Whilst it may only have been a few months since Inter last faced Lazio in Serie A, Simone Inzaghi goes into the second of two league meetings having made drastic alterations to the spine of his team.
This is highlighted in today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who note how from front to back the coach has totally rebuilt the base for the Nerazzurri in the period since his old side the Biancocelesti handed them their first defeat of the season in August.
Starting in goal, it had been Samir Handanovic who played against Lazio in August rather than Andre Onana.
Whilst Onana came in in the summer having been earmarked as the long-term successor to Handanovic, the Cameroonian did not nail down a starting spot right away, as the captain continued to be trusted to start matches.
However, in October Inzaghi decided that Onana was ready, and the former Ajax keeper’s emergence as the main goalkeeper has been a huge factor in the new-look Inter that has been seen over the past few months.
Another summer signing who not only did not start for Inter against Lazio, but was not even on the bench was Francesco Acerbi.
Ironically, the 35-year-old was still a Biancocelesti player at the time, although completely out of the project under coach Maurizio Sarri.
It was Inzaghi who pushed for Acerbi’s arrival, and the coach finally got his man on the final day of the transfer window, with Acerbi signed on a one-season loan deal.
Whilst Stefan de Vrij had been at the heart of Inter’s back three in their last match against Lazio (with the Dutchman interestingly also a former Biancocelesti player), Acerbi has nailed down the first-choice spot since his arrival, and has been key to all the Nerazzurri’s best defensive performances this season.
The 35-year-old has been at the heart of an all-Italian back three along with Matteo Darmian (who was out of the starting eleven against Lazio in August) and Alessandro Bastoni.
This has also helped the team ride out the blow of Milan Skriniar’s contract drama and long-term back injury, with the Slovakian having started against Lazio in August but not in the team for Sunday’s match, and quite possibly not set to play for the Nerazzurri again.
In midfield, Calhanoglu had been left out altogether against the Biancocelesti in August.
The Turkish international made way for Roberto Gagliardini, who was brought in for his physicality and to man-mark Lazio’s star midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
In the meantime, two muscle injuries to Marcelo Brozovic have given Calhanoglu an opening in which to nail down a completely new role for himself playing at the base of the Nerazzurri’s midfield trio.
The 29-year-old former AC Milan midfielder is if anything now first-choice in that regista role, and the effect of this shift has been just as significant as that of Onana or Acerbi feeling their way into the team.
At the tip of the Inter spear in their last meeting with Lazio was Romelu Lukaku, who had arrived in the summer on loan from Chelsea with great fanfare and expectation.
It was to prove to be the final match that the Belgian played before suffering a serious long-term muscle injury however.
Whilst Lukaku is now back and fully fit, and staking his claim to a key role in the run-in of the season, for much of the campaign it was Edin Dzeko who started match in and match out alongside Lautaro Martinez in attack, with the Bosnian’s goals and holdup play vital throughout that period.