Inter, no goals from open play: so Champions far away

Over a month without a goal from open play. Inter find themselves without attack and are now afraid of definitively ruining the season thanks to the difficulties that have arisen in beating the opposing goalkeeper with continuity. In the last five official matches played between the league, the Italian Cup and the Champions League, the Nerazzurri have only scored two goals, both from penalties through Romelu Lukaku (against Spezia and against Juventus on Tuesday in Turin). And, if we want to be picky, they missed another penalty with Lautaro Martinez, in the knockout in La Spezia. Numbers that make you think and which, combined with the team’s inability to recover when it goes under in the score, determine the current crisis in the league: three defeats in the last three days, four knockouts in the last five days and qualification for the Europe that counts poised.

CREATE, BUT….

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Why Inter are no longer able to score from open play is a mystery also because the offensive production, at least in terms of chances, is not that different from the past: in La Spezia there were as many as 28 shots on target, while in I bring the conclusions between the posts 5. In short, the team hasn’t stopped… grinding goals: they simply can’t make them come true. To confirm, just look at the images from last Saturday in Inter-Fiorentina, with the big mistakes by Lukaku and Mkhitaryan. Who knows how the match would have ended if Inzaghi’s men had taken the lead in the first fraction…

LAUTARO AND DZEKO

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It is paradoxical that the Nerazzurri started suffering from amnesia in front of goal just when Lukaku recovered from a double serious thigh injury and beat the opposing goalkeeper 4 times (3 from a penalty) in the last month and a half. Given that the Belgian is not yet at the levels of 2020-21, the main problem now is represented by the other forwards, including Lautaro who kept up the “shack” for a long time in this beginning of 2023 with 9 goals scored from 7 January to 5 March. After the seal against Lecce (precisely on March 5), however, Toro stopped and now there are 5 matches without cheering. After the World Cup won in Doha, the Argentine thought he had found continuity in scoring as a great striker and instead… The numbers of Dzeko and Correa are even worse. The Bosnian, who masked Big Rom’s knockout in the fall, hasn’t scored since the Italian Super Cup final on 18 January. Almost three months… He’s always an excellent offensive playmaker and with his movements he creates space for his teammates, but if he doesn’t hurt the sills. Does the renewal of the contract that he hasn’t scored yet also have something to do with it? Correa, on the other hand, hasn’t scored since 29 October against Sampdoria. A date and an opponent also imprinted in Barella’s mind, also dry since then. And, if it is undeniable that something has been lacking in the attack lately, even the midfielders and defenders have done little to remedy the problem of scoring. Going to the Champions League without reversing this negative trend is complicated. Inzaghi knows it, but the players know it too. In Salerno the music will have to change also in view of the away match in Lisbon. The risk of throwing away the season otherwise is very high.