Internazionale Milano Tactic
Internazionale Milano has changed tactics over the years. Accommodating the most illustrious of managers’ philosophies.
However, during the past seasons has been one constant. And that constant is Simone Inzaghi’s relentless pursuit of fluid football.
Simone Inzaghi philosophy, at least according to the past four matches I was able to watch, is to create fluid movement on the pitch. Irrespective of the players’ positions.
And I find that this is seen more in his team’s defensive part of the tactic rather than the offensive one.
The formation is a standard 3-5-2.
But the wide center backs try their best to overlap and become wingers hugging the sidelines.
While the wing backs try their best to make room for their movement.
In the first leg against Atletico Madrid, thanks to some overloads on the right side, Alessandro Bastoni ended up being a free man on the left side.
While Stefan De Vrij has played in the midfield after an interception.
And from this kind of scenarios Internazionale Milano can overthrow any defence. As the defenders don’t know who to mark or stop first.
In front, the strikers are expected to try to find space and when they do…to take advantage of it.
In Football Manager 2024, the defenders’ movements are quite hard to replicate. As you first need to train the players to think in the way the real players do.
But there were instances in which the defenders in my team reached positions their real-life counterparts do. And they even scored.
The right wing back is assigned a complete wing back role on attack duty as we want him to be the engine on this part.
The regista will march in the central area, trying to play the best passes that he can play. So, the right wing back has to stretch the opposition’s defense as much as possible.
The central midfielder and the advanced playmaker need to occupy their opposition counterparts as much as possible. So, they would not be able to track the strikers runs or to press the regista.
We have an advanced forward and a complete forward as strikers. Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martinez 😊.
As mentality I went with positive. But attacking would work just fine if you are one of the top teams in the league.
I wouldn’t go lower than balanced unless your opponent is a Manchester City type of team.
In possession we want swift passes from defence to attack, so we play this way - fairly narrow, play out of defence, shorter passing directness and slightly higher passing tempo and mixed crosses.
In transition we aid the possession game as much as possible - counter-press, counter, distribute the ball quickly and to the center backs through short kicks.
And out of possession high press and a higher defensive line, plus trigger press more often and prevent goalkeeper short distribution if we are the best team in the match.
If you are uncertain of the dominance level your team can provide in a match, lower the defensive line to a standard one and trigger press less often, not preventing the goalkeeper short distribution.
I am using this tactic in my building a nation save, with FC Voluntari, in Romania. So far, it has gone well and since we are the best team in the league, this tactic helps.
The season is not yet finished, but the tactic’s impact can be seen immediately.
26 goals scored in 8 games in the league and 8 conceded. We had a hiccup against Rapid Bucharest, but other than this, we have dominated the games.
We have even qualified to the Champions League league phase for the first time in this save, after winning 3-0 at home against Shakhtar Donetsk.
This tactic promises to be a very dominant one, especially with the best players available. Simone Inzaghi is striving for fluidity on the pitch, and I do believe that more managers should do this.
When the intended movement gets pulled off by your team in a match, you just have to sit back and watch.
If you wish to see more visual representations of the tactic, make sure to watch this video here - https://youtu.be/riX2hMLN2lw .