The 3-2 against Torino closes the second mini-break of the championship in the best way for theInter. The Nerazzurri start Sunday second in the standings: net of the possible Juventus counter-overtaking, three positive and three negative aspects on which Simone Inzaghi will be able to reflect during the next international break.
The tops
The third victory in a row. The watchword, for those who want to win, is continuity. Nine matches of the season are not a great sample, but Inter had failed to smile three times in a row and instead against Torino there they were. The balance compared to last season remains a deficit – for example, the Nerazzurri had won all five of the first matchdays – but it is a sign of solidity.
Marcus Thuram potential top scorer. Seven draws: the Frenchman shares the top of the scoring charts with Mateo Retegui. The cold average says one goal per game, the reality three games scored and four not. It can be improved, but… Tikus he has made great strides in a year and pennies. Last season he was amazed, as a former winger, with his ability to play the role of 9, despite not scoring much. Now Inzaghi could have another striker with 20 goals per season on his hands. Lots of stuff.
The reaction to the derby. Although inevitably linked to the first, it is a psychological aspect, rather than one of results. The defeat against Milan could have represented a very serious misstep from this point of view. Anyone who feels unbeatable and loses has two possible reactions: starting again more convinced than before or collapsing. Inter are halfway there – sometimes they start to overdo it, it happened last night too – but they responded with three successes.
The flops
Goals conceded. This is the most obvious fact. The goals conceded are nine, after seven days: in the last championship, it took twenty to reach the same tally. The clean sheets, just two: last year, at this time, there were five. The goals conceded in the last quarter of the match are five: last year there were three in the entire championship. There’s work to be done.
The attackers? One at a time. There ThuLa there isn’t, but in general the couple isn’t there. The exception is the 4-0 against Red Star: in no other match of the season have Inter managed to get more than one of their attacking players to score. It is certainly not obligatory and not even that frequent: in the last championship, however, it wasn’t even that exceptional.
Frattesi and Zielinski? Not Barella. Flop is excessive, but then we are talking about a team that has won three games in a row and is overall quite healthy. Barella’s injury represented an opportunity for both of them to sow doubts in Inzaghi’s head. Result: no. Frattesi made very good use of the match against Udinese, and so-so against Torino. The Pole had even less space and played decently, but not to the point of tearing his hair out, against Red Star in the Champions League. Neither of the two ever scored below passing marks and this is a very positive side of the coin. However, the feeling is that the Sardinian – thanks to his merits – is something else.