Inter fell to defeat by the hands of Sampdoria 2-1 in a shock loss. The quality of the pitch, the massive amount of pigeons flying box-to-box, Conte’s poor coaching and not cashing in on chances could all be to blame for Inter’s loss.
With a win over Sampdoria, Inter would’ve finished Matchday 16 in pole position. As we later found out Milan lost at home to Juventus.
Let’s dive a bit further into some key points from the match.
Conte goes away from winning formula –
In previous matches where Inter have struggled in the first half, there was a certain substitution which brought Inter back from the dead.
Stefano Sensi wasn’t even used by Conte and instead Eriksen would be preferred. It’s mind boggling to Inter supporters why the ace up our sleeve wasn’t used.
Eriksen is done for this season. He has no ambition, no work ethic and he looks like a player who wants to be transferred to a new club.
Sensi on the other hand shows everything Inter needs in a trequartista. With games coming up to Roma and Juventus, we all hope this was a tactical move from Conte. In all honesty, not playing Sensi today cost Inter 3 points.
Inter’s title ambitions are now worrying –
The most disappointing part of today’s loss is the realisation this Inter team are not the firm favourites they have been talked up to be. The inability to score goals while Lukaku is off the pitch is most worrying.
There are chances being created, but there is no player we can put faith in to finish these beautiful opportunities. Over fifteen shots at goal with only a handful of them hitting the target. We should all be concerned as this trend has been here since the start of the season.
The Pitch and The Pigeons –
In the year 2021, to be playing on a field like that is pretty atrocious. We can be sure the Italian winter has taken it’s grasp on the pitch and it must be difficult for groundkeepers to provide anything worthy of Serie A standard.
However, to allow a top flight match to be played on that field needs to be questioned. Unstable ground and muddy areas near the box was pretty hard on the eye to watch, so it’s difficult to imagine how the players felt.
Then, every time a ball trickled anywhere near the box we would see thirty pigeons fly away. The bad thing was, these pigeons flew to the opposite end of the field. This occurred for 90 odd minutes back and forth.
The only positive is that both teams had to put up with these terrible conditions.
Free transfers aren’t always the best choice –
Alexis Sanchez has been waiting in the wings to start a match for a while now. His chance would come with Lukaku nursing a muscle strain and Conte choosing to rest big Rom from the opening whistle.
Sanchez looked like his normal self early in the match. Buzzing around and looking for an opening. Inter luckily earned a penalty and Sanchez would step up.
An opportunity to put Inter into the lead in the 12th minute from the spot and wow, what an opportunity wasted!
From that point on, all Sanchez’s confidence was lost as he wasted chance after chance. Conte should’ve subbed Sanchez off at halftime for Lukaku. Instead Sanchez would stay out there until the 70th minute and fail miserably trying to play like Sneijder.
Where to next?
On Sunday, Inter will host a very strong Roma team. A real title contender so this will be a great opportunity for Inter to bounce back.
Can Inter get back to winning ways?
