From La Gazzetta dello Sports representative at Appiano Gentile we receive the latest news on the different formations tried by Frank De Boer yesterday. In the afternoon on the Pinetina pitch, Inter could be seen trying a 4-3-3 formation. The first thing to notice was Ever Banega playing as a “regista” in front of the defense with Medel and Kondogbia on each side of him. GdS had the following to say about that:
“A new thing for the Argentinian, the real brain in Inter whose passes should enable Icardi to take off. De Boer tried him in this new position for a couple of minutes. One of many solutions, but a test to see if Banega could be useful at that position. The Argentinian who in the last two seasons at Seville found himself as a “trequartista” and in the national team has a prominent role inside a three-man midfield is not used to that role and it’s a tough challenge to move him back that much. Also because that role requires a substantial presence in the non-possession play. A phase where one like Medel needs to be in the center of the pitch. The risk is to lose the balance of the team, becoming too top-heavy, thereby exposing a lot of open space which their opponents, starting with Palermo, could take advantage of. That’s why the experiment yesterday could end up being just an experiment. The optimal role for Banega is still as a”trequartista” placed behind Mauro Icardi with protection from Medel and Kondogbia from behind.
Besides Banega, the second surprise of the day was seeing the first team with Davide Santon as a left-back. GdS continues: “He spent his summer seeing one trade after the other going south (Sunderland, Naples and West Ham) and that could have put him in a psychological corner. Instead, yesterday, De Boer and his deputy Orlando Trustfull seemed eager to instruct him during the afternoon’s internal match play. To the left we could also have seen Caner Erkin, but now it’s obvious that the Turkish player is not part of any plan. The one player that probably is out of the next game is Danilo D’Ambrosio since De Boer tried Yuto Nagatomo on the right. Anyway, this is another chance for Santon who hasn’t started a game since April 3rd when Inter lost 1-2 against Torino. Hopefully this will boost his confidence.
When I read “latest news from FDB”
It reminds me of those days when people said any good news about this man..,
my god!
NOOOO, please no naga
Medel can’t have a place if we are planning to play possesion based football. His passing skills and vision are awful if you want him to make a pass longer than 10 meters..He is only useful in a role of a destroyer in front of defence who recycles possesion to nearest player and we don’t need that kind of a player for more than 5-6 matches a season where we are underdogs..
With him on the pitch teams will lock us down pretty easily because you can’t count on him to make good decisions with the ball when we are under pressure.. Just use him as a back-up defender..
Yeah it does seem that way with medel though he can produce a decent long pass, don’t know why he doesn’t do it more often…
well said….at least 1 inter fan can analyze his play perfectly…..kudos to your analysis
That’s why we’re trying so desperately to get Joao Mario.
Medel is actually a CB, keeping him would be great as we would have 1 player who can play 2 positions. And seeing him as CB rather than Rano would make everyone happier.
I agree that Medel would be better as a CB, but based on our other options at CDM, we’re not left with much else of a choice. We’d be stuck using Melo, who is an even worse version of Medel, or Brozovic who doesn’t have enough defensive ability to cover the back line properly. I just did A LOT of research pertaining to De Boer’s preferred line ups and tactics, and it seems like the only way this team will function properly is if both De Boer and the squad are willing to adapt to each other where necessary. Inter’s players completely adapting to De Boer’s high possession, high pressure, high line tactics won’t work and neither will De Boer completely adapting to Inter’s players abilities of direct football, only pressing in the final third, and covering on the line, they’ll have to meet in the middle somewhere to find success.
I like this. Santon has never been inferior to nagatomo or d’ambrosio
no he hasn’t. I think he had a falling out with mancini last year. He was playing well in the first half of the year and then he was benched and he never saw game time again. I think he will play well if given time.
Yeah but failing all those medicals hints that
1. He’s in very bad condition physically or
2. He has a long term injury and has to undergo surgery (if possible).
Either possibilities don’t look good.
And when Ansaldi recover, he will play as RB. Then i rest my case.