Date : 26/10/2016

Venue : Stadio Giuseppe Meazza

Competition : Serie A 2016/2017, Matchday 10

The starting line ups:

After a three game losing streak, Inter returned to their winning ways against an in-form Torino, with captain Mauro Icardi scoring both goals.

A blessing in disguise

The first positive difference between the games against Cagliari, Atalanta, and Torino, was an absence the thought of which until now was creating a lot of questions and a lot of nervousness. This was, of course Gary Medel’s absence.

For the last two and a half years, the Chilean has been indispensable for an Inter side that was not transitioning (from offense to defense) well, not applying pressure with the right structure and timing to the opponents after losing the ball, and thus with at times huge spaces appearing in the centre of the field.

In this context, and considering also the fact that the nerazzurri played a lot of times with only two central midfielders last year, having also some players that returned on defense slowly, Medel has been one of the most important players in the squad, saving, with his relentless running, the team from a lot of bad and dangerous situations.

However, his absence brought an Inter midfield three profile that was never tested before, and in practice showed some great results.

With J.Mario, Banega and Brozovic, Frank de Boer had for the first time three players on the midfield that can exchange positions anytime, rotating depending on the need and situation. He had three players that can drive the ball effectively, attracting opponents on them and creating spaces behind them, being also much more pressing resistant due to their technique. Qualities that the much more defensive minded Medel does not possess at that level.

This absence, brought the most fluid and creative midfield combination Inter (probably?) has, becoming a factor in taking advantage of situations against Torino that were left unexploited when they faced Atalanta or Cagliari.



First Half

This midfield three, together with the fact that Eder played in a free role spending a lot of time centrally, helping with the circulation of the ball or creating connections near the Torino defensive third, as well as the work of the fullbacks that provided width and support to the winger when needed, were the reasons why Inter was successful in taking advantage of Torino’s man-oriented 4-5-1 shape in the first half.

With the Torino wingers(primarily Falque) moving in relation to the Inter FBs, a five-man defense was created for the Granata that combined with the fact that the midfielders’ attention was only to defend their direct opponent in their area of responsibility, not defending the space when more than one nerazzurri players were in that area, meant that Inter had the opportunity to manipulate Torino’s shape and create spaces in front of(or sometimes between) the defensive line, especially near the inside channels.

And it was through the left inside channel that Inter managed to find first Candreva and then Icardi to make the score, 1-0.

As you can see in the above image, Falque has already followed Nagatomo’s movement high up the pitch, becoming the fifth defender of his team, and while Acquah tries to confront Murillo who is the ball-carrier, a big space is created for Banega, in the left inside channel, to receive the ball. With the Argentine receiving the ball, Valdifiori tried to cover, evacuating though a space behind him in which Candreva and Eder were waiting just behind Icardi, with the captain eventually scoring.

Second Half: Mihajlovic responds

Seeing holes created in his defensive unit constantly, and lack of any connection up front between Falque, Ljajic and Belotti, Mihajlovic decided to act, substituting Maxi Lopez for Falque and changing his team’s formation to 4-3-1-2, with Ljajic as the trequartista behind Maxi Lopez and Belotti.

And the change could be seen immediately.

Defensively the 4-3-1-2 as a formation in itself meant that there was much more focus in the centre of the field and less space created in the channels as the Granata, logically surrendered space at the much less dangerous wings, for Inter to attack through.

On offense, on the other side, the “game changer” was born from the fact that Belotti was not isolated anymore. A two-man forward unit meant, that one of them could make dropping movements towards the ball in order to receive between the lines (mainly Lopez), while the other was providing depth with opposing movements, ready for a pass behind the defensive line.

Add to that Ljajic’s role as a trequartista playing from now on, every moment, centrally, either moving in front of his defense to help with the build-up or trying to receive the ball between the lines, and Valdifiori’s ability to make penetrating vertical passes and one can quickly understand the difficulties Inter faced.

As the near ball CM was applying pressure to the ball carrier when he moved inside or near the channel, enough space was created next and behind J.Mario, for two or three Torino players to take position ready to receive the ball.

From the same image above, however, a part of Torino’s second half weakness can also be seen. As the FBs were now providing the attacking width, being positioned at the height of the Inter defense in their attempt to spread the opposition but also give support to their central teammates and with at least one CM was attacking the Inter penalty area, huge spaces were created for Inter to counterattack through. Combine that with the fact that Torino was basing their whole negative transition on only quick returns, due to lack of organized structure and pressure, and the story of the second half was created.

Torino had the initiative and an offensive structure good enough to turn the game around, but when the ball was lost they quickly saw even six of their players behind the ball, meaning that huge spaces were created for Inter to counterattack.

Conclusion

With Torino managing to score after a terrible and unexpected mistake by the Inter defense, and Icardi scoring in the final minutes to give the nerazzurri the win, an interesting, if not great and exciting tactical battle ended, with Frank de Boer the winner.

P.S.It will be very interesting to see, if the Dutchman will continue with this much more creative but sloppy when it comes to defensive positioning midfield , for the next matches.

For more Inter and non-Inter related Tactical Analysis, you can find me on Twitter, @ThanosChelas.