Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi has won praise for being proactive with his substitutions to beat Salernitana.
As L’Interista note, the player ratings for the match across Italian media were very positive when it came to the Nerazzurri coach, particularly noting how the 47-year-old was quick to act in going to his bench and effectively changed the dynamic of the match.
In terms of his starting lineup at the Stadio Arechi, Inzaghi decided to make fairly significant rotations.
The Nerazzurri coach rested all three outfield players who he hadn’t already this season – captain and striker Lautaro Martinez, midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and defender Alessandro Bastoni.
It was not necessarily a poor first-half performance from Inzaghi’s selected starting eleven.
But there was a bit of a lack of fluency. Particularly in the midfield battle, the Nerazzurri started to lose some compactness and rhythm.
Then, at the start of the first half, little seemed to have changed.
So Inzaghi decided to act quickly.
Inter Coach Simone Inzaghi Praised For Substitutions Vs Salernitana
Inzaghi did not even wait until the hour mark to make changes.
The coach radically altered his midfield. He replaced Hakan Calhanoglu and Davy Klaassen with Mkhitaryan and Kristjan Asllani.
And Martinez was also called into action. The captain may not have started, but Inzaghi decided that he could not do without his key man in attack for any longer.
Martinez was, in some respects, the ultimate impact substitute.
The 26-year-old found the back of the net a remarkable four times.
This was enough to well and truly settle a match that had, for some time, been tough for Inter to unlock.
But the midfield substitutions were just as important even if they did not catch the eye in the same way.
Inter suddenly looked more fluid in their possession game. And defensively, there was greater energy and coverage of space.
Inzaghi saw what the problems were, and did well not to hesitate in addressing them.
