The dynamic duo, Ivan Perisic and Mauro Icardi, link up yet again to help Inter come back from behind late in the game via a goal each for the second match in a row before Eder secured the Nerazzurri’s Fifth consecutive win in the Serie A.
No-one can have escaped the positive vibe that surrounds Inter since Stefano Pioli took over. The players are bursting with confidence, the club’s management is relaxed, the atmosphere at the San Siro is positive and Mauro Icardi has finally found the ideal partner up front in Ivan Perisic.
That the Inter skipper is a goalscoring machine is hardly news, however getting him to link up well with players around him has been a problem in that no-one has been able to form a good partnership with him or vice versa. At least until the latter part of this season where the Argentinian striker and Ivan Perisic have begun to make life very difficult for most Serie A teams. If it’s not Icardi on the end of a Perisic cross it’s the Croat being fed the ball by the Nerazzurri captain. We saw it against Juventus in what was Frank de Boer’s finest hour at the club, we saw it last week against Udinese and we saw it tonight against a brilliant Stefano Sorrentino in Chievo’s goal.
Every title winning or even title challenging team has a solid defense and a working attacking partnership . Since 2010 Inter have had neither, but now under the brilliant tactical mastermind of Stefano Pioli, Piero Ausilio’s shrew dealmaking and Suning’s intelligent leadership, the Nerazzurri have if not already built both, they’ve certainly laid the foundations for both. Sure, the full-back situation is still a complete disaster, as illustrated by Danilo D’Ambrosio’s lacklustre performance as well as Cristian Ansaldi’s awkward positioning on the pitch. With Nagatomo rumored to leave in the current transfer window, it will surely be time to call it a day on Danilo D’Ambrosio’s time with Inter this coming summer. The mistakes he regularly makes and has made since joining the club precisely 3 years ago, is all the evidence needed to realize that he simply doesn’t cut it at a club who wants to challenge for the title. His ‘marking’ of Sergio Pellissier during Chievo’s goal was as embarassing as it was avoidable.
However despite another display of episode 17, season 5 of the Inter Full-back Horror Show series, the team’s central line from Handanovic in goal all the way up to Icardi up front, looks stronger than it has in almost a decade. Ausilio’s excellent job in snapping up Roberto Gagliardini and convincing Suning to pay up to secure a young Italian midfielder with only half a season of experience in the Serie A, could imply that the central midfield is complete for years to come. Gagliardini formed a brilliant partnership with Kondogbia effectively killing all chattering of an incompatibility problem between them. The Frenchman was a beast and gave his best performance by a country mile since joining Inter, whilst Gagliardini’s performance drew parallels to Thiago Motta. When adding the versatile Joao Mario and the dynamic ability of a reborn Marcelo Brozovic, it is safe to say that the Nerazzurri are covered in this area of the pitch.
Antonio Candreva had a allround awful night, as player’s do from time to time but depite having an off night, he managed to provide Mauro Icardi with the most beautiful cross since the days of Francesco Moriero for Mauro Icardi’s equalizer. A simply stunning cross and an equally ravenous finish by the current top goalscorer of the Serie A who netted home his 15th goal of the campaign. Then the finisher turned provider for Perisic’s goal and Inter have turned it around again. And yet again it was in the final 15 mins of a match. When Eder, who looked very sharp tonight, put the match away assisted by Rodrigo Palacio, Inter scored their 12th goal in the Serie A this season in the last quarter of the match. All big teams have that desired ability to pull off a comeback towards the end of a match. Most famously Manchester United’s ability to do this under Sir Alex Ferguson was christened Fergie Time as it happened too many times over two decades, for it to be put down to luck. The past tense, was, is used here not because Sir Alex has retired from the game, but because now, given the statistics, it must be renamed Inter-time. And long may that time reign.
