A new season of Serie A has kicked off. With the fresh squads and tactical set-ups each team will utilise, it is always important to have a clear idea of the team who will be the favourites for the Scudetto. Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan will be defending their title looking to fend off José Mourinho’s Roma, Massimiliano Allegri’s Juventus, Luciano Spalletti’s Napoli and Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio. Each of these teams has made changes and will provide quality competition throughout the season.
However, among the title contenders is Simone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan, who have improved upon their 2021/22 team as they attempt to overcome the two-point margin that separated them from back-to-back Scudetto’s last season. The longest-standing Serie A side are the favourites to reclaim the trophy this season, after a successful transfer window sticking with the entirety of their starting XI.
This scout report will dissect title favourites Inter Milan, analysing the impact of the transfer arrivals to Inzaghi’s squad within each phase of the game.
Squad
Inzaghi was appointed into a Serie A-winning side last season but he was missing some key players that made the difference in the 2020/21 squad. Because of this, having a season for the Italian manager to implement his attacking style of play to predecessor Antonio Conte’s 3-5-2 was hugely beneficial for this season. With the earlier transfer window, Inzaghi has improved the squad’s weakest areas and made the squad’s depth stronger, starting with the xG-underperforming striker force.
Inzaghi’s attack last season was the most powerful in Italy’s top flight, scoring 84 goals in the 38 matches 7 more than fifth-placed Lazio, with the next highest goal tally. Inter Milan’s xG suggests they should have scored 93 goals which would have blitzed any other team in the league. With such a minimal point difference from first place last season, Inzaghi has splashed some cash in the hope of overcoming this fine margin — firstly by securing Lazio striker Joaquin Correa on a permanent deal for £21.24 million following his loan spell with the club last season.
The Argentine has a similar playstyle to that of compatriot Lautaro Martínez, who is a hard-working and mobile striker with superb finishing ability. Due to Correa only scoring six goals last season, it was vital for Inzaghi to loan the talisman from the 2020/21 attacking line Romelu Lukaku. Lukaku provides a significant boost to Inter’s title chances with his link-up play, goalscoring ability and prior team chemistry making him an instant starter for the team.
With Edin Džeko and Correa most likely operating as rotational players in the squad, this may allow Inter to compete on all fronts.
Within the midfield of the team, the starting central midfielders are completely untouched with no additions needed — it is already one of the best midfields in the league. The trio of Nicolò Barella, Marcelo Brozović and Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the centre have been a staple of the 2021/22 side providing defensive solidity and creativity to compliment the strength in attack. The most notable arrival is 33-year-old Henrikh Mkhitaryan on a free transfer from Roma as he provides some creativity off the bench.
In wide midfield or the wing-back positions, there have been two departures with Ivan Perišić leaving on a free to Tottenham along with Alexis Sanchez who joined Marseille on a free as well. There has only been one new arrival in this position, with Cagliari’s 20-year-old Raoul Bellanova on loan as a backup to the already incredible selection of Denzel Dumfries, Dalbert, Federico Dimarco, Matteo Darmian, Danilo D’Ambrosio and Robin Gosens, who arrived from Atalanta in the January window. Having depth in these positions is important for Inzaghi, as they are crucial to the 3-5-2 system the Italian deploys.
In the back three, there has been little movement in the squad with two backups having departed. There was no need for changes to the backline for Inzaghi, with the defence a blend of experience in 30-year-old Stefan de Vrij and youth in Alessandro Bastoni, alongside the brilliant Milan Škriniar to complete the core of the starting XI.
The final name on the team sheet is Slovenian Samir Handanović, who at the age of 38 is still one of the best goalkeepers in the league. Coming on a free transfer, André Onana is seen as the heir to Handanović — and at the age of 26, he will have plenty of time to learn from the experience in front of him.
