Haha, no sixtuple for Inter.
While naturally I'm glad to see them lose (even if it's to a Spanish team), their performance gave me a genuine belief that we can wrestle the title away from them. Knee-jerk reaction maybe, but they were poor even against Roma. An ageing group of players who won everything there is to win (well, apart from the mickey mouse Club World Cup) in club football, with no addition to the squad are bound to become complacent at some point. I can't imagine what it's like for the players, going from someone like Mourinho to Benitez, who is primarily responsible for this loss.
I never understood why coaches want to stamp their authority so early by completely changing the system. Benitez has only managed Inter for a handful of games, fair to say that he isn't aware of what his best formation is. Why not stick to the treble-winning team and formation, then? Isolating Sneijder on the left in a 4-3-3 is up there with some of his most ridiculous decisions. Throughout last season, he was their primary source of creativity and the only player who was capable of making the link between Cambiasso and Milito.
For a successful 4-3-3, you need midfielders of Xavi, Scholes or Pirlo's ilk; players who are capable of keeping possession and controlling the tempo. Last year's team was built on a solid defense, a strong defensive midfield duo shielding it and Sneijder bridging the gap between midfield and attack. A very direct counter-attacking style of play with four forwards. Benitez admitted that he plans on playing a very Spanish game: possession football with the defense pressing high up the pitch but Inter simply don't have the players to play that way. Zero shots on target is absolutely dreadful, meaningless competition or not. In my view, Benitez is the ideal coach to end their winning streak, not least because he'll probably focus on retaining the Champions League.