This article was first published on footballromance.com (a predecessor to this website) in November 2016.
Line-ups
Stefano Pioli freshened his side up after their midweek European loss, with Andrea Rannochia and Cristian Ansaldi coming into the team in defence, Geoffrey Kondogbia holding in midfield and Ivan Perisic replacing Eder on the left flank.
The visitors reverted to a back four (4-2-3-1) having fielded a three-man defence against PAOK in midweek. Paulo Sousa made only one change to the side which won 4-0 at Empoli in their last Serie A fixture, Carlos Salcedo starting at right-back instead of Nenad Tomovic.
Individual errors kill Fiorentina’s first half
Inter started the contest at a blistering pace – whether Piolo will regularly set up his team to play this way or it was simply a case of the players going all out to impress their new coach remains to be seen – and wasted little time in reaping the rewards, although they were given a considerable helping hand by some atrocious Fiorentina defending in the opening period.
Neither Carlos Salcedo nor Cristian Tello was aware enough to block off a simple ball down the flank to Cristian Ansaldi in the run-up to Marcelo Brozovic’s opener, Ivan Perisic easily got into a similar position for Antonio Candreva’s second (goalkeeper Ciprian Tatarusanu didn’t cover himself in glory here either), while skipper Gonzalo Rodriguez dived in recklessly and was outsmarted by Mauro Icardi for the third; Davide Astori also had the opportunity to intervene but simply stood and watched Icardi stick the ball in the net.
It was a first half to forget for La Viola’s central defensive pairing, summed up by Rodriguez’s sending-off on the stroke of half time; Miranda’s blind punt upfield had sent Icardi through on goal after catching the Argentinian and Astori under the ball.
Excellent Inter pressing
The key feature of the Nerazzurri’s first-half play was some excellent pressing (although none of the three goals came as a direct result). From the word go, Pioli’s side hunted their opponents down in packs and turned over possession high up the pitch on numerous occasions, with Brozovic and Icardi – somewhat surprisingly – particularly active in this aspect of their team’s performance.
No player made more tackles than Brozovic (seven, five in the opening 45 minutes), who tirelessly worked to win the ball in dangerous positions in opposition territory, a feat he achieved on three separate occasions.
Icardi was also intent on harrying the hapless Rodriguez and Astori whenever possible and one such incident should have led to a fourth goal for Perisic, who blazed over after another defensive howler from Salcedo had given him a clear sight of goal.
The only downside to Brozovic’s box-to-box play was that Geoffrey Kondogbia occasionally found himself outnumbered whenever Fiorentina attempted to work the ball through the middle of the field, which they did repeatedly with Federico Bernardeschi often joining Josip Ilicic in central areas. Ilicic managed to find space in between the lines a couple of times, although an early strike from the edge of the box, which was blocked, was the sum of his efforts in open play in the first half (one free-kick forced a solid stop from Samir Handanovic).
D’Ambrosio tracking Bernardeschi
Bernardeschi had a quiet game by his own recent standards – he was replaced by Federico Chiesa after 65 minutes – but his positional play indirectly led to both of his team’s goals. Danilo D’Ambrosio was listed as Inter’s starting right-back but was essentially tasked with man-marking Bernardeschi, which meant he spent much of the first hour or so playing very narrowly.
It would be very harsh to lay the blame for either goal at D’Ambrosio’s door; his positioning was clearly a tactical ploy outlined by Pioli and the ex-Torino man was Inter’s best defender on the night, keeping Bernardeschi on the game’s periphery, cutting infield to make a series of important challenges and outpacing the speedy Tello on the only occasion the Spaniard threatened to break away. Yet, Fiorentina’s two strikes came from long passes into areas of the pitch which would normally be defended by a ‘conventional’ right-back.
Candreva v Milic
Instead, that flank turned into a duel between Candreva and Hrvoje Milic in the first period, one the Italian ultimately won despite his defensive limitations. With D’Ambrosio following Bernardeschi, Candreva wasn’t quite quick enough to drop into the right-back position and Nikola Kalinic reduced the deficit after pulling in behind the Inter central defenders. Milic, meanwhile, ghosted in behind the ex-Lazio man and fired at goal, only to be denied by Handanovic.
However, Candreva’s short, sharp bursts often enabled him to get the better of his direct opponent at the other end of the field, with his tally of one goal, one assist (for Icardi) and three first-half shots making him one of the most dangerous players on the pitch.
