Why fix when it aint broken

Benitez is still looking for his next job. Leonardo is now helping Qatar spend money on the new project at Paris Saint-German. Gasperini is licking his wounds after he was fired in September,before he could record a single victory,when Inter seemed bemused and in despair over his attempts to make old dogs learn new tricks.

Ranieri,the coach,recently dismissed by Roma and before that by Juventus,and long before that at places like Chelsea and Valencia,has the reputation of being a firefighter. By Monday,Ranieri was able to say: This team had been written off much too soon. I like this dressing room. Like a true warrior,this team that had fallen has found the desire deep inside itself to get back on its feet. He was broadcasting on radio,but actually addressing the owner.

Moratti is inclined to pay the millions that Manchester City wants to get rid of Carlos Tevez. The unwanted outcast,who has not played since his fallout with Citys Italian coach,Roberto Mancini,four months ago,would be the sixth Argentine in the Inter lineup,and presumably oust Giampaolo Pazzini,the only Italian starter Sunday.

Why would you do that? Why change a winning side,an Inter team that had run up eight league victories in nine games,and had just beaten its neighbor,AC Milan,for the first time since January 2010?

Tevez is a champion, Ranieri said in answer to the question. But he hasnt played for a long time,so we need to understand how much this lad can give and how much he can take away.

Well decide together with the president. But,I repeat,there is balance now and the team has become solid. We are calm now.

Ranieri is the figure of calm on the field. Yet he transmits at the same time an enthusiasm,a zest in training that often exceeds the highly prized professionals in his charge. It comes,perhaps,from the heartbreak of never quite reaching the level he desired at his first,beloved team,Roma. Now,at 60,he is finding once more the desire of working with champion players who,by and large,are railing against those who think their time is run.

Inters back line is,with the exception of the 25-year-old Japanese left back Yuto Nagatomo,all South American,and all way past 30. It isnt always a pretty sight,but it is mighty disconcerting to opponents the way that Lucio,the Brazilian,and Walter Samuel,the Argentine,are prepared to trample over them or to put their own bodies on the line to keep the ball out of their goa.

Hard,not always fair,but darned reliable is the Inter defense. In front of them,still going strong in his 17th season as an Inter player,Javier Zanetti defies anyone to criticise him as too old,at 38,for Serie A. It was Zanetti whose swift run and cross-field pass released his fellow Argentine,Diego Milito,to score the only goal of the contest. Milito,a mere 32,was Mourinhos deadly warrior,and still has it.

Game,and Milans unbeaten record in league play since the start of October: over.

Ranieri said things like maybe he was lucky,maybe the timing of his arrival had coincided nicely with the return of so many key players who had been unavailable to other coaches.

Maybe Ranieri was toying with words. He knows very well that he inherited a team that had triumphed under Mourinho,but a team whose players,not simply the coach,know how to win and know how to stay together.

Now that he has Mourinhos old Inter squad,with Wesley Sneijder and Diego Forlan still to come after they return from injury,Ranieri is cautious. The unit is stronger than critics believed,so why take the risk of spending the 50 million in transfer fee and salary to bring in Tevez?