Inter found a determined Torino side as they travelled to Turin in this weeks early kick off.
 

Torino have been very solid at home this season, only losing the one match to Juventus so it was always going to be tough for the Nerazzurri despite their recent dominate performances against Caglairi and Atalanta respectively. Before kick-off, much of the talk was about the battle between Mauro Icardi on 20 goals and Andrea Belotti on 22 goals in the race for the Capocannoniere crown. 

 

Stefano Pioli fielded the same eleven which dismantled Atalanta whilst Mihajlovic made a few changes including Afriyie Acquah to give a bit more power to the Torino midfield. There were six players on show who were called up to Ventura’s Italy squad, five of which started the match, including Roberto Gagliardini, who has gone from strength to strength since moving to Milan. Four of the players represented Inter, signalling a positive change from more recent times were the club provided little to the national team. 

 

As always, the problem with Stefano Pioli teams is consistency. The opening exchanges of the match yielded little with Torino having more of the ball and Inter content to attack on the counter. However on 26 minutes, Inter got lucky following some good strength and footwork from Kondogbia, his strike was fumbled by Joe Hart to allow the ball to roll into the back of the net.



It didn’t take long for Inter to show some defensive weaknesses of their own as just six minutes later, a whipped corner was flicked on to Daniele Baselli to head home completely unmarked, leaving Handanovic to question his players. This is an aspect of the Nerazzurri’s game that must be revised if they are to be a top three side in Italy. 

 

Inter weren’t showing the signs of a side who had scored twelve in their past two outings as they continued to be sloppy in possession. They almost paid for this as they gave away possession in their own half and it was only a marvellous Handanovic save with his legs, that kept Torino out following a deflected Belotti strike.

They weren’t so lucky minutes later as a stunning Acquah effort put Torino a goal up. Although it was a great strike, the Inter back-line were far too slow to get out to block the shot and should have been sharper once again, leaving many wondering what happened to the organised side of last week. Luckily for Inter it took another Joe Hart howler to get them back in the game, the Englishman diving comically at a cross and completely missing the ball allowing Candreva to score with a well taken shot. 


 

There are huge ambitions for Inter and their owners and they have to find consistency in their performances if they are to fulfil them. Despite coming away with a point, it took two Joe Hart errors to gift Inter their goals and at times they looked sloppy. 

The Nerazzurri also lost Gary Medel during the second half and Inter's slim back-line will have to step it up in his absence if they are to have any hope of Champions League qualification. 


Ciro Di Baselli