Inter Coach Simone Inzaghi Being Very Careful With How He Introduces Kristjan Asllani Into Starting Lineup, Italian Media Report

Inter head coach Simone Inzaghi is being very careful with how he introduces midfielder Kristjan Asllani into the team this season.

This according to today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, who report that the coach’s reluctance to use the 20-year-old in the starting eleven the same way he has rotated other players in reflects a desire to give him the right start in a Nerazzurri shirt.

Inzaghi has largely not been shy about using his full squad and changing the team up to ensure that his players stay fresh, particularly in the last few matches, whilst the coach has also continued to use his substitutions extensively within matches as he did last season.

Accordingly, nearly every senior member of the squad has gotten a start at one point or another, but Asllani has been an exception to this.

The Albanian was brought in from Empoli in the summer with the expectation that he would have a major role to play as the deputy to Marcelo Brozovic as the team’s regista, whilst his excellent performances in preseason suggested that he could be more versatile than just a Brozovic backup.

As such, fans have noted Asllani’s relative absence from the Nerazzurri’s team, restricted to cameo substitute appearances most recently against Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League, an anomaly given Inzaghi’s policy of squad rotation.

According to the Gazzetta, there is in fact a good chance that Asllani would have already seen more playing time had it not been for the fact that the team entered into a bit of an early crisis in form following Serie A losses to Lazio and AC Milan.

In the circumstances, however, Inzaghi has been wary of throwing Asllani in the action, preferring to pile the pressure on the more experienced players and not putting it on the 20-year-old’s shoulders in which the Nerazzurri absolutely need performances.

The Albanian is still not set for an immediate introduction into the starting eleven as the Nerazzurri continue to navigate some rocky fixtures, but this does not mean Inzaghi doesn’t trust him, and sooner or later the Albanian should become part of the rotation like all the rest.