Tonight at 18.00 CET, Inter head to the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara to take on Bologna in Match Day 11 of the 2019/2020 Serie A season.
Inter are heading into this match after a successful trip to Brescia, where they came out as 2-1 winners thanks to goals from Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku, Brescia pulling one back near the end with an own goal from Milan Skriniar.
Bologna are in decent form this season, where they have played 10 matches, winning 3, drawing 3 and losing 4. This is solid midtable form and they have proven to give the bigger teams plenty of trouble in the past. It is worth mentioning that Bologna head coach, Sinisa Mihajlovic, is well known for his passion and can easily motivate his team.
This was emphasized ahead of this season due to the fact he was diagnosed with Leukemia back in July, where the entire club united behind their coach. This has spurred on the whole squad and his sheer determination to beat this disease and continue to lead his team is an inspiration and should be applauded and respected by everyone.
Attack
So far, Inter have scored 22 goals in their 10 games played, averaging 2.2 goals per game, with an xG of 1.73 per game. The majority of Inter’s goals have come from their 2 main strikers, Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku.
Both of whom are in scintillating form and seem to be unstoppable. They can also produce goals from midfield, with goals coming from Candreva and Brozovic mainly, but also Sensi before he got injured, but who is expected to make a return to the squad, with several reports suggesting he’ll start on the bench against Bologna.
The Rossoblu have proved they can also score a goal or two, most notably putting 4 against Brescia. They are averaging 1.33 goals per game and an xG of 2.06. Perhaps they need to be a bit more clinical based on these numbers, but given the squad they have, one could argue that they are doing okay.
Their top scorer this season is none other than former Nerazzuri striker Rodrigo Palacio with 3 goals, and hot Italian prospect Riccardo Orsolini who has chipped in with 1 goal and 3 assists.
Defence
Inter have been pretty good defensively this season, although in the past few games we have seen some slightly shaky performances. Granted this shakiness has been brief, but they have mostly led to goals being conceded and is something that Conte needs to work on.
To date, they have conceded 10, with 3 being the most in one match coming last week against Sassuolo. This means that on average they are conceding 1 goal per game and an xG against of 0.92. This has seen an increase over the past few game weeks, by roughly 0.25.
Bologna aren’t too shabby on the defensive front either. They have conceded 15 goals in the Serie A, an average of 1.33 per match, and an xG against of 0.99. These are pretty impressive numbers for Bologna, especially when you compare them to Inter’s, a team who’s head coach prides himself on how good his sides are defensively.
The most Bologna have conceded in 1 match is also 3, which came against Brescia and in midweek against Cagliari, where they similarly to Inter came out victorious against Brescia winning 4-3, but lost 3-2 against the team from Sardinia
Key Players
Inter’s key player this week will be Stefan de Vrij. So far he has proved to be instrumental to Inter’s defense and also chipping in with assists. How Inter perform defensively mainly hinges on Stefan’s performance and he will need to put in a good shift and keep his eyes on Palacio and Orsolini, two tricky forwards who can both score.
Bologna’s key man is Riccardo Orsolini. The young Italian winger has impressed many pundits so far this season, so well in fact that some are suggesting he be called up to the national squad. The former Juve man plays in right wing, likes to cut in on his left foot, and can both score and set up goals.
Inters defenders need to mark this man tightly if they hope to keep him quiet this game, and whether or not Bologna get any result from this match, mainly depends on whether Orsolini can get the freedom to play his way.
Summary
This will be a tricky match for Inter, especially playing away. Bologna have already shown this season that they are no pushovers, and could easily come out of this game with all 3 points if Inter do not stick to their game plan and keep the mistakes to a minimum.
If Inter can keep their focus, and stick to Conte’s instructions, then they should see past Bologna but don’t expect this to be a high scoring affair. Whoever wins wont win by more than 2 goals, and I would have to put my money on Inter winning, based on recent form, with the Nerazzurri being the best away team in the Serie A winning all of their previous 5 outings in the league this season.
Bologna have only beaten Inter once in the past 6 years, and will have to be on their best to make it 2 wins in a row against the Nerazzuri this weekend.
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