No prophet no party.
If the Fiorentina game was a game that filled interisti with joy and a sense of hope seeing a team that actually played football (and won!) on the pitch then this one was a rude slap in the face.
This game turned out as bad as many feared when seeing the line-ups. With Hernanes out due to a minor injury, Mazzarri threw Ricky Alvarez back into the starting line-up. And even though Hernanes has only been playing two games with the team it was obvious that his quality, calm and skill with the ball were sorely missed by the team.
The first half Inter played a predictable and static game. Suffering heavily on the left flank where Ibarbo looked for the one on one with Juan Jesus repeatedly, Jesus did well but could’ve used defensive support from Nagatomo who was missing in action in defense. It was downright painful seeing Alvarez out on the flank, leaving Kuzmanovic in the middle of the pitch to distribute the ball. The only midfielder to look alive was Guarin who once again played well, he has really snapped back nicely after his chaotic January. Bravo.
Not much more to write about the first half, Cagliari scored on their first shot on goal which came in the 40th minute. It was a penalty scored by the inter-fan Pinilla. Not much to say about the penalty in my opinion, deviation off the shot on Samuel and the ball hits Jesus’ hand which is in an “unnatural” position. Could’ve been avoided but Jesus probably reacted instinctively, costly mistake. What about Inter you say? Well the first Inter shot on goal came in the 46th minute of the first half, which kind of says it all really. Again, first shot on goal came right before the halftime whistle. Against Cagliari who in the last 7 games has lost 5, won 1 and tied 1. And they were without a coach for a week before this game. Unacceptable to not even create chances.
Second half began with Icardi coming on for Milito and five minutes later Inter scored the equalizer. Cross from Nagatomo, header pass from Icardi to Rolando who hits it home. Now I know the coach has stated that Icardi hasn’t got more than 10 minutes in his legs. But honestly I’ll take those ten minutes from the first minute then, because the team creates chances with him on the pitch and he is a threat on every cross. Milito needs minutes to return to his old self, but is it really worth it playing him from the first minute these games? His contract expires at the end of this season, how about starting Icardi from now on with Milito as a sub? Icardi is the one who will be here in the future; if he is fully fit he should play.
Kovacic was finally seen on the San Siro pitch again in the second half (subbed Ricky) but he is just a shadow of the talent we saw last season. Didn’t make an impression and looked lost, passing most balls sideways not looking to do what he does best.
I was hopeful for a few minutes after the 1-1-goal, expecting a reaction but it never came. The team looked scared of losing instead of going for the win. Icardi came close to the winning the game for Inter but his header in the 90th minute hit the crossbar. And three minutes later a decent free kick from 40 meters from Guarín ended the game. We should pray to all things sacred that Samuel stays fit the rest of this season, that Hernanes doesn’t miss another game and that Icardi has shown that he should play from the first minute from now on.
The question mark: How bad can Danilo D’Ambrosio be right now that he doesn’t get a chance? I know he didn’t play a game for Torino since December 8 but he should play before a Jonathan in this abysmal form no matter what.