Decreasing the age of the squad has been a key component of Inzaghi’s summer spending, with the already mentioned Onana the replacement for Handanović being the most explicit. In terms of departures, a few old heads in Arturo Vidal, Perišić and Alexis Sánchez have gone, decreasing the average age of the squad from 29.7 to the second oldest still of 28.2 years. Even with these transfers, the squad is relatively untouched apart from the strike force, because of this, Inter Milan’s build-up play is almost identical to last season, employing the same tactics.
Build-Up
Internazionale under Inzaghi have a very distinct shape in their build-up from the back. The main features of the structure can be implemented because of the 3-5-2 which Inzaghi was appointed into. Inter look to push their wide midfielders or wing-backs high up the pitch opening up the space in the defensive third for the build-up.
Meanwhile, One of Bastoni or Škriniar, as the outside centre backs, will move into a full-back position, turning the shape into a 4-2-1-3. Inter also involve their goalkeeper when deep inside their own half, stressing the importance of Onana being a comfortable keeper on the ball as a backup to Handanović.
Because of the width and height of the shape in the build-up, the midfield trio have lots of open space to roam within to get on the ball. Brozović acts as the deep-lying playmaker in possession, dropping deep to support the defence. The Croatian had already averaged the fourth highest number of passes in Serie A after the first two matches, behind De Vrij and Škriniar in second and first place respectively. This statistic displays the importance of the system to work as the groundwork for every attack.
In midfield, Brozović is often supported by one of the other central midfielders in the centre of the pitch to provide a balance across the pitch along with the defensive base behind the midfielders who push further forward.
Inter Milan’s backline normally restructures as a back three when in possession in the middle third of the pitch, giving the wide midfielders space to drop deep to create an angle for the central defenders to move the ball up the pitch. The wide midfielders are one of the most important features of the Inter build-up and attack as they open the spaces in the central channels of the pitch. Bastoni is fantastic at driving into the spaces in the middle of the pitch, while also having the passing ability to play key passes, which he tops the league in, and posing the awareness to play through balls to break the lines. The trio at the back all possess these skills as they are ranked 3rd in the league with four through passes each in the first two matches.
Whilst the back three can carry the ball into the midfield, the quality that Inter already possess in that area of the pitch is enough to turn possession into goals, as has already been proven against Spezia.
Final Third
In the 3-0 win against Spezia, Inter made up for their narrow 2-1 win against Lecce on the opening matchday, by showcasing the range of goals they are capable of creating. For the third goal, with Correa and Džeko on the pitch, Inter took advantage of the space they can create in the centre of midfield by getting Barella open in the middle of the park. Giving the 25-year-old this much time in the midfield presented him the opportunity to pick out a lofted through pass to Džeko, who had made a perfectly timed run beyond the defence.
From there, Džeko put the ball on a plate for Correa to get off the mark for the season capitalising on the Inzaghi tactics, combined with Barella’s and Džeko’s brilliance. Spezia had already seen the devastating effect of Barella’s passing from the first goal of the match.
In a similar style, Barella got his first of his two second assists to top the charts in that particular statistic for the league. Drifting into the right wide channel the Italian found himself free on the ball in the midfield. Spotting the run this time of Lukaku behind the backline, Barella floated a ball over the top for the Belgian to be able to bring alMartínez into play. Martínez, having held his run to break free of his marker, ran onto the perfect flick from Lukaku before blasting home a shot from outside the box.
Martínez was Inter’s top scorer with 21 goals last season and registered the most shots in the league in that campaign to boot. Rekindling his partnership with Lukaku provides even more goalscoring opportunities for the Argentine. Džeko has a similar skill set to the Belgian but lacks the physical strength and chemistry to hold onto his spot from last season in the starting XI. Lukaku also has an outstanding record for Inter, scoring an average of 0.64 goals per match which he continued within the opening two minutes of his Serie A return.
Lukaku’s goal at Lecce signified his return and utilised a different pattern of play to the other two that have been analysed against Spezia. This goal was created once again from the back, going through the midfield but this time making its way out to Atlanta-loanee Gosens.
