Inter played Bologna away from home in what resulted in the first three points of the season. Spalletti reverted to his standard 4-2-3-1 that consisted of what is probably going to be known as the standard back-line, D’Ambrosio-De Vri-Skriniar and Asamoah. Followed by Brozovic and Gagliardini who supported Perisic on the left the Ninja and Politano. Keita played as the lone striker on top. This formation would probably work best despite a few slight changes being needed. The way Spalletti lined up his team today was probably the most effective the Inter world has seen since the beginning of the season.
At the back, it’s very clear to most that the development of De Vrij and Skriniar is becoming absolutely monstrous day by day. As they continue to play together the chemistry will only grow as we saw in this game. This will allow Inter to play with that modern day sweeper considering they can both play with the ball on their feet. If Skriniar has the corridor, eventually he’ll be able to drive up knowing surely that De Vrij will tuck in and the left and right back will centralize.
The same applies to De Vrij’s driving ability and the back line tucking in behind him. The only visual problem with the back line is that D’Ambrosio’s ability going forward really hinders that right side which isolates Politano. The opposition can easily isolate that and force them to only generate on the left which the defending team can overload leading to a cut in ball supply to the middle. Vrsaljko, when ready, would be the more viable option and is more balanced than D’Ambrosio.
In the midfield, Brozovic was paired with Gagliardini which is a partnership that really seems to flourish especially with Nainggolan right in front of them to give them a hand. The holding midfield combination works so well because Brozovic acts as the strong tackling box-to-box midfielder while Gagliardini is able to work in the engine role which allows him to turn the ball and essentially clean up Brozovic’s tackles, this is why they play so closely together.
This is also the reason Vecino last week wasn’t able to fill his shoes, Vecino and Brozovic weren’t playing closely enough contrary to todays pairing. Nainggolan was just the icing on the cake who was able to perform crunching tackles and demonstrated and incredibly high soccer I.Q this is a very different Ninja we’ve received from Roma who seems to have changed his style a lot.
In regards to the front of the field, today we saw Keita demonstrate a lot of talent but it is guaranteed that with Icardi in the formation there will be a lot more threat especially if he’s able to play that holding striker role where he distributes wide and heads straight into the box. In conclusion the fact that Inter seems to be activating leaves the rest of the Inter world wondering how Icardi will slot into the style of play. The moral of the story is; two games later, Inter is here.