Yesterday’s 3-0 Serie A rout by Fiorentina could have been the worst Inter Milan performance of the Simone Inzaghi era.
This is the view in today’s print edition of FCInterNewsMilan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews.
Simone Inzaghi has now been Inter Milan coach for more than three and a half years.
During that time, there have been ups and downs, to be sure.
Inter have won the Serie A title, reached the Champions League final, and picked up five other pieces of silverware with the former Lazio coach at the helm.
But there have also been some bad performances and results, naturally.
However, yesterday may well have been the nadir.
Fiorentina Rout The Worst Inter Milan Display Of Simone Inzaghi Era
There was nothing Inter could point to as a silver lining against Fiorentina yesterday.
Nor were there any excuses. Nerazzurri coach Inzaghi could select from a full squad, whilst Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino had his hand forced by a major injury crisis.
And it was hardly a match where refereeing decisions or other matters of luck turned the result.
Inter were simply second best in all respects.
In possession, the Nerazzurri looked as casual and predictable as they ever have under Inzaghi.
And defensively, it was just as bad. Inter allowed far too many dangerous counterattacks, which has always been an Achilles heel under Inzaghi.
The Nerazzurri will have no option now but to put this disaster behind them.
Inzaghi’s Inter have proven to be resilient in the past. Yesterday’s result looks like a blip and aberration in the context of the season so far.
But what’s clear is that, if they are to get a different result when they face La Viola for the second time on Monday, they’ll need a performance that is different in just about every way.
Indeed, Inter’s weaknesses this season have been visible from the start of the season. Namely the difficulty of facing a team that applies low block defense and counterattacks, as a result the transition from an attacking position to a defensive position looks slow. Moreover, inter defenders do not have speed. Even though Inter players are in good shape, they still have difficulties, especially if the players are not in the best condition. This is what Milan used in the Italian Super Cup and it was most visible when facing Fiorentina.
This is primarily a mentality issue. Yes, the team is not the best in Europe, but it is still better, on paper, than the rest in Italy. One might say that our bench is not strong, but look at Fiorentina’s both starting XI and the bench; they are far from a big team. The weak bench argument does not suffice to justify the loss.