Good Way To Start The New Year
After days of shuttling between the hospital and home, I finally found some time to settle down and look back at Inter’s first game of 2021.
Poor Start
January has traditionally been a dark period for Inter, one that normally breaks a season. Therefore, when Crotone took the lead, flashbacks of January past came flooding back. It was a soft goal to concede, Junior Messias had all the time in the world to float in a cross from a short corner and Nicollo Zanellato had so much space to nod in the opening goal.
Over-The-Hill Vidal
Arturo Vidal has not covered himself in glory since signing for Inter. It is not the Vidal we were used to seeing at Juventus and Bayern Munich, he looks off the pace and over-the-hill. The justification to sign him as he would bring experience and winning mentality to the team has not been true. He has cost Inter points but he has played decently well too sparingly. In this match, we saw the good and the bad of Vidal. First, he was instrumental in winning the ball high in Crotone’s half in the lead up to our second goal. Then he went on to give away a penalty to allow Crotone a route back into the game. It’s heartening to note that like the rest of us, Antonio Conte sees that he is not performing at the level expected of him judging by his pitchside exchange with the Chilean.
Return Of Sensi
It is said that a person’s loss is another’s gain. Vidal’s loss is Stefano Sensi’s gain. Sensi made a great start to his Inter career last season before injury curtailed large parts of it. It’s nice to see that he has recovered from his latest injury. The way Conte is slowly easing him in is needed to avoid another long period of absence. He came on in place for Vidal and proved his quality. He has already made some impressive cameos in recent games. Now all we need from him is to last 90 minutes for consecutive matches, injury-free.
El Toro At His Best
Lautaro Martinez had a great game. He scored his first-ever Inter hat-trick and it was the perfect hat-trick. The start he made to the game was in line with his recent performances. He had the chance to spring Achraf Hakimi clear with the score at 0–0 but his pass was underwhelming. But his afternoon changed after scoring his first goal. He could have scored four or five on the day. We thought he scored Inter’s second goal but it was credited as an own goal. He had a chance at 2–2 to make it 3–2 but couldn’t fool Alex Cordaz with his dummy. It was the best we have seen him play in a long time.
Lukaku 50
Romelu Lukaku scored his 50th Inter goal and became the fastest player to reach that mark in Italian football in Inter’s history, breaking the record set by Ronaldo. Compared to his time at Manchester United, he has improved his first touch and ability to play with his back to the goal which is how he scored his goal. But his contribution in the game was cut short with an injury that would concern all Inter fans.
Tread Carefully
We are keeping the pressure on Milan and it would be extremely important for Inter to not suffer a blackout this month. We tread this path cautiously, bitten many times in the past.
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