Inter coasted to a 1-0 win against ten-man Udinese to make it three wins from three. Rodrigo De Paul’s moment of madness led to his dismissal after 35 minutes, and Inter capitalised quickly, with Stefano Sensi nodding in Diego Godin’s pin point cross. Although wasteful in the second half, Inter were rarely threatened by Udinese, as victory lifts them to the top of the league.
Line-ups:
Inter made four changes from their victory at Cagliari, with Diego Godin, Stefan De Vrij, Nicolo Barella and Matteo Politano coming into the side. Conte also opted for a slight change in system, with Politano playing deeper than Lautaro Martinez had done in previous games, and Sensi pushed higher up.
Udinese lined up 3-5-1-1, with De Paul and Fofana interchanging the attacking midfield role, as they looked to match up Inter and find a way to stop the threat out wide from Asamoah and Candreva.
First Half:
Inter started brightly, with Politano hitting the post after just four minutes. The move to create the chance showed how Inter tried to utilise their threat through the middle as opposed to out wide this game, and relied upon Lukaku and Politano’s link play. Politano dropped off Lukaku, dragging away one of the three central defenders with him. As a result, this opened up an avenue for a pass to Lukaku.
Although the pass was intercepted, Sensi was able to pick up the second ball, and the movement of both Lukaku and Politano had subsequently opened up space. This then opened up space in front of the back four for Politano to run into and use his pace to trouble the Udinese back line, eventually shooting against the post.
However, this wasn’t utilised enough in the first half, as Walace impressed in holding midfield for Udinese, often cutting out these avenues as Inter struggled to break down the compact back line.
The main problem for Inter up until the red card was the lack of tempo in the attacks, as well as a number of silly mistakes when in possession. This lack of tempo wasn’t helped by the lack of high press implemented in the first half, as they were aware of the risks of doing so with Lasagna and De Paul’s threat going forward. The implementation of the high press is shown below, with Skriniar leading it effectively, however this wasn’t done enough in the first half.
The positioning of Rodrigo de Paul made it hard to commit to a press, as he dropped deeper and was hard to pick up, offering an outlet who could subsequently link midfield and attack for Udinese (as show by the touch map below). His moment of madness changed the game for Udinese, as they lost both a presser up front, and their link between midfield and attack.
From De Paul’s red card onward, Godin and Skriniar were afforded much more time on the ball as they were both left as free men when Inter had the ball. This was fundamental for the goal, as Inter created an overload out wide, something they have effectively done so far this season, before Godin caught the rigid defence out with his early cross.
Politano had once again dropped deep to occupy Fofana on the edge of the box, creating a 2 v 2 in the box and space at the front post. Sensi’s subsequent movement was excellent, using Lukaku’s movement as a decoy and running in front of Opoku, allowing him to stoop home and power in a fantastic header. This showcased how he had been afforded a role further forward by Conte, and his awareness to make the run into box is another element to his ever-expanding repertoire as an attacking midfielder.
Second Half:
Barella was replaced by Gagliardini at half time, following both his yellow card and struggles in the first half. It is evident that Barella is still coming to terms with Conte’s tactics, and at times looked a little leggy as Udinese saw more of the ball in the first half. Gagliardini did play better in the second half than Barella, however this was in turn down to Udinese’s tactics.
Opting to sit in and avoid a substantial defeat, Inter’s back three and holding two were afforded a lot of time on the ball, and this is demonstrated by the average positions below. Asamoah and Candreva subsequently pushed much higher in the second half, whilst Sensi was able to continue having joy linking the play further forward. As a result of these, Inter were able to dominate the second half possession, racking up 69% of the ball.
Inter once again started quickly, looked to press high this half. They were able to do this as Lasagna became very isolated up top, with no one feeding the ball into him, and he had a thankless task of pressing 3 v 1 on Inter’s central defenders.
Udinese’s only real chance did show a worry for Inter when pressing high and the new look partnership at the back still looking to build their relationship. De Vrij was caught out by the long ball over the top, and when isolated by Lasagna, struggled to keep up. This has been a theme for Inter in their opening games, and will need improving going forward.
Politano continued to impress in the second half, in particular with his link up play with Sensi and Lukaku. Playing in between the lines of Udinese’s midfield and defence, he constantly dragged players out of possession, whilst also finding pockets of space to create chances. Creating three chances and having seven shots, one of his chances created is shown below, where he was able to drift out right and get to the touchline before pulling back into the box.
He continued to link up with Martinez when Lukaku went off, and an example is shown below, as once again he dropped off well to drag a centre half out of position, before playing an excellent ball round the corner for Candreva to bomb on and create another good goalscoring opportunity.
As Inter comfortably closed out the game, Gagliardini had two decent openings late on but his decision making let his strikers down, opting to shoot instead of setting up a team mate as space opened up as Udinese tried to come out in search of an equaliser. In his short cameo, Alexis Sanchez only had the one chance of note to run at the Udinese defence, however he looked bereft of confidence on the ball, and this will need another of Conte’s masterstrokes when it comes to individual performance as he has done in the past.
In terms of statistics from the game, two from Skriniar’s performance playing on the left side of defence stand out. He completed 94 of his 99 passes (the most of any player), as well as completing 13 ball recoveries. He is developing into one of the best ball playing centre halves in the world, and this performance once again further reinforces this.
However, it was his ability to effect the play further up the pitch and link with Asamoah and Sensi down the left which will encourage Conte further, as Inter’s back line becomes more settled and imperious as the weeks have progressed this season.
Sensi’s creativity once again stood out going forward, creating four chances and completing 20 of his 27 passes in the attacking third, as he linked up excellently with Brozovic in midfield. In particular, it is of note that all of these passes from Brozovic to Sensi were made in a forward direction, further reinforcing the importance of the link between these two players for Inter’s attacking play, and once again the blossoming midfield relationship on show.
Conclusion:
Another victory for Inter has moved them top of Serie A after three games, however they were aided by De Paul’s red card, and will need to see improvement heading into the Milan derby next Saturday. Prague awaits in the Champions League first, where they come up against an opposition unbeaten in twenty. No pushovers, it will be a tough tie ahead of the derby, and three points are imperative if they are to qualify from their tough group.