Big 3 Points But Still A Lot To Play For

Inter 1 Atalanta 0. A big, big result for us in our quest for the Scudetto but there are 12 matches left and a lot of football to be played. Six points separate us from our next closest challenger, AC Milan. Let’s look back at the game first.

Analysis of Inter vs Atalanta

We always knew Atalanta would provide us with stiff opposition and if we are not at our best, we could slip up and lose points. Truth be told, we were not at our best. In the opening exchanges, we worked out a good move between Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Ivan Perisic and that turned out to be a rarity. It was a game of duels. Lukaku was through on goal twice but he was denied once by Berat Djimsiti and another by Christian Romero. Both defenders had good games and Romero was particularly impressive. Robin Gosens kept Achraf Hakimi quiet. Our defenders weren’t shabby too, Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni kept Atalanta’s forwards quiet. My vote for Man Of The Match would go to Skriniar because he didn’t only keep anyone coming his way quiet, he scored the winning goal too. Atalanta had a couple of big chances to score in the first half. Samir Handanovic pulled off a great save to keep out Duvan Zapata from a corner and from the next one, Marcelo Brozovic cleared off the line. Arturo Vidal was a surprise selection and he spent most of the match chasing shadows and was careless in possession, not justifying his selection. He was brought off early in the second half for Christian Eriksen.

Improvement In Mentality & Resilience

Atalanta changed their tactics to close down space for us to run into and to deny us our passing channels. After conceding, they pinned us back but we kept them out without running any risk of conceding. This win and the one against Parma shows the improvement the team has made in terms of mentality. There was a time where I believed attack is the best form of defence and we couldn’t defend a lead. The team looks a lot more resilient now. It helps too that we haven’t been making unnecessarily defensive substitutions. I feel at the moment, the starting line-up picks itself with a game a week which is why I was surprised by the inclusion of Vidal ahead of Eriksen. The team celebrated this win with a lot of gusto in the dressing room which shows what a big win this is for the team. However, I feel it is still premature to celebrate too much.

Tough & Tricky Matches To Come

There are 12 matches to go and out of the 12, we have still got to play against Roma, Napoli and Juventus. These are on paper, the toughest remaining matches. Besides these three, any match can be banana skin for us. We are playing against teams that are in the relegation dogfight for whom every point matters. There are tricky teams like Sassuolo, Bologna, Hellas Verona, Sampdoria and Udinese for us to face as well. These teams might have nothing to play for but have the quality in their ranks to punish us if we are not careful. It’s important now that the pressure doesn’t get to the player’s legs and wear them down. They will face challenges pre and post-game that they need to resolve. It’s important as well that Antonio Conte keeps them grounded and not ahead if themselves.