After the underwhelming display midweek against third tier Pordenone, Spalletti went back to his standard XI and formation which was unchanged from the game in Turin just a week ago. However, Inter never managed to work out how to exploit Oddo’s gameplan leading to very few chances being created and ultimately just not being enough of a threat, similarly to the last two matches.
Formations:
Udinese started with the 3-5-1-1, one of two formations (other being 3-5-2) new manager Massimo Oddo has successfully implemented and switched between so far in his tenure as boss at the Stadio Friuli. With fullbacks as their wide players operating either flank to themselves and therefore the middle of the pitch being packed, it made for a very tough match for Inter to really create many good opportunities as there was so little space to build up through the middle and of course in the final third with the wide players dropping in as fullbacks.
First Half:
Inter started off with much of the possession as Udinese cut off the passing lanes through the middle of the pitch resulting in the ball being played outwide to the fullbacks who had no real option going forward since the wide players for Udinese were marking the wide attacking midfielders and if they decided to put pressure on either fullback, the outside centre back on the respective side would then man mark the wide attacking midfielder so if they pressed high, the centre midfielder on that side would then fill into that space left if an Inter player tried to exploit it so up to this point, not much intent could be stamped onto the game by the home side.
Inter continued to dominate the ball up to when Udinese opened the scoring by operating with their high press forcing the away side to make sloppy errors gifting the ball back to the Nerazzurri but contrary to that, the 5-3-2 being deployed when defending was trumping anything Inter could muster up so like in Turin at spells, the ball was just being moved side to side waiting for a gap to open up.
The opening goal of the game started by Candreva trying to force a pass into a clearly marked Mauro Icardi who was always going to struggle to get hold of the ball and hold it up with 3 men ready to pounce onto him. Udinese then countered from this, an instruction most teams coming to the San Siro will use this season so we should be prepared for that at any moment and we were.
As the visitors broke, Inter got numbers behind the ball to cut out any threat onto the goal and Davide Santon at LB managed to win possession back from De Paul just outside of the penalty area yet he decided to attempt to dribble with the ball instead of clearing it leading to Barak dispossessing him and allowing De Paul to stroll into the box and fire a low pass across goal for an easy tap-in for the inform Kevin Lasagna.
A positive reaction is what the boss would have wanted and that is exactly what he got as Inter went straight on the attack from kick off going down the left side before switching over quickly as Candreva managed to capitalise on a slip from Ali Adnan and whip in a delightful cross for star man Mauro Icardi to volley in. Two individual errors leading to both goals.
Oddo’s side continued to counter off the back of Inter mistakes and from an over-committed attack with D’Ambrosio in the opposition’s box, they broke in numbers leading to a 4v3 and if De Paul could’ve threaded a better ball through to Jankto, he would’ve had a goal scoring opportunity.
At one point, Udinese tried to replicate the high press Inter do however the composure of Skriniar allowed him to find Brozovic in loads of space further up the pitch, the first time in the game. He then found Ivan free on the wing so within two passes Inter went from their own box to the opposition’s box; a very quick transition and possibly an attack Inter should have capitalised from yet it was the away side who got back quicker. Certainly, an alert for Massimo Oddo to not try that again.
Second Half:
Within 30 seconds of the second half beginning, Udinese had created a clear-cut chance for Lasagna but Samir was on hand to make the save fortunately. It all started from Perisic giving away possession cheaply, Fofana nicking in and De Paul opening up the defence with one pass. A great attack and a real let off for Inter.
Then came the penalty; just a catalogue of errors and comical from Inter. Starts on the right-hand side with a misplaced throw (just careless) and the ball being switched to Widmer who was being tracked by Perisic until he decided to leave him once the ball got played into Lasagna, Santon got dragged to the ball and Widmer was left free to put a cross in and just like that, Davide handles in the box, penalty. So simple from Udinese and simply, terrible from Inter.
The key to the way Udinese set up was Fofana. His work rate and ability to cover passing lanes and intercept allowed Barak and Jankto to press when the ball was on their side putting Inter under pressure. Without him, I doubt they would’ve been able to execute their game plan as well as they did. In the 69th minute, Spalletti finally changed things up by bringing on the pacey Karamoh for the lacklustre Santon and going to a 3-5-1-1 with Yann having what seemed like a free role to find pockets of space.
Just over 5 minutes after the substitution and formation change, Udinese struck again on the counter attack, this time from a long ball up to Lasagna with him beating Skriniar in the air and then no one tracked the run of Barak back post so he had it on a plate. Skriniar has got to recognise that a man is running in towards the far post since there is no longer a left-back and Perisic is too far up the field to get back in time however he fails to do this, instead running into the space Miranda is already protecting. 3-1 and game over.
Luciano then threw on Eder for Vecino to go all out trying to get back into the game but Udinese’s deep block and slow play made it impossible to carve out any decent chances. The perfect away day for Oddo and his new side and possibly a wake up call for Inter.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, Luciano should have changed the formation at half time to offer Icardi more support and to also give the 3 central defenders another man to worry about but instead the 4-2-3-1 was kept in place. Also, Brozovic was poor again not linking up play too well or finding Icardi. The fullbacks were a huge problem, mainly Santon as they don’t seem to get forward and support enough and defensively, they are average at best. Maybe it’s time to introduce £18m summer signing Dalbert into the starting XI more often.
