Inter need to find a real identity rather than just tinkering around with formations, writes Edoardo Dalmonte.

As welcome as they are, Inter's recent wins over Napoli and Udinese have brought something irritating in dotage: a sense of what might have been. Had the Nerazzurri not had such a torrid January and February, so the logic goes, they may have competed for a Champions League spot. Maybe more.

Enticing as this line of thinking may be, it ignores the fact that Inter didn't just morph into Frosinone for 8 weeks before reverting to normal: for a start, their current +15 goal difference is generally typical of a team that finishes anywhere from 4th to 6th place in the post-Calciopoli era.

As narratively inconvenient as it may be, it looks like Inter's strengths turned into a weakness at the wrong time: having won a preponderance of their games by one goal, the Nerazzurri could hardly complain when their opponents got the rub of the green (the 1-0 loss to Sassuolo) or when their back line finally buckled, as it did against Carpi at the death (1-1), or in their 3-0 loss in the Derby della Madonnina.

Simply put, Inter regressed to the mean: whilst Juventus' unbeaten streak began with a few unconvincing performances, they eventually started reeling off three-pointers almost effortlessly. Their Milanese enemies rarely gave off the same vibe.

Conceding 11 goals in its first 17 outings, the Nerazzurri's back line could hardly sustain that pace forever, and needed the attack (23 goals) to do its part. Instead, Inter shipped in 21 in the following 18 games, whilst it barely improved at the other end, netting 24 times.

Beyond that, it's not as if the Inter of the past seven weeks has been cruising at Scudetto pace, either: why be whistful about January when the recent Napoli and Udinese wins sandwiched a drab, confused performance against Genoa?

Rather than ask what Inter were missing, then, it may be worth asking what the Nerazzurri are missing: a fixed starting XI, for one.

It may be a cruel coincidence that the Nerazzurri's decline began with the Sassuolo defeat, the last time Coach Roberto Mancini actually tried to start the same side two league games in a row. After that, he returned to the 4-3-1-2 before testing the 4-4-2 in the Derby – to disastrous effect.

Inter's attacking players arguably needed time tolearn to play with one another with their eyes shut – as Napoli and Fiorentina do – rather than being sat the minute Il Mancio felt like he could trust the newest hot hand. Maybe then, defences like Sassuolo's could have broken down, and not just threatened.

Like a mad professor in his lab, Il Mancio is constantly experimenting: whilst Napoli and Fiorentina may have worked their starters into the ground, they at least knew who they were. Mancini probably still doesn't.

The good news for Inter is that their Coach has made progress from his first experience here: his teams are focused on results more than football now, and ascribing their strong start to luck alone is foolish. A similar lift-off next year (even taking away, say, four-five points) would be a great building block.

Perfectly capable of crafting a different strategy according to his opponent, Mancini has so far neglected to give his team an identity of its own in the process. For every Jekyll (Inter's masterful 2-0 win against Napoli), the team of 2016 produced quite a few Hydes, and winning Scudetti is a repetitive process. Let's hope this cash-strapped club can get the hang of it.

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