Missed Opportunity

Inter missed the opportunity to go joint-top with AC Milan and be crowned Winter Champions, not that it means much to be Winter Champions anyways. Missed opportunities are the best way to describe this 0-0 draw against Udinese at the Dacia Arena. I knew Udinese were going to be tricky opponents for us. I expected them to sit back and make themselves tough to break down and they proved my judgement right. Not only was it tough to find a way past their defence in terms of their organisation and quantity, but they were also robust and physical.

A Game We Should Have Won

Udinese have saved their best performances for when they played big teams, beating Lazio, narrowly losing to Napoli to a last-minute goal and holding Atalanta to a draw in midweek. We were going into this match with a whole week to prepare after the high of beating Juventus in the Derby D’Italia on home turf. Logically and based on form, we should have beaten them, but football can be unpredictable.

Lu-La Not Firing On All Cylinders

We got off to a sloppy start. We didn’t have the intensity in our play that we had when we played Juventus, perhaps taking Udinese lightly. The form of Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez in front of goal has come under some scrutiny. In recent games, Martinez more than Lukaku has been guilty of profligacy. Both strikers have maintained their influence on the game with their movement and in the case of Lukaku, his hold-up play. Udinese completely nullified that aspect of the game too. Lukaku wasn’t given much opportunity to turn and run with the ball. Martinez had a great chance to take the lead but his snapshot was saved by his former team-mate, Juan Musso. He had a goal disallowed for offside too. I can’t blame him for missing his chance as he was under pressure from two Udinese defenders.

Hakimi Off The Grid

The biggest frustration in this game came from the lack of quality in the final third. We lacked the creativity to break down the tight Udinese defence. However, the biggest culprit would have to be Achraf Hakimi. On more than one occasion, his crosses were found wanting. On one occasion, he was caught in two minds when he received a cross from Ashley Young. He should have taken the shot on the first time but his indecision saw another missed opportunity. On another occasion, he did take a shot but it went wide. On hindsight, he had Lukaku and Stefano Sensi to square to but that is just the ifs and buts of it.

Conte’s Rigidity

Last week, Antonio Conte showed all that is good about him. Here, he was too slow in trying to change the game for us. Stefano Sensi was brought on with 20 minutes left. Unlike other appearances, he wasn’t as influential this time. Ivan Perisic was brought on at that same time but hardly saw the ball and when he did get the ball was outnumbered two to one. He was left on his own devices to do something. Former Udinese star, Alexis Sanchez was brought on for Lautaro Martinez and didn’t have much influence either. I felt the substitutions should have been made 5-10 minutes earlier. Maybe we should have played with three strikers. Maybe Christian Eriksen should have been brought on too. The way Hakimi’s game was developing, replacing him with Matteo Darmian should have been one of the first changes made.

Two Points Dropped

With this draw, we closed the lead to AC Milan to two points but this is definitely two points dropped. For our maturity, it is not a good result either as we should be following up a win against a direct rival with another win. It wasn’t the best day at the office for us but we should have somehow got a goal to win it. That is what champion teams do, and we didn’t. This was the first time this season that we failed to score in the league and the first goalless draw since July 2020. 

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