Italian journalist Giancarlo Padovan believes that Inter are still very much in the period of poor form they’ve been in for much of the season despite a win against Torino in Serie A yesterday evening.
Speaking to Italian broadcaster Sky Sport Italia, Padovan gave the view that the Nerazzurri’s performance against the Granata was not good enough despite the result, whilst he predicted that qualification for the knockout rounds of the Champions League would be all but impossible for them.
Inter needed three points from yesterday’s match as anything else would seem to confirm the sense that they were a team in crisis following losses to AC Milan and Bayern Munich, but this did not look too likely based on their first-half performance against the Granata.
The fact that the Nerazzurri were able to push for the result in the second half and take three badly-needed points doesn’t completely paper over the fact that it was a rough performance and did not look like a team who had fully found their fluency again after some early setbacks.
“Inter played with fire yesterday,” Padovan said, “the jeers at the end of the first half were proof of this. They won, but they’re not out of the tunnel yet.”
“There’s not much for them to take apart from the result,” he argued. “I’m a supporter of Inzaghi, I say it openly, but the idea of alternating in goal seems like total madness.”
“But for now Inter are only living off some individual brilliance,”Padovan continued. “I think they’ll win against Viktoria Plzen, even if I believe that qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League is all but impossible.”
“There’s still a long way to go, though, and winning without conceding a goal can give them confidence,” he concluded.