Inter Milan have earned comparisons to the legendary Dutch “total football” side of the 1970s under coach Simone Inzaghi.
Today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper La Repubblica, via FCInterNews, highlight the positional fluidity of the players in Inzaghi’s Nerazzurri team.
The scorer of Inter’s winning goal against Bologna yesterday was defender Yann Bisseck.
In and of itself, there was nothing strange about a defender scoring.
But the route for Bisseck’s goal was quite unusual. It did not come from a set piece that allowed the German to get up into the penalty area.
On the contrary, Bisseck made a very aggressive run into the box in open play.
And the player who assisted the 23-year-old was a fellow centre-back. Alessandro Bastoni got into a very advanced position to play a cross into the box onto the head of his teammate.
Inter Compared To Dutch “Total Football” Side Under Inzaghi
The fact that Bisseck was able to make the run that he did was no accident.
Inter play a style that involves every outfield player in attacking movements under Inzaghi.
And the way that the Nerazzurri do this is to utilize positional rotations. If a defensive player moves forward, then a midfielder or wingback will drop back to cover for them.
The mechanisms that allow this are so well-drilled under Inzaghi that the team can move seamlessly through the gears. Midfielders will instinctively drop back to create space for the defenders.
Bastoni also likes to use this space to get forward.
The 24-year-old’s position almost as an attacking winger for the goal against Bologna was not unusual for him. It exploits the defender’s crossing ability and makes him harder to mark.
La Repubblica note how this kind of positional freedom was also a feature of the famous Dutch “total football” side of the 1970s.
Like the Oranje during that era, Inter have goal threats and creative outlets everywhere on the pitch, capable of popping up in unexpected ways.
