Inter Rises To Win

After the big win on the opening day of the season against Genoa, Hellas Verona was always going to be a tricky opposition. They have created an impression of being a tough team to play against since their promotion into Serie A under Ivan Juric. They are now managed by Eusebio Di Francesco who seems to have lost his way in his last two managerial stints at Sampdoria and Cagliari. I wasn’t sure what we would get from this Verona.

Poor First Half

Inter were far from fluid and sharp in the first half; a stark contrast to the performance in our first match. We kept giving the ball away cheaply, in possession we lacked the sharpness that we showed against Genoa and we were lacking the incisive off-the-ball movement and link-up play by our midfielders with our forwards. The credit has to go to the opponents as well for pressing us hard and going man for man. We had a tough beginning and made it tougher by gifting the impetus and momentum of the half to Verona after a poor pass by Samir Handanovic wasn’t controlled by Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Ilic pounced on it to give Verona the lead. It could have been 2-0 to Verona as they had a couple of nearly moments.

Inter Revival

Inter came out early in the second half and the catalyst for change was an early equalizer. Ivan Perisic’s long throw was flicked on by Edin Dzeko and headed in by Lautaro Martinez. The Argentine nearly gave Inter the lead in the first half only to be denied by Lorenzo Montipo. Lautaro then missed a great opportunity from a similar move to the one where he scored the equalizer. Inter had the better of the second half but the wind of change was fueled by the introduction of Arturo Vidal and ex-Verona man, Federico Dimarco.

Vidal & Correa

For the second match running, Vidal was prime Vidal and he did a great job in helping Inter assert control in midfield. I am not sure what changed in him or what got into him, whatever it was, it was working. Dimarco provided new energy on the left flank. The key change as we all know is the introduction of the new signing, Joaquin Correa.  The goal to give us the lead with seven minutes left was a beauty. Matteo Darmian had a typically solid game but he isn’t as fast as Achraif Hakimi, yet he chased down what looked like a lost cause to hoist a cross into the box and Correa rose majestically to give us the lead. I sat on the fence with the signing of Correa because I have not been very impressed by what little I have seen of him, scoring two goals on his debut would work in nudging me in his favour.

What Is Missing?

Overall, I still feel the team misses the explosive pace of Hakimi and Romelu Lukaku especially when we counter-attack. I felt we showed great resilience and mental strength to overcome a deficit against a tricky opponent away from him. On to the next one.