The Stefano Pioli era at Inter has begun and despite not starting off with a bang there were many encouraging conclusions that could be drawn when Paolo Tagliavento blew the full time whistle signalling that the Derby della Madonnina had ended in a 2-2 draw.
Those among you who subscribe to the ‘glass is half-empty’ philosophy of life will take offence to the aforementioned positive statement as for the umpteenth time, it became abundantly clear that the full-back situation at Inter is the reason why the team concedes unecessary goals and subsequently finds itself in avoidable situations. Ansaldi’s performance tonight will unfortunately go down together with countless horror shows which Nagatomo, Santon and D’Ambrosio have ‘gifted’ us with these past few years. The fact that when he was replaced by Nagatomo, Suso was invisible for remainder of match says it all as the Spaniard looked more (or was made to look more) like Messi up until that point.
However, in all fairness, Nagatomo did acceptably well tonight and Danilo D’Ambrosio gave a pretty good performance. Good crosses combined with intelligent movement and great positioning made him the second best Inter player of the night, beaten only by Antonio Candreva, who aside from scoring an absolute screamer, also looked very comfortable playing as a trequartista behind Icardi.
The underlying analysis behind the positive feeling isn’t connected to neither Nagatomo nor D’Ambrosio, in fact it’s wntirely down to the fact that for the first time in many years, Inter completely dominated a derby from the very start to the very end. Sure, we’ve won many derby matches these past few years, but we haven’t dominated a match in this way since the days of Mourinho. Given the hiding Inter were given the last times these two teams met together with the chaos that has taken place at Inter since then too and adding that this was Stefano Pioli’s first match in charge, makes the performance taste even sweeter. To come back from behind twice in a derby where you’ve dominated against this background and doing so with the last kick of the match, makes this a good start for Pioli and gives the team and the coaching staff the psychological boost they’ve been yearning for.
However, many times these past few years Inter fans have thought that they’ve struck gold thanks to a good performance in a big match but have since completely fallen apart (2 particular wins against Juventus come to mind). Therefore, it’s incredibly important for Pioli and the team to keep this momentum going, starting with the Europa League away fixture against Be’er Sheva on Thursday followed by a home fixture against Fiorentina. If Inter can pull off 2 wins there and build further on that momentum by not only playing well but also getting results, then Inter might actually have a slim chance of fighting for the all important third spot in the Serie A. Feels hopeful doesn’t it? So please excuse me if, just for tonight, I forget the fact that Mauro Icardi choked yet again in a derby and is yet to score a goal against Milan and that Inter lacks decent full-backs, because by Thursday the nightmare could return with a vengeance.