A fantastic performance from Inter has ensured a 4-0 victory over Cagliari. Man of the Match Calhanoglu with a magnificent goal and assist.
A weekend where Milan, Juventus and Napoli all dropped points gave Inter the opportunity to take top spot. Inter would not fail, as they smashed Cagliari for the full 90 minutes.
Let’s look further into the match itself.
Scintillating form –
After being presented with the “Serie A Player of the Month” award before the Cagliari match, Hakan impressed again on the field. From the opening whistle, Calhanoglu’s passing and movement were very crisp.
We had to wait only until the half hour mark when Hakan put in a delightful assist for Lautaro from a corner. The ball was perfectly placed and Lautaro met the ball with his head to put Inter up to 1-0.
As we’ve seen so far this season, Inter’s ability to score from set pieces has increased massively. As it stands, Inter have 8 goals from set pieces this season which is currently the most in Italy.
The best was yet to come for Calhanoglu, as he scored a wonderful goal to put Inter up 3-0 at the 66th minute.
Picking the ball up a few metres outside the corner of the box, dropping the shoulder then dropping again to beat a couple until finally putting the ball into the top corner of the goal. Cragno stood no chance to stop the shot, as it had amazing power and precision.
Undoubtedly, with the current run we are likely to see Calhanoglu be named signing of the year. I’m sure Inzaghi is loving Calhanoglu in his team, as Inzaghi’s coaching style is definitely suiting the way Hakan plays.
Special mention –
We mentioned it on the Inter Worldwide Podcast and this man sure delivered. Nicolo Barella was back to his absolute best today and it was so pleasing to watch.
We said “Barella needs to step up since he was very disappointing in the Madrid match”. Especially since he received a red card thus potentially suspending him for both legs Round of 16 Champions League matches coming up.
Barella must’ve heard us as he contributed 2 assists and could’ve easily had more if Inter’s finishing was better today. Also, he had a couple of shots which Cragno sensationally was able to stop.
The exact way to stop the hate and put the focus back on his performance.
The movement today from Barella was the best I’ve seen in the past two months, and he looked calm again today. For too long he’s looked lethargic and almost like he wasn’t happy on the field.
I hope he’s resolved any issues he had off the field, as it looks like his football may have diminished because of that. Fingers crossed that the consistent Barella is back and we can start seeing that energizer bunny on the pitch again.
Clean sheet and another win –
Inter have made it 4 clean sheets in a row with the 4-0 win over Cagliari. The previous matches being against Venezia, Spezia and Roma. An impressive statistic which Antonio Conte was able to do only once in his time at Inter.
With the victory today, this also makes it 5 wins in a row for Inzaghi’s men. The run starting in the win against Napoli so Inter have carried this on winning the following four.
It’s a superb run of football, as Inter were 7 points behind joint leaders Napoli and Milan only three weeks ago. Now Inter are ahead of Milan by 1 point and Napoli by 4 points.
Inzaghi has Inter primed and playing a very attractive brand of football. It will be very difficult for teams to stop this Inter team at the moment, as they just seem so confident and are able to get themselves out of any difficult situation.
Even today, we may have seen previous Inter teams fail to take advantage of oppositions results but Inzaghi’s Inter is built differently. This team is ruthless and they are not comfortable sitting on a 1-0 cushion unlike Conte’s Inter for example.
I really hope the team keeps this attitude, as Scudetto 20 will be hard to take off us if we continue like this!
Where to next?
We face Salernitana away after they’ve come off a 4-0 thrashing against Fiorentina. I’m sure we will hope for a similar scoreline come Friday night.
The best thing is that we get a bit of rest, and hopefully Darmian and Ranocchia will both be available for selection. This will mean that the only injury in the squad is likely to be Correa after straining a muscle in the Roma match.
Prediction – Inter 3-0
As always, Forza Inter!
