Inter-Villarreal: Inzaghi is looking for 4 answers from the team

The Nerazzurri calendar marks the end of the great summer maneuvers, with four unknowns still to be deciphered for Simone Inzaghi. The Pescara test against Villarreal, the last friendly match before the league debut on August 13 against Lecce, represents a useful test bed to give the coach the answers he is still looking for from his troops after a month of preparation on his legs. . Against the Spaniards, just three months ago Champions League semi-finalists, a good comparison to evaluate above all the athletic progress in front of an opponent who started training almost simultaneously. Inzaghi’s magnifying glass will be focused on Gosens and the new equilibrium on the left, on a sometimes stammering defense and on that brilliance that so far has only been seen in flashes.

LEGS AND CONFIDENCE

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In the four tests carried out so far against Lugano, Monaco, Lens and Lyon, the Nerazzurri have shown a significant delay in condition compared to opponents with two or three more weeks of work on their legs. Everything is normal, considering the different work programs, but one week after the first official engagement it is reasonable to expect the change of pace desired by the coach and his staff. The drop in tension and the muscles packed especially against the three French challenged in July must be eliminated to avoid bad jokes at the beginning of the season. If on the one hand there is a need to bring the autonomy of the troops to 90 ‘and beyond, on the other the coach hopes not to review the defensive amnesia that have condemned the Nerazzurri to two draws and a knockout in the last three outings. Because if it is true that the summer results leave the time they find, it is equally true that winning helps to increase confidence and conviction. The return to success in the match against Villarreal would then have a significant specific weight because against a rival who is still unbeaten this summer after seven comparisons with high-ranking opponents such as Sporting Lisbon, PSV and Borussia Dortmund.

WANTED BUNKER

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The Pescara test will be the last before the curtain rises on the new season, which is why it is essential for Inter to find the old defensive solidity. The impossibility of deploying the backlog owner package so far, thanks to Skriniar’s ailments, represents an important mitigating factor, it doesn’t rain. However, the permeability of a defense remains which, except for the home tests against Milanese and Pergolettese, has always collected at least one goal. Mistakes like De Vrij’s against Lyon should no longer be repeated, so Inzaghi needs a defense on the piece, the same one capable of leaving only crumbs to rivals for three years now. Last season, the momentary top of the standings was reached not by chance in the period of greatest unbeatenness of Handnovic, the one that goes from the end of November to the end of the year, when the Nerazzurri struck six games in a row with a clean sheet.

GOSENS

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Beyond the result and the athletic condition, against the “Yellow Submarine” Inzaghi will pay particular attention to the progress of Gosens, who so far has revealed more than one problem in integrating into the mechanics of the technician. The former Atalantino who landed in Milan in January struggled more than expected to get back into pace, also thanks to a Perisic in a state of grace. But now he needs the so-called change of pace. It is necessary for the German to become the master of the left lane as planned. After averting relapses following the problems accused in the friendly against Monaco, when he was substituted after the first 45 minutes, now the time has come for Gosens to take on Inter and prove he is up to it. The test against Villarreal offers the German a great opportunity to silence the skeptics, but it can also serve Inzaghi to further test what today represents the best alternative for the left wing together with Darmian: Federico Dimarco, who has already sacrificed himself several times on the band last season with excellent results. If Gosens does not provide the desired answers, the Milanese winger will have to be ready.