La Viola start playing around the press but…
Paulo Sousa’s charges struggled on the whole in the face of their opponents’ hustling, but they became much more adept at playing around the press – with snappier passes at a much quicker tempo – in the latter stages of the half. Indeed, that is exactly how Borja Valero and Milan Badelj took both Kondogbia and Brozovic out of the game in the run-up to Kalinic’s goal, supplied by Badelj, who had been able to make precious few forward passes until that point.
But just when it looked as if La Viola had worked things out, Gonzalo saw red and forced Sousa into a half-time rethink. A switch to a back three – centre-back Nenad Tomovic replacing left-back Milic – ensued, while Ilicic at times lined up alongside Kalinic in attack, although the Slovenian would often drop deeper to collect possession.
With the attacking duo of Tello and Bernardeschi (theoretically) the only players manning the flanks for the away side, there were unsurprisingly a host of opportunities for Perisic and Candreva to break into space; Perisic struck an effort against the post and set up a clear-cut chance for Ever Banega, while Candreva got another three shots away, only one of which troubled Tatarusanu.
Inter’s midfield make-up changes
But there was still hope left for Fiorentina, with Pioli’s decision to replace Kondogbia in the Inter midfield with the more offensive Joao Mario somewhat bizarre. To put it mildly, the Frenchman hadn’t been particularly involved in the game (even goalkeeper Handanovic had had more touches of the ball), but his positional discipline had allowed Brozovic to dart around the field without having to be too concerned about leaving big gaps behind.
Joao Mario, on the other hand, didn’t complement Brozovic at all, with the Portuguese often making attacking runs, often at the same time as the Croat, emptying the midfield. Pioli may well have seen an opportunity to go for the kill against ten men, but the substitution changed the make-up of a midfield which had been working well in the opening period. Was it really necessary?
The hosts ultimately won the game, but not without a few hairy moments, particularly after Ilicic’s goal, which, as mentioned earlier, came as a result of D’Ambrosio again chasing Bernardeschi around and neither Joao Mario nor Brozovic, the supposed ‘pivots’, filling in. On top of that, Handanovic should undoubtedly have kept out his compatriot’s effort on goal.
Passing problems unpunished
With the Nerazzurri having surrendered a two-goal advantage against Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Europa League only four days earlier, a sense of panic set in and Inter struggled badly to retain possession, losing their shape completely towards the end.
Miranda, who took lots of chances at the back, and Andrea Rannochia set the tone as they were fairly woeful on the ball (63% and 47% pass success rates respectively), although the duo did make several vital clearances in the second period to help keep Fiorentina at bay. In truth, Sousa’s men could have made much more of their opponents’ sloppy passing, with most of their efforts on goal coming from outside the area and failing to test Handanovic further.
The introduction of Chiesa, who stayed much wider than Bernardeschi, didn’t have the desired effect, the youngster unable to either to offer left-sided centre-back Astori much defensive support or get the better of the impressive D’Ambrosio.
The Nerazzuri ragged and reckless…but across the line
Indeed, D’Ambrosio’s contribution in the closing stages – the defender spent much of the final quarter overlapping Candreva – and substitute Eder frantically waving his teammates up the field with five minutes left to play, epitomised Inter’s attitude, with Pioli, despite his team’s utter raggedness, continuing to encourage them to attack in the most reckless of fashions.
Icardi rounded off the scoring in the final minute in fitting fashion – at the end of a four-on-three counter-attack, which was a near-carbon copy of an earlier break which had culminated with Joao Mario inexplicably blazing over the bar. Persistence, this time, paid off.
What next?
Inter’s barnstorming start was clearly a huge positive, as was the way they pressed their opponents cohesively and successfully in good areas of the field. However, they had no idea how to close the game out, with Pioli seemingly believing that the attack-as-the-best-form-of-defence school of thought would be their best bet. Persisting with this strategy is surely unlikely, particularly given their inability to keep the ball for any reasonable length of time against ten men.
Fiorentina were completely undone by some amateurish (no other word for it) defending in the first half, which is unusual given that they possess one of the league’s best defensive records. Sousa will not expect a repeat performance any time soon, although he will have been pleased by the way his side hung in to make a game of it after conceding the third goal and having their captain sent off.