Inter defender Stefan de Vrij’s brief appearance at the end of the team’s 3-1 loss to Udinese in Serie A yesterday afternoon was nothing less than a “disaster.”
This is the view of today’s print edition of Turin-based newspaper Tuttosport, who single the 30-year-old as having virtually cost his team the match with his hapless defensive display in only around ten minutes on the pitch.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi decided to introduce de Vrij late on in place of Francesco Acerbi, with the Lazio-owned defender evidently tiring after having played his first full ninety minutes in several months with his Inter debut against Viktoria Plzen during the week.
Where Acerbi had been as solid as anyone could’ve been against an Udinese team who put the Nerazzurri backline under continuous pressure, de Vrij showed a sloppiness and lack of focus that would hardly have suggested that he was the freshest man on the pitch.
It was 1-1 when the substitution was made, but the Dutchman conceded a cheap and unnecessary corner with one of his first actions of the match, and then lost Udinese defender Jaka Bijol as the ball was swung into the box, meaning that Inter could not even take away the point they had in hand when de Vrij came on.
