Italian journalist Mario Sconcerti believes that Inter coach Simone Inzaghi’s decision to start Roberto Gagliardini ahead of Hakan Calhanoglu against Lazio worked fine, but that his second-half substitutions were what really lost the team the match.
Writing in his column in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera, Sconcerti gave the view that the Nerazzurri really lost the match when Romelu Lukaku and Denzel Dumfries left the pitch in the second half.
Inzaghi made the surprise selection of Gagliardini, a player who he had also employed in his starting eleven against the Biancocelesti last season as he looked to negate the influence of Sergej Milenkovic-Savic in his old side’s midfield.
The 28-year-old added some physicality and energy to the centre of the pitch but also saw the Nerazzurri’s possession game drop off in fluidity due to his technical inferiority to Calhanoglu.
This saw the decision to select Gagliardini criticized by many, but in the view of Sconcerti, this was not the real problem.
“Inter played badly at the Olimpico, they dominated for seven minutes, then they tailed off,” he writes. “I don’t find the decision to start Gagliardini to mark Milinkovic-Savic scandalous, Calhanoglu would have given him too much space to work with.”
“Inzaghi lost the game based on the substitutions and on two brilliant strikes by Pedro and Luis Alberto, the kind of quality Inter couldn’t muster,” he continues. “But throwing on Gosens and Darmian with the score level, it seems like they’re playing to preserve a draw and nothing more.”
