Inter played Fiorentina away from home today in what presented many personality and tactical deficiencies in the squads ability to win games which really puts into perspective the first half of the season, was it lucky or was it deserved. Inter lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation without Candreva who was replaced by Joao Mario on the right. Their back line consisted of Santon, Skriniar, Ranocchia, Cancelo. Things started to fall apart undoubtably when Ranocchia was subbed off due to injury, this leaves room for major concern because if it’s classified as a serious injury, Inter is left with only one center back.
The problem with Inter today was that they lack the ability to just take shots, once a player like Vecino drives up the field, he absolutely needs to be able to put one on net and actually challenge the shot stopper. Vecino and Gagliardini both had clear shots from a solid twenty five yards and both shot directly on the goalie. The problem in the midfield isn’t the quality of the players but more of a creativity issue. The way the three midfielders play, Vecino, Gagliardini and Borja Valero play together is too predictable and almost to defensive in the sense that anyone who knows anything about soccer can very easily know where the ball is going to go before it leaves the midfielders foot. Another problem is that nobody has the courage or confidence to over lap Icardi. Icardi is phenomenal with his back to the net, when he pulls himself in to support the midfield, one of the three midfielders need to make the offensive over lap because having only Perisic and Candreva, or in this case, Joao Mario up front is not enough.
Todays game was really up in the air because both teams had spells of dominance and it really could have gone either way. A lot of poor decision making from Inter and a lot of missed chances for Fiorentina and thats why the game was a draw. Perisic for example did not deliver a cross all game. For a quality winger to not deliver crosses and to only look for goal in a 1-0 game is just sinful. Another problem was the way the team just sat back after their goal, they didn’t even play off the counter attack they just sat to protect their lead and Fiorentina were able to exploit the scrambled right side of the field defended by Nagatomo and Santon on the right of the back line.
Icardi played a fantastic game and his work rate is just incredible. He came in nice and close to the midfielders and did a fantastic job closing the space between him and his attacking midfielder. He finally managed to end his scoring drought by picking up on his own headed rebound. He was fantastic considering the limited supply of balls he received through out the game. The final result was deserved considering Inter’s mentality to completely shut down after their goal and that cannot happen, they have to be able to take the fight to their opposition and they just didn’t have it in them away from home, in the end it was a deserved result.
