Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi is one of the most proactive coaches in Serie A with his use of substitutions in matches, and he is always trying to best use them to benefit his team.
This is highlighted in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, who analyze the way that the Nerazzurri coach uses in-game changes to refresh his squad.
Inzaghi has used all five substitutions available to him in all but one of the Nerazzurri’s 23 Serie A matches so far, with their match against Juventus in October the lone instance in which he made only four changes.
Apart from times when the coach has to make an early change for a reason such as injury, most of his changes seem to begin almost like clockwork, between the hour mark and the seventieth minute of matches.
The Nerazzurri coach is proactive with his use of substitutions partly as a strategy to allow his team to expend as much as energy as is needed to impose themselves on matches without tiring.
Moreover, the coach frequently withdraws players who are on yellow cards, which has been part of why the Nerazzurri are the only team in the Italian top flight this season not to have had a player sent off.
Inzaghi has on three occasions seen his team suffer a worse final result than they had been protecting prior to his substitutions, in losses to Lazio and AC Milan and a draw with Juventus.
Meanwhile, in four matches the coach’s substitutions proved to be decisive to getting a better result than the team had prior to the changes being made.
Inter have enjoyed fourteen goal contributions from the bench in Serie A this season, in the form of nine goals scored and a further five assisted by substitutes.
The substitutions made by Inzaghi in the derby against AC Milan have come in for some scrutiny, and the Gazzetta particularly highlight the removal of Hakan Calhanoglu for Arturo Vidal in the second half as a possible miscue.
The Turk being on a booking seemed to be a key factor in the coach’s decision to take him off, but in this instance it backfired as the Nerazzurri lost his influence in midfield.
Inzaghi has been consistent and proactive in his strategy for making in-game substitutions, and as the Gazzetta suggest, his changes haven’t always paid off, with the derby loss a particularly striking illustration of how they can backfire.
However, on the whole, the changes seem to be a major aspect of Inzaghi’s plans for each match, with a consistent pattern and line of thinking behind them which is important to how the team play.
