Italian journalist Matteo Marani believes that Inter have lost their ability to balance the attacking and defensive sides of the game that they had under Antonio Conte.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, the journalist explained how the team no longer work all over the pitch in all phases of the game as they had under Conte.
This season Inter’s attack has been formidable, but they have conceded considerably more goals than they had been used to doing in their impressive run to win the Scudetto last season when they found their form under Conte.
The team tends to attack as a unit, meaning that the Nerazzurri have had the strongest attack in Serie A as the players have the freedom to combine going forward, but they have often been caught short-handed at the back unlike when Conte had the team defend as a unit and pick their moments to counter-attack.
Marani believes that midfielder Nicolo Barella exemplifies this transformation, stating that “Inter have lost their balance, they are a team that tends to move up all together. The symbol of this is Barella: with Conte he had specific delegated tasks, many rules to contain, to be first of all a defender and then an attacker.”
“Today he goes further, because there is more freedom,” he went on. “This imbalance of Inter is also shown by the numbers in defense, which is undergoing. I also add the element of mentality. You can’t throw the game away like against Lazio.”
“Even when you’re 2-1 down, you have to keep playing and have the right temper. Last year, especially in the second half of the season, Inter often saw games out in an extraordinary way. That must not be lost.”
