Pazza Inter

I have finally got around to writing this. Inter and Atalanta played out a breath-taking match, full of drama and incidents at the San Siro on Saturday. It was a good thing that after the match I went to sleep as I was left breathless and needed to lie down.

Inter Start On Top

The match ebbed and flowed. Inter started the match very well and should have been at least 2-0 up had we been clinical. Instead, we were only one goal in the lead and it was a great goal too. A great assist by Nicolo Barella and a fantastic volley by Lautaro Martinez. In this moment of ascendancy, we lacked a bit of precision with our finishing and touches in the final third.

Atalanta Gains Control

Atalanta grew into the game, had some half-chances but never really threatened our goal until Ruslan Malinovskiy unleashed a typical howitzer. There was nothing any goalkeeper in the world could have done to stop that. I was disappointed with the defence because it’s no surprise what Malinovskiy is capable of but yet he wasn’t closed down faster. After that goal, Atalanta grew in confidence and cranked up the pressure. We were in danger of conceding more but thankfully, only conceded once more. Once again, Malinvoskiy’s shot causing havoc as Samir Handanovic palmed it straight into the path of Rafael Toloi for a tap-in.

Inter Substitutes Swing The Balance Back To Inter

In the second half, we nearly conceded a third to another Malinovskiy effort; thankfully the post came to the rescue. Simone Inzaghi made changes at the right time and that swung the game back in our favour. I was worried about the withdrawal of Alessandro Bastoni for Federico Dimarco because he isn’t the greatest defender in a back three but it worked wonders going forward as he made inside left runs. Matias Vecino and Denzel Dumfries were more effective than the players they replaced Hakan Calhanoglu and Matteo Darmian.

Nearly Three Points Gained and Two Points Lost

We were in the ascendancy and got a great opportunity to score a possible winner when we got a penalty; our first of the season, our first since Romelu Lukaku left. Lautaro Martinez had already left the pitch so I was intrigued to see who would step up. Dimarco stepped up but unfortunately smashed his kick into the crossbar. After that goal, we lost our way and for a moment, it looked like we would suffer our first league defeat of the season. It was a terrible goal to concede as it went straight through Handanovic. Thankfully, VAR saved our blushes.

More Needs To Be Done

In the end, I felt regret that we didn’t end it with three points but at the same time, relieved that we at least had one point and not zero. This is the second game in a row where we were pushed to the ropes by our opponents but we showed great character and personality to stay in the game and come back into it. Inzaghi must make some changes to the starting line-up and start with Dumfries and Vecino more often at the moment. I was wondering what Antonio Conte would have thought of our defending against Atalanta and the space they had to attack while watching at home. I am sure he would have sat very uncomfortably on his seat looking at that. Something needs to be tweaked tactically to beat getting pressed aggressively and high as well as affording a lot of space to our opponents to attack into. Would Inzaghi be brave and drop Handanovic as well? His performance was a disaster against Atalanta.