Big Decisions Ahead For Luciano Spalletti Coach Inter

Big Decisions Ahead For Luciano Spalletti Coach Inter
13:41, 28 Sep 2017

“The crucial thing for Inter is that they find the right trequartista: Joao Mario isn’t impressing and Ivan Perisic is best on the wing.” Fabio Caressa, head of sport and football commentator of Sky Italia.

Fabio Caressa was being complementary to the Nerazzurri in his assessment on Sky Sport Italia. He explained that Luciano Spalletti’s team, (not surprisingly) reminded him of Roma last season. He continued on how they were rational and could be contenders but also said that they have been lucky. The difference for them would be to find the perfect trequartista behind Mauro Icardi to help them unlock Serie A’s defences.

In Italy, Inter are intriguing the media at the moment, Gazzetta Dello Sport also pondered on how this team could go from a good one to one that could possibly challenge and they too came up with a similar conclusion. The games against Fiorentina and Roma on the most part saw Inter play some good football and move the ball around quickly, they were also two big scalps early on and the six points were followed up with a slower but encouraging display against new comers SPAL. The next three games saw them beat Crotone, draw away at Bologna and grab a late winner against Genoa, they have ground out the latter points.

The last three performances have not been good, as Crotone and Genoa put men behind the ball and made it hard to break them down, whilst Bologna operated a clever high press which made any play out wide null and void. These matches highlighted that, whilst their defence is solid and they are difficult to break down, they need more offensively. The Nerazzurri enjoyed early success moving the ball quickly out into wide positions but in recent games they have reverted to a monotonous pace where they have been trying intricate passes that have slowed down the game. This has made them easy to read and their opponents have been allowed to sit back whilst Inter have tried with little success to play balls through a block of bodies to Mauro Icardi.

Mauro Icardi’s five goals have included three penalties this is an indication of the lack of supply he has got. He hasn’t scored from open play since he managed a brace against Roma on matchday two. Inter have reverted to an old trait of playing to their opponent’s pace rather than trying to force the game as they did early on. They need two options on the pitch as Spalletti has stated, the wide men and the man in behind Icardi.

Joao Mario was (and still could be) the Nerazzurri’s great hope in this position. Played as a utility player for too long the coach employed him in this more offensive role for this campaign but his moments of brilliance have been masked by periods of anonymity. Against Genoa Marcelo Brozovic was deployed in this position but found himself coming deep on too many occasions. Whilst he was effective in this position when he pushed forward to often this want to drop saw Icardi come looking for the ball. It is true Spalletti does want Icardi to move more to allow Ivan Perisic and Antonio Candreva more space but not to this extent.

Gazzetta Dello Sport had suggested that on the return of Joao Cancelo, the Portuguese right-back may be asked to take up the right-wing position (as he did at Valencia) and Candreva could be pushed into the hole. Would Candreva work here? Perhaps, he is certainly a player who would do as he was asked, how effectively he would pull this off however, is questionable. The other theory was that Perisic could play here and Yann Karamoh could feature more out wide but this is perhaps too soon for the latter and a waste of the Croatian’s ability as mentioned by Caressa.

The more outlandish solution mentioned by the pink paper, was that they may move to a 3-4-2-1 with Miranda, Milan Skriniar and Danilo D’Ambrosio making up a back three, Cancelo and Dalbert as wing backs, Vecino and Valero centrally and Eder and Perisic looking to support/unlock Icardi. Its brave and certainly is En Vogue when it comes to Milan teams moving to three at the back.

Spalletti certainly has decisions to make but he has a life line. Firstly, he has gathered a good points total and he also has poor old Benevento next. The newly promoted whipping boys have only scored one more and have made an art form out of conceding. He can try out his new idea in the game and perhaps even switch in game, they should still be too strong for them. Finally, he has the International break to think of how he will approach the Derby Della Madonnina and then the game against Napoli. One thing is for sure, the trequartista issue needs to be resolved by then.

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