Luciano Spalletti’s side have drawn their past five games, have not won in 10 and seem stuck in their own Groundhog Season

At this rate, Luciano Spalletti might want to contemplate learning the piano, helping a homeless man and declaring his love for Andie MacDowell. Milan is a long way from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but on the weekend that Americans celebrated Groundhog Day, the Inter manager appeared to be trapped in a time loop akin to the one that Bill Murray found himself in during the 1993 movie by that name.

The Nerazzurri just keep on drawing. They have done so five times in a row, and the last four of those by the exact same 1-1 scoreline. Even the order of the goals is becoming familiar. Against Fiorentina, Spal and now Crotone, Inter have taken the lead only to concede an equaliser in the second half.

In fairness, that is a slight improvement on the run of three losses they endured at the end of 2017. In total, Inter have gone 10 games without a victory over 90 minutes. Their sole triumph of the last two months came on penalties in the Coppa Italia, against second-tier Pordenone.

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How does this happen to a side who had been soaring? Inter were top and touted as title contenders when they thrashed Chievo 5-0 at the start of December. They have not scored more than once in any fixture since. Rarely, indeed, have they threatened to.

Saturday was indicative. Inter scored with their first attempt on target against Crotone, Éder’s header deflecting up off Davide Faraoni and over Alex Cordaz. But rather than put their 17th-placed opponents to the sword, Spalletti’s team settled into a slow rhythm, and were punished when Andrea Barberis equalised on the hour.

Crotone, whose performances have been improving under Walter Zenga, deserve credit. This was their first-ever point at San Siro, earned with a starting XI featuring 10 Italians, and only one of those – the goalkeeper – over 27. A midfield trio of Barberis (24), Rolando Mandragora (20) and Ahmed Benali (25) more than held their own against Matías Vecino, Borja Valero and Marcelo Brozovic.

It was a conflicting experience for Inter fans, who retain deep affection for Zenga. There were banners in the Curva Nord hailing him as “one of us” and he bounced along with supporters briefly during a rendition of “Chi non salta Rossonero è” (Anyone not jumping is a Milan fan”).

Francesco Littera (@fralittera) 🎞️ #Zenga saltella al coro "Chi non salta rossonero è"



🔝⚫️🔵 pic.twitter.com/hAegIgyayv

“An act of exuberance that does not offend anyone,” reflected Zenga when asked about it. “I was a kid who sat in the Curva, too … I had already come here with Catania and Palermo, and the fans always greet me as though I stopped playing a year ago even though it’s actually much longer. I’m convinced that supporters appreciate people who work hard and give everything for the shirt.”

Those words were not intended as a dig at this current Inter team, but there is a feeling among supporters that some of the current squad could do more. It would be hard to argue that Inter lack the talent to perform better when they had already done so through the first 15 games.

Spalletti refused to throw anyone under the bus, insisting: “There are no players who don’t care, if the level is not what it ought to be then that is my fault.” It is true this team can appear to lack a tactical solution beyond whipping yet more crosses towards a lone striker.

One must also question their transfer strategy. It was apparent even when Inter were winning that they were overly reliant on Mauro Icardi for goals. His 18 league strikes represent 47% of the team’s total, and most had expected the club to bring in at least one new forward to share the load this January.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic leaves the pitch next to head coach Luciano Spalletti after the draw with Crotone. Photograph: Matteo Bazzi/EPA

Instead, a move for Javier Pastore collapsed and Spalletti was left chastising the media for giving fans “false expectations”. He did get the extra bodies he asked for in defence, Rafinha joining on loan from Barcelona and Lisandro López from Benfica, but this was already one of the stingiest sides in the division. Scoring goals has been the issue for Inter, not preventing them.

Icardi was absent this weekend and although Éder scored, fans can hardly be reassured by the Argentinian’s recent off-field distractions. He was reported to have unfollowed his wife Wanda on social media, and in one enigmatic Instagram post he observed that “you can say goodbye and grow”, which sparked unwelcome speculation.

The couple appeared alongside one another in the stands at San Siro on Saturday, and Icardi has since added a picture of them together in front of Milan’s Duomo, underneath the word ‘LOVE’. It may have been designed to reassure but Spalletti would have preferred for such things not to have been a conversation point in the first place.



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“There are personal matters that absolutely must not be brought into the changing room,” he said towards the end of last week. “We absolutely must not create pointless worries for our fans.”

They have enough worries to be getting on with, after all, as their team stumbles from one draw to another. Inter remain fourth for now, somehow on course for Champions League football, but this mid-season slump is threatening to become another total collapse for an Inter side who threw away bright starts in previous campaigns under Andrea Stramaccioni and Roberto Mancini.

Perhaps this is not Groundhog Day, after all, for Inter, but rather a Groundhog Season.

Talking points

• Just the seven goals for Juve, as they demolished Sassuolo and overtook Lazio as Serie A’s most prolific side (pending the latter side’s game against Genoa on Monday night). After a diet of grinding 1-0 and 2-0 victories these past couple of months, it was fun to see the Bianconeri go through the gears for once, and Gonzalo Higuaín looked delighted to hit his first hat-trick for the club. Yet there was a downside, too, as Blaise Matuidi – whose defensive graft has been a key element of this team’s success adapting to a 4-3-3 this season – exited with a thigh injury which looks likely to keep him out of at least the first leg of the Champions League clash with Tottenham.



• Of course, Dries Mertens responded with a filthy goal of his own to set Napoli on the way to victory over Benevento. He would subsequently leave the game with an injury of his own, but reports are that he should be good to go against Lazio this weekend.

• Milan’s mini-revival came to a halt against Udinese, but might things have gone differently if Gennaro Gattuso had just deployed his most in-form striker? The decision to replace Patrick Cutrone with André Silva, and then to send on Nikola Kalinic in his stead when a late goal was required, was perplexing, given how well the Italian has played lately. But, let’s be honest, we all would have felt a little cheated if Udinese had not come away with something after bringing us the Scooby Doo Papa Dance.

• And finally this week, commiserations to Roma’s starting XI, who ended their seven-game winless run … and still got upstaged by a retired Francesco Totti.