Inter had an off night against Lazio and lost 1-2 at home. The night began bad when Handanovic thought he could dribble with the ball and was lucky that Matri couldn’t punish him. When Candreva scored from a corner after just two minutes and even though it was still early, but it was an indication of how the game was going to go because the concentration lever wasn’t where it should be. As Lazio could sit back and defend, whilst relying on the counter attack, Inter put in a hideous “performance” in the first half. The team had problems in putting passes together and to create chances and the attitude just wasn’t there. Many of us were fearing a Fiorentina 2.0 but fortunately it didn’t go that way.
Montoya who has had two good games in a row showed why Mancini hasn’t played with him as he was having a nightmare on the field. The guy is completely useless when he isn’t on the attacking third and when there are no spaces to attack, he doesn’t offer anything. On the other wing, Telles was probably the only player who did well in the first half and another player who was having a horror show was Melo. He attacked when he shouldn’t, he gave possession away and was sloppy at many occasions. And when Brozovic warmed up I really thought Mancini was going to sub Melo off before the halftime break. Something that didn’t happen and I will get back to both Melo and Mancini a bit later.
Inter started the second half better and Mancini brought Ljajic and Brozovic on for Biabiany and Jovetic. I would’ve wanted Melo or Medel or Montoya to go off, but this didn’t happen. When Perisic served Icardi, the Argentinian got his seventh goal of the season and the team and the fans got their hopes up. Icardi took a lot of responsibility today and it was good for him to get on the score sheet. In the 87th minute, Melo committed a stupid foul in the penalty area. Handanovic saved the first attempt but the rebound went straight to Candreva who scored to make it 2-1. A couple of minutes after Melo committed a horror foul on Biglia which got him a well-deserved card.
The foul and the red card were stupid enough and Mancini should’ve brought Melo off in the half-time pause. Instead Melo was on the field and caused this loss. You can say what you want to say about Melo and how he acted tonight, but he is still not completely useless for Inter. I’m not a fan of the footballers like Melo, or even Medel, especially when they are used as some kind of defensive playmakers. The Brazilian midfielder is a playing type that will give you these kinds of performances at times. But when he does well, he will win you possession and games. Melo’s charisma and leadership has been of great value for Inter during the season and I am sure that it will keep on being so. Melo is now suspended the next game which I hope will force Mancini to play with Brozovic from start. The Croatian is together with Ljajic our most in form players and why they went on the bench today is impossible to understand. Mancini has gotten almost everything right until today, but the losses against Fiorentina and Lazio both come from strange decisions like these.
When the referee added four minutes to play, even though Lazio players had wasted 3 minutes on an indirect freekick and all the substitutions were done, it really felt like this was going Lazio’s way. Icardi got a last minute chance which he put wide and the loss was a fact. Maybe this Inter will learn and grow from this game and maybe they won’t. If someone would’ve told me that Inter would be on top of the table after the last game in December before the season, I would never had believed them. Now we are on top of the table and just as I wrote last week, this Inter can improve a lot. The offense can get better and the defense can get better. Today luck wasn’t on our side and you got to win, and you got to lose. A stupid person is not someone who commits mistakes but someone who doesn’t learn from them and what Inter needs to do after this night is to let go of the loss, learn from the mistakes and improve.
With this said I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. This is the last Terzo Tempo of 2015 and as always it has been a pleasure to write it and to engage with your comments. All the best, FORZA INTER.