Inter have undeservedly drawn against Milan 1-1 at the San Siro. Hakan scored against his old side, but Inter wasted a lot of great chances.
For large periods of the game, Inter were the better team as most of the clear cut opportunities fell to Inter. Unfortunately it’s another match against a top team where points have been dropped.
Let’s look a bit further into some key points from the match.
Man of the Match!
There were many great players on the pitch today, but the standout was Bastoni. I thought Perisic, Hakan and Darmian also played fantastic too.
We saw an improved performance from Bastoni today as he was outstanding in both attack and defence. The ability to make key runs off the ball is a characteristic which massively benefits the Inter offence.
In situations, Bastoni had the task of man marking Zlatan which is always a hard challenge. Although today, Bastoni came out on top in every situation as Zlatan struggled to make an impact on the game.
A perfect cutback across the face of goal should’ve rewarded Bastoni with an assist, but unfortunately Barella could not find the back of the net. This new skill at Bastoni’s disposal is taking his game to the next level.
I’m very excited to see how this progresses in the future!
The penalties –
Week in and week out, we are seeing some inconsistencies with the referee in Italy. Today Inter received two penalties, and it almost felt like they were a square up after the terrible decisions for Inter against Juventus and Roma against Milan.
For the first penalty, the onus has to be on Kessie who went looking for a foul after Calhanoglu picked his pocket. Legs got tangled and Inter had their first penalty of the match. I wasn’t completely sold as I thought it should’ve just been play on.
Up stepped Hakan with enough confidence to put Inter ahead and then he decided to celebrate against his old side. It actually made me happy as he’s copped a lot of flack on social media from Milan fans.
For the second penalty, this was clear as day to me. Darmian got the better of Ballo-Toure as he was turned inside out before sliding in on Darmian. On closer inspection there is a touch of the ball but the follow through from the Milan defender completely takes out Darmian.
Fair penalty in my eyes, but Lautaro was not good enough to convert this into a goal. A save from Milan’s keeper, but these crucial penalties should be turned into an advantage on the scoreboard for Inter.
Invited them back in –
From the opening whistle of the second half until about the 80th minute, Inter was in complete control. Milan were out on their feet and could not keep up with the Nerazzurri.
I’m not sure if it was the lateness of substitutions into the game, or the over commitment in attack from Inzaghi, but we lost our way for the last 10 minutes of the match.
A couple of strange subs really took the momentum out of the game. The first was the Bastoni sub off for Dimarco as Bastoni was at the forefront of controlling the tempo and possession at the back for Inter.
Also waiting so long to take Dzeko and Lautaro off wasn’t the smartest move in my eyes. Both these strikers today looked a bit off their game and not performing to the standards we expect.
Especially bringing in Correa earlier since he seems to have struck a bit of confidence as of late, it would’ve been great to give him some time in the match to settle. Same with Sanchez too, he looks happy again playing football which is great to see.
Unfortunately these substitutions were made just before the momentum had swung into Milan’s favour. Darmian was awesome down that right wing, so taking him off may have been the moment in time where Inter stopped their domination. It’s difficult to say.
Concerning –
Although we are only 7 points from joint leaders Milan and Napoli, there are concerns. Let’s not forget that only Matchday 12 has finished, so there’s still 26 matches in the season remaining.
The thing to be concerned about is the lack of points against the big sides this season. So far Inter have faced Atalanta, Lazio, Juventus and Milan. We have only been able to secure 3 points from a possible 12 which worries me a lot.
Especially when Milan have taken 11 points from a possible 15 in the same scenario plus Roma. Both teams are yet to face Napoli though which could be defining.
Now, we know the season isn’t decided by beating the top teams but it sure does help build gaps on the table. Hopefully Inzaghi can find a way to mirror the performances from Antonio Conte last year with this Inter side.
It’s not time to panic just yet.
Where to next?
Another international break will stop domestic football for the next couple of weeks. Inter will be back in action at the San Siro against an unbeaten Napoli side two weeks from now.
I think this will be the first loss of the season for Napoli, as Inter have won their past 3 Serie A meetings at the San Siro between the two sides.
Prediction: Inter 2-0
As always, Forza Inter!
