Last season, due to the continued outbreak of Napoli and Inter Milan began to drop the chain after the halfway point, the final Serie A title was undoubtedly won by the team that Argentine champion Maradona once played. Inter managed to turn the tide at the end of the season thanks to Romelu Lukaku's performance, but it was too late and they could only finish third in Serie A behind Napoli and Lazio.
This season, Inter Milan is still making great progress in the first half of the season, and won the halfway championship with a 2-point advantage over Juventus, but as the schedule deepens, Inter's various hidden dangers have begun to be exposed. Although the Nerazzurri are still one of the favourites to win the Serie A title this season, there are four shortcomings that cannot be ignored.
First, the failure of the forward reinforcements
Last summer, Inter Milan was forced to send away the core of the team's midfield, Brozovic, as well as striker Dzeko and main goalkeeper Onana and others. Although team director Marotta has signed a number of quality players such as Thuram Jr., Frattesi, Pavard and Sommer, there is also a very unsuccessful side, that is, the signing of Arnautovic for 10 million euros and the free signing of Sanchez.
At half-time, Arnautovic played 13 games for the team, scoring one goal and providing two assists, while Sanchez was more stretched, with eight appearances and zero goals and assists.
No wonder even the Milan sports newspaper ridiculed that among the top six teams, although Inter Milan is the leader, its substitute striker is the fewest goals, and the Nerazzurri still rely on Lautaro's thigh to have the current good results.
Although the Inter management, including the team's coach Inzaghi Jr., have said that they are very supportive of the players, believing that they can play a key role in future games. However, they know better than anyone that if they have a choice, they will definitely want to replace a rotating striker in this winter window.
Arnautovic has been questioned for many missed chances in the game, but the Austrian striker has signed a two-year contract with Inter Milan and is a big man that Inzaghi Jr. prefers to use, so he is not at risk of being sent away for the time being.
Sanchez, on the other hand, is different, even if he does not perform well and does not play his due role, he is particularly "patriotic"! Regardless of whether the national team's competition is a key event or not, he has to go all the way back to the Americas to participate, fatigue is one thing, and he will also be injured, and in the end he can only return to China to recuperate. The Chilean's actions also really puzzled the fans, who felt that he should be sent away.
In fact, Sanchez is not short of next home, and the Saudi team is also willing to pay a high salary to invite him to join. But this old guy is still stubborn!
Sanchez joined Inter for the first time, but he didn't perform well, and he had a big fight with Inter Milan and left after getting some benefits. As a result, Marotta didn't know which eye had taken a fancy to him again, and only a year had passed before he brought Sanchez back again, and now it was very difficult to drive people away for the second time.
Sanchez has already said on his social media that I don't want to go to any team now, and I just want to stay in Meaza and Inter to fulfill my one-year contract.
If Sanchez is reluctant to leave, there will be no way for Inter to free up space and salary space to sign a new striker. Originally, in the second half of the season, in order to win the championship, he could sign Porto striker Taremi in advance, but now because of Sanchez's trouble, the replacement of the striker can only come to naught.
It is almost certain that Arnautovic and Alexis Sanchez will struggle to score in the coming months, and as fans, we can only silently pray that Lautaro and Thuram Jr. will not get hurt.
Of course, if he can, Inzaghi Jr. should still make some preparatory plans, such as presupposing Mkhitaryan or Klassen, or changing the formation to a 3412 formation, and letting Sanchez put it behind.
Second, the right wing is in trouble
Inter have signed key players such as Barella, Dimarco and Acerbi this season, but have been at an impasse in contract talks with Dumfries on the right wing.
The 27-year-old Dumfries is now at the peak of his career, so it is understandable that he wants a higher salary, but Inter's financial pressure is huge, and it is impossible to raise the player's salary in a big way, 4 million is the sky, and the 5 million that the Dutchman wants is simply impossible. What's more, the Nerazzurri prince Dimarco on the left wing is also 4 million, so why should Dumfries give 1 million more?
Therefore, if the two sides still can't get along, the biggest possibility is that Dumfries will be sent away by Inter. The Nerazzurri are clearly preparing for this, as Inter have signed Buchanan from Club Brugge in the Belgian Liga in the face of Cuadrado's reimbursement, nominally in the rotation left by Cuadrado. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye knows that it is preparing for Dumfries' departure.
