Analysis: Inter Milan

After Inter Milan’s league defeat to Parma, Luciano Spalletti made five changes to his side. Milan Skriniar moved from centre-back to right-back and Kwadwo Asamoah also came into the back line. Matias Vecino and Matteo Politano returned to the side in midfield, while Mauro Icardi returned to the starting line-up.

In the opening exchanges, the home side looked to exploit Tottenham with early through balls in behind for Ivan Perisic and Icardi to run on to from their left. With Spurs wanting to build short from the goalkeeper, Inter’s mid-block progressively moved in the hope of early regains within their opponents’ half. Their press to the visitors’ left proved effective, as Icardi quickly moved across to support Politano, while Radja Nainggolan blocked any central splitting passes from the back line. As the ball was switched back across to Tottenham’s right, however, Nainggolan would step out to support Perisic – although Icardi failed to recover back into the central lane. This then left a central space into which Christian Eriksen could drop and collect from deep.

The home back line was rarely tested early on, despite Spurs having the large proportion of possession. Both Inter full-backs remained deep within the back line, reducing their numbers going forward. They posed more of a threat once Nainggolan started to add a second forward run through the central lane when long balls from the defence, to that point poorly delivered, were sent forward.

It had initially been down to Icardi to chase down these direct passes against two central defenders, but the second run of Nainggolan started to create two-on-two opportunities that increased their success of regaining the ball deep within their opponents’ half. This approach resulted in a few attempts on goal.

However, the threat of Son Heung-min’s forward dribbling against Skriniar forced attacking midfielder Politano to drop back on the right side. This reduced Inter’s ability to press the visitors’ back line, who were able to drive into midfield and more readily find their creative attackers.

Inter’s double pivot temporarily broke its structure in an attempt to combat this. Vecino stepped higher on to Mousa Dembele, who continued to drop short to collect from the back line. For the first time in the match, central space appeared, as Politano had reduced his aggressive pressing to help cover Son and Ben Davies. This only added to their problems, though, creating more central space and increasing Tottenham’s access into Harry Kane and Eriksen. Perisic moved across to help cover the gaps, but that left Serge Aurier free to add an overlapping threat from right-back.

Spurs continued to progress the ball through the central channel in the second half, with Dembele’s blindside runs behind Nainggolan creating the ideal passing lane for the back line. Kane’s dropping away from the central defence also provided Dembele with another passing option, presenting healthy numbers behind a reassembled double pivot. Inter consequently struggled to contain early attacks in the second half, having been pinned back into a 4-4-2 defensive mid-block.

With Tottenham increasing the pressure after Eriksen’s deflected half-volley had given them the lead in the 53rd minute, Spalletti introduced Antonio Candreva and Keita Balde from the bench. They now became more direct and threatening during moments of attacking transitions, with fresh legs against the Tottenham full-backs creating promising opportunities to counter-attack in wide areas. Icardi and Nainggolan increasingly looked for cutback crosses, pulling away from the central defenders.

Asamoah progressively moved higher, too, as Inter began to enjoy more of the ball in the final quarter. With the left-back now providing attacking width, either Balde or Candreva in front of him could move inside to support Nainggolan and Icardi, putting extra pressure on the central defence. Asamoah moved higher once more in the final five minutes, delivering a deep cross for Icardi to volley home brilliantly.

Inter had seized control of the contest by making full use of their full-backs in the wide areas. Tottenham looked to have survived after a goalmouth scramble in the closing stages, but the following corner yielded the winning goal for Inter. Vecino rose highest to complete the comeback and seal the three points.