Dissecting Inzaghi’s Inter Milan ahead of their clash vs Arsenal in the UCL

Analysing the Italian giants playstyle under Simeone Inzaghi and some of their most influential players that will face Arsenal. Can they hold the Gunners out at their home stadium in the group stage?

Simeone Inzaghi hosting Arteta’s Gunners is the headliner for this weeks UCL fixtures, no doubt. The experienced Italian has revolutionised some of the key concepts of football and created his own identity/brand of football at Inter Milan

Platforming his side to a 3-5-2, Inzaghi has managed to strike the perfect balance of rotations and profiles to his side. Freedom in rotations help Inzaghi to channel his players to their favoured positions, creating patterns that are difficult to read (defence + midfield)

In build up when Inter hold possession, they manage to focus on the maximisation of space – rotations that are subtle but change the whole buildup. This build up pattern helps them find gaps between the oppositions defenders, exploiting half spaces

Inter manage to position their players in spaces that are determined by the defensive patterns of the opposition. Overlords and combinations + using the GK as a CCB to push your defender higher + looking for patterns to play the ball higher up the pitch

Out of possession they are compact and look to cover the width of the pitch to stop wing progression and counter press. Once in their own half – they overload zones + recover quickly by tracking back to limit space & stop transition

Inzaghi has built a heritage in Italy, accumulating some of the best individual talents – showcasing fluidity and versatility in beating press + balance in the whole system

Key Players:

Lautaro Martinez – Argentina
27 | CF | 5’9

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Inter captain has been in some superb goalscoring form and has managed to influence Inter’s result time in time out. A lethal finisher who’s very good at channel running + finding quick combinations around the pitch will be the gunman for the Italian side

Alessandro Bastoni – Italy
25 | CB | 6’3

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Being the leader of Inter’s reliable back 3, Bastoni’s character is more of an aggressive press magnet to the opposition. Physically pressurising + duel winner + a sweet left foot that can spray long passes to break the last line of defence

Federico Dimarco – Italy
26 | LB/LM | 5’9

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Dimarco has excellent crossing accuracy and almost always has the ability to pick out the right pass from wider areas. His positional awareness and quick movements to attack space are a huge reason to how he spams early crosses into the box

Hakan Calanhoglu – Turkey
30 | CM/DM| 5’10

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The Turkish powerhouse plays in the heart of midfield, giving Inzaghi the stability on and off the ball. Essentially, Hakan utilises the most of his creative IQ in order to lay first time passes higher up the pitch whilst also indulging in pass and move situations

Dynamic Duos:

Thuram x Martinez: One of Europe’s most phenomenal striking partnership are cruising in terms of goals/assists this season. Whilst one drops deep to link up play, the other sits in an advanced position as a target man – trying to find those creative passing lanes

Dimarco x Dumfries: Inter’s wingbacks play a role that hardly any of Europe’s top teams can recreate. In order to find them and edge past the opposition teams markings – they look to overload on one flank before very quickly switching play and delivering an early cross

Conclusion:

Arsenal would need to vary of the danger they possess. Winning second balls, having a compact defensive line and not creating much space out of possession will help the Gunners to dominate proceedings. Nonetheless, we expect a cracker of a game!

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