Inter have become an extremely difficult team to score against, an Italian media report highlighted today.
Antonio Conte’s side had kept four clean sheets in a row in Serie A before Lazio scored a fortuitous goal during last night’s 3-1 win at San Siro.
As highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport, Inter have gone from conceding 13 goals in their first eight league games this season to just 11 goals in the last 14.
The report argued next week’s Milan derby against the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafael Leao would prove whether the Nerazzurri now had a defence capable of leading them to the Scudetto.
One of the reasons for Inter’s much improved defensive solidity, the Milanese publication explained, is Conte’s decision to stop playing with an attacking midfielder and reverting to the 3-5-2 system that brought the team success last term.
Conte does not have particularly quick centre-backs in Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni, but he has got round this problem by telling his midfield to protect them and asking Achraf Hakimi and Ivan Perisic to sit deeper.
Moreover, Inter defend as a collective and do so from the front, with much credit going to the Nerazzurri’s prolific strike partnership for this.
Against Lazio for example, Lautaro Martinez was the first player to press while Romelu Lukaku also participated defensively, with the Belgian’s physicality coming in handy when it comes to defending opposition set pieces.
Nicolo Barella and Marcelo Brozovic also play their part with the duo always running and covering lots of ground every match.
Gazzetta described the pair as ‘a B&B in which you eat lots but never sleep’, as well as ‘a perpetual engine’.