As the ball travelled to the wide channel, Lukaku and Martínez utilised their splitting rotation with Lukaku making the run in behind Spezia and Martínez dropping deep or situating himself between the defensive and midfield line. With Darmian pushed high up into a right winger position, Gosens sends the ball heading towards the box where Lukaku and Darmian are now positioned. Darmian connects with the cross and heads the ball back across goal for Lukaku to direct into the back of the net.
Stopping this Inter Milan machine in attack is the hardest task for any team in the league, as Inter Milan completely dominated the league in shots with 16.6 per 90, which is a total of 63 more than the second best in the league last season. Now with the new arrivals, Inter Milan will have even more versatility to go with their firepower in attack. For everything Inter have going forward, stopping the goals from leaking in at the other end is Inzaghi’s defensive system, which is built upon Conte’s Scudetto-winning defensive unit.
Defence
Inzaghi made the majority of his changes to the Conte system last season and has only refined everything while adding in personnel in the starting eleven and off the bench. There are three main phases of the defence to analyse, starting with the high block.
This is perhaps the most significant difference between Conte’s and Inzaghi’s Inter Milan and a phase of the game in which Lukaku adds nothing new. He mostly blocks the passing lane to the centre-back and goalkeeper while frequently applying pressure to the two players when they are in possession.
For the rest of the team in the high press, it is about man-marking the opposition and forcing them into a mistake or punting a long ball up the pitch, for the aerially strong Inter back three to deal with. Inzaghi has already improved his PPDA from last season’s 10.45 to 7.44 in Inter’s first two matches, although this doesn’t factor in the calibre of opponents from the start of the season. However, it may hint at a more aggressive press being utilised by the Italian side.
From the high block, Inter will transition into their mid-block which focuses on maintaining the man-to-man marking system with the aim to get numerical superiority or equal the opposition around the ball. To implement this tactic, Inter must force the opposition around not through their block, which is forced upon the opponent by the body orientation of the presser and Inter’s tight marking. Once the opponent is in the wide channel Inter condenses the pitch, making the shape compact within that area of the field.
Maintaining some of their width through the wide midfielder and keeping the height with Lukaku remaining on the last man, Inter keep the option open to counterattack the opposition when they win the ball back. Complementary to their press, Inter scored on multiple occasions last season hitting the opposition on the break after winning the ball back. Furthermore, this tactic is strengthened by Lukaku’s hold-up play to keep possession of the ball while his teammates’ flood forward.
The last phase of the defence is the low block, categorised by the position of the attackers on the pitch. At this point, a team is usually under the most pressure, which is why Inter focus on getting the most players behind the ball, bar Lukaku and Martínez for the counter-attack. At this stage, Inter adopt a flat back five with the three midfielders compact just in front of the backline.
Inzaghi’s defence is not perfect but it was one of the best in Serie A last season — conceding just 9 shots per 90, which ranked them third-best behind Fiorentina and Roma while conceding the third-fewest goals (32 in total, 0.79 per 90). Although this outperformed their expected goals against of 44, Inzaghi will be confident in his team’s attacking output to tip his team above the rest of Serie A to get the results needed to win the title.
Conclusion
When comparing Inzaghi’s Inter Milan to the statistics from the rest of the league, it is clear that they are favourites to reclaim the Scudetto this season. The arrival of the 2020/21 talisman Lukaku upfront for Internazionale to go alongside the already title-contending squad should provide that extra boost to overcome the two-point deficit of last season.
The rest of the transfer window has been positive for the future of Inter Milan, decreasing the squad age by almost two years and bringing in some strong rotational players to aid Inzaghi in domestic and European competitions.
All that is left for Inter is to navigate the tricky schedule, with the World Cup potentially throwing some curveballs for Inzaghi’s team as they look to restore their title as Serie A champions.
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