However, Dumfries's mess is a lose-lose! The player himself is very concerned because the renewal conditions are not met, and it is difficult for a full-back player like him to rely on his body to get better treatment in other teams, even if he transfers, no big team is willing to pay a high price, and even the exchange is disliked.
According to the analysis of the British media, they believe that Dumfries and Manchester United's Aaron Wan-Bissaka contracts will end next summer, and the German transfer price is similar. Now that they are not doing well in their respective teams, can they exchange with each other?
Now that Dumfries is staying, it doesn't make sense to leave, and he can't go, so he will definitely not be in a good state if he continues like this. In the 19th round of Serie A against Verona, Dumfries started but was replaced early by Inzaghi Jr. in the 61st minute. In the next two Serie A games against Monza and the Italian Super Cup, Dumfries did not get a single minute of play.
It is worth noting that although Buchanan has been joining Inter for more than half a month, Inzaghi Jr. still maintains his usual cautious style of using newcomers. Buchanan never got a chance to make his debut except for the opportunity to train with the team.
On the right wing, Inzaghi Jr. has allowed Darmian to play back-to-back games and start the last three games in all competitions. But after all, he is a 34-year-old veteran, and he originally just planned to come to Inter to retire and rub a championship casually. Where can he afford to gnaw like Inzaghi Jr., in the last two rounds of Serie A, Darmian has given his opponent a penalty because of defensive mistakes.
Even in the Italian Super Cup final against Napoli, Darmian couldn't run in the second half and had no energy left to step forward, so he had to switch places with Pavard, who played at central back, to take a breath for a while.
It can be said that if there is no progress in the contract renewal negotiations between Inter and Dumfries in the next half season, the psychological problems of the Dutchman will not be resolved, and Inzaghi Jr. will not dare to give the right side to Dumfries with confidence, so he can only put the treasure on Buchanan, which is very huge for coaches and players.
3. Inzaghi Jr.'s stubbornness
Although it is said that the coaching ability of the team's coach Inzaghi Jr. is a first-class existence in Serie A, he is still too stubborn to dare to boldly rotate. Of course, this may be due to the club's high expectations for results, and the mental pressure on the coach has increased accordingly.
However, it should be noted that Inzaghi Jr. has played almost all Serie A games with his strongest 11 players, although he can achieve good results in the first half of the season, but after a long time, it is easy for opponents to analyze the technical characteristics of the players, and then find a way to crack the Nerazzurri's formation.
In addition, due to the continuous operation of the main players, the team has experienced two waves of injuries, Pavard, Dimarco, Dumfries, Bastoni, Lautaro and other players have missed the game due to injuries. If Inzaghi Jr. is unable to make a more reasonable rotation in the second half of the season, a new wave of injuries will return, and it will be difficult for Inter to remain at the top of the table.
Truth be told, Inter's substitutes such as Frattesi, Asllani, Augusto and Bisek are not too bad, the main thing is that they lack the training of the game.
Fourth, Inter's debt pressure
In 2021, Zhang Kangyang secured a loan of 275 million euros from Oaktree Group with Inter as collateral at an interest rate of 12% for a period of three years. This means that Inter will raise 350 million euros by the end of May this year to repay the principal and interest of the loan.
Although Zhang Kangyang has publicly stated on several occasions that he will continue to be in charge of Inter Milan, and he has also worked hard to refinance, there has been no result so far, and the team is at risk of being confiscated by Oak Group.
If in the end, Zhang Kangyang's refinancing plan fails, in order to keep Inter, he is likely to sell some of his main players in the winter window, such as Lautaro and Barella. If such a toss is made, Inter's strength will be greatly reduced in the second half of the season, not to mention the championship, it may be very good to retain the top four positions in Serie A.
Last but not least, Juve was sanctioned by UEFA for the "Financegate" scandal, and after a few seasons of hibernation, the Bianconeri have begun to recover gradually. Juve have no European pressure this season and their only goal is to win the Serie A title.
Although in the first half of the season, Juve's games were a bit stumbling, often only a small one-goal victory, but under Allegri's tutelage, after half a season of running-in, their offensive firepower has begun to strengthen, coupled with their solid defense, they will become the most formidable enemy on the road to the title of Inter.
In short, although Inter still has a slight advantage over Juventus in the Serie A standings, there is no room for slackness. All the Nerazzurri have to do is get rid of the hidden dangers and move forward!
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