Simone Inzaghi is showing AC Milan and Juventus how to rotate effectively to manage the many commitments that a season has, and that is why Inter are runaway league leaders.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport writes, Sunday showed exactly why Inzaghi’s men have nine points more than Allegri’s and 13 more than Pioli’s, with one game less played. It is because of being able to effectively rotate.
The goal to make it 2-0 for Inter in their hammering of Lecce at the Stadio Via del Mare was emblematic: the ball started in Audero’s gloves, went to Bisseck, crossed the entire pitch and – with the seventh touch – Sanchez assisted Frattesi.
Inter often rolled out attacking moves like this from goal to goal, with passing/running triangles and almost automated movements that Inzaghi planted in the team’s memory in three years.
Inzaghi changed half the team in Lecce compared to the victory over Atletico Madrid and nobody noticed. For example Asslani’s pass, a player who has been constantly growing after a year of study, for Lautaro’s first goal was Calhanoglu-esque.
Meanwhile, Juventus scraped past Frosinone in the last minute having twice trailed, and while certain Inter players like Calhanoglu, Dimarco, Mkhitaryan seem in brilliant form, Allegri should be getting the same if not more from the likes of Chiesa, Vlahovic, Locatelli and others.
When Pioli tried to change more than half the team in Monza, a week earlier, he left three points there. Having reassembled the true Diavolo team against Atalanta, he got a great match out of them.
The length and quality of the bench have created much of the gap between the two Milanese teams. Aside from the injuries, Pioli lacked a fully reliable central defender and an alternative to Theo Hernandez, which seemed essential needs in the summer.
Many of the new signings have not yet met expectations such as Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor, while even those who did better like Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek did not reach the impact of Marcus Thuram.
The distance between Milan’s starters and alternatives is greater than that of Inter. The four Nerazzurri wing-backs, for example, are basically equal in quality. When the rotations starts on the flanks, Inzaghi’s team receives a burst of energy that Pioli cannot replicate.
Milan have a game, even an evolved one, a good one, as demonstrated against Atalanta. A game made of mobile functions, more liquid and unpredictable than that of Inter, but also more difficult to interpret, especially by the reserves, because it is less codified.
