Simone Inzaghi lost his voice after his 100th win on the Inter bench, so assistant Massimiliano Farris backs Francesco Acerbi and explains why ‘mobility’ is essential to their tactics.
Inzaghi has every reason to celebrate his 150th official match on the Inter bench, especially as he did it with his 100th victory.
Unfortunately, he celebrated too much during the game and lost his voice, so had to send assistant manager Farris in his place.
There is a certain style now becoming known as Inzaghiball that uses every player in the team to attack together, as confirmed by the fact Alessandro Bastoni provided three assists in as many games, while four of the last five Inter goals were scored by defenders.
“It’s down to the quality of the lads. We set out the ideas and the sheet music, but then it is up to the players to perform it and they do it very well,” Farris told DAZN.
“The tactics are working very well, the mobility of our defenders, but also the ability of the midfielders to cover the spaces when the defenders go forward, that is all teamwork.”
Lautaro Martinez has not found the net in four consecutive Serie A games and looked rather irritated when substituted.
“He was the last to arrive back from international duty, had the longest journey, he is our captain and is always at our disposal, but he can be allowed a little fatigue. It’s true that he hasn’t scored, but the work that he and the other forwards do to help the team is essential.”
The Nerazzurri had started to lose some of that early season intensity in recent weeks, going out of the Champions League and held to a 1-1 draw by Napoli, followed by controversy over the accusations of racism against Acerbi.
The defender was cleared due to insufficient evidence and started tonight’s 2-0 win over Empoli, which was decided by Federico Dimarco and Alexis Sanchez strikes. Did Inzaghi ask Acerbi if he felt ready to start?
“Clearly, the coach makes the final decision. Francesco returned, there was a tumultuous few days and when he told us that he absolutely did not use a racist phrase, we all stood with him.
“I will also add that I’ve known Francesco since his days at Lazio, he’s a good guy and is anything but a racist. It was a nasty incident, we hope it is behind us and we can go back to only talking about football.”
Nicolò Barella had a very impressive performance in the middle of the park.
“Barella is having a great season and was even more fired up after scoring a wonderful goal on international duty.
“We did better in the second half and the substitutions gave us a big hand to bring home the result, confirming the strength in depth of this squad.”
This result maintains the 14-point lead at the top of the table and means Inter could mathematically secure the Scudetto in the Derby della Madonnina against Milan on April 22.
With eight rounds to go, they need another 11 points to be sure of the title.
Only once before, under Roberto Mancini in 2006-07, had Inter managed to win 25 of their opening 30 Serie A matches.
This Inter side also set a new record of finding the net in each of the first 30 games of the season. Which record would he like to achieve?
“All of them? Just kidding, we never discussed which game we’ll win the Scudetto in, it’s taking it one at a time. All we have in mind is to achieve the Scudetto, it would be better to get it as soon as possible, but we are enjoying the journey.”
Stop attacking Acerbi.