Inter coach Luciano Spalletti made a surprise move on Friday night when Inter played Fiorentina at the Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence. That is, leaving Antonio Candreva out of the starting eleven to make room for Joao Mario.
This idea was rejected by by Milano-based newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport: “One change was enough and that affected Inter’s play. But almost never in the attacking phase and the few times that happened the crosses made were not that great, with Joao Mario almost always between the lines and between the central defender Astori and fullback Biraghi. Spalletti’s intention was to put pressure on the right with Joao Mario cutting in from the right with Joao Cancelo overlapping, but that idea was realised very few times during the game. So few times that at the end of the first half the wingers changed positions with eachother something that changed back in the second half: Joao Mario to the left and Ivan Perisic (3 crosses) to the right. One reason for that was an aggressive Fiorentina that put a lot of pressure on the ball.”
