the rest of the game and no big chances fall to Juventus over the next 20 minutes and, as the final whistle goes, Pep punches the air vigorously. His opening games have been two of the season's most difficult and they've come away with 4 points. It bodes well for what's to come.

30th August 2018 -- Champions League Group Draw

After three hours of ceremonial pre-amble, during which the presenters give out irrelevant awards and praise Cristiano Ronaldo a lot, the Champions League groups are drawn.

Inter are the second seed in the draw and they come out in Group F, alongside Real Madrid. Pep is relaxed. It's a difficult draw, but the majority of the points will be made up from pots 3 and 4. Any points over Madrid are a bit of a bonus. Dynamo Kyiv come out of Pot 3, it could have been worse. However, Pot 4 brings Ajax, the most difficult team in the pot.

When interviewed after the draw, Pep says that he's optimistic about their chances despite the quality of the teams he's drawn alongside. Internally, he's pretty annoyed that the draw wasn't as easy as Napoli's, who've managed to get Lyon, Viktoria Plzen and Lokomotiv Moscow. Pot 1 has got to be the aim next season, and there's only one way to secure that...

Read Part Two here!