Inter played Udinese at home after returning from the mid week Champions League fixture which saw Inter exit from the tournament. Spalletti sent out a varied eleven which was lined up in a 4-3-3 which consisted of, Vrsaljko on the right, De Vrij, Skriniar and Asamoah.
The midfield three was Borja Valero, Brozovic and Joao Mario. In front of them consisted of Keita Balde on the left, Politano on the right and Icardi leading the cavalry in the centre of the line. The main issue with this formation is that it doesn’t give you the necessary depth defence wise which can pose an issue if Inter were to play a higher quality opposition.
The game was very complex especially because it had to consist of the team bouncing back from their rollercoaster of emotions in the Champions League, the quality of the game in the midweek is irrelevant. The more dominant issue is the psychological aspect of the elimination which is what made this game so interesting. It was incredibly important to see if Inter were able to gather themselves emotionally and shift their focus to the Serie A season and they did just that.
What Spalletti is trying to do is implement several styles of play that can be utilized in different situations which is one of the main reasons why fans are seeing several different shapes, odd movements and much more. For example, the 4-3-3 is a very dominant formation that forces the team to hold the ball and move the ball better with a lot of a cooler head which is why Spalletti is trying to teach the team to be a more dominant team.
The problem specifically today was psychological with a few slight issues that had to do with adaption. Inter is used to playing very indirect soccer which means they play very wide and wait until the time comes to feed Icardi the ball who usually converts his chances. We’ve seen over the past handful of games Icardi linger at the top of the box. Now, there can be many theories about this, but whats most likely is that he has been instructed to do so.
By making this slight change, a crucial option is removed from the box which forces the entire team to tighten up and play more centrally, and logically once the team is playing through the middle, it will create a lot more shot opportunities which will presumably generate more goals especially when Nainggolan is playing more regularly. Once the team is as familiar with this style of play as they are with the target man style, Spalletti will be able to implement these shape transitions during games so if one’s not working they can adapt and remain in control of the game.
All in all, Inter picked up an incredibly important three points which is what will hopefully pave the way for them in what is a traditionally poor month of December which always sees a slump in form for the Nerazzurri.
