Re-watched the first half right now, a couple of notes:
Samir Handanovic kept us in the match the first 10-15 minutes, as well as in 1st half injury time. That save on Vidal was clutch. Anyway you cut it, we are nowhere without the 1-2 key saves he made in the first half. That decision to come out slightly vs. Marchisio made the angle that much closer for him. Excellent decision making. He had one bad mistake when he didn't throw the ball out correctly and it went straight to the opposition but his shot stopping was very good.
Walter Gargano was slated throughout much of the match. I agree that overall he had a poor game. His range of passing was an utter disaster, but one thing I really admired about his "performance" was that he never gave up. As a coach you know that some games some players will have off nights. Gargano was off with the offensive part of his game. But if you re-watch the first half you will see how much ground he actually covered. It was an impressive way to rebound throughout the half.
Nagatomo was another player slated for his performance in the first half. After watching the first half again, I would say he was one of our more consistent threats down the left. He made the right decisions when he needed to and I thought he was a lot better than what people said. Granted, I am not judging him on his past performances in an Inter shirt which is where people might get the bias. Outside of the mistake he made at the end of the first half when he started going out wide to give Vidal an open shot (granted this could have been a grave mistake), his bombs forward were excellent, and when he saw he didn't have options he played the ball to Cambi, Cassano or Juan.
One last thing.... Juan Jesus was amazing in the first half. Again outside that mistake at the end of the first half I thought his composure alongside Samuel was brilliant. Very calm on the ball and excellent in that tackle. The interception he made on the Vidal cutback was nicely done, and I feel like out of him and Ranocchia he definitely showed more in the first half.
Off to watch the 2nd half...
---------- Post added at 20:51 ---------- Previous post was at 19:44 ----------
Just finished the 2nd half... Oh, how the game differs when you are cheering for pure adrenaline, and when you watch it without the emotional context when you're analyzing it.
A couple of brief 2nd half notes:
The key tactical change for me from the 45th to the 70th minute was Palacio. You could visibly see him more often than not playing behind Cassano and Milito trying to do as much as he could to stifle Pirlo. A lot of what was predicted tactically by us before the game (Palacio playing behind Cassano and Milito) happened in the 2nd half. You could see how much more composure that gave Gargano and Cambiasso to conduct themselves.
Zanetti. What more can be said about a perfect career? He truly took Asamoah to the cleners. The Ghanaian never got past him. They went against each other 4 times in the 2nd half and every time it was text book. If anyone needs to understand how to play as a full back, watch Zanetti in the 2nd half. That was text book as you're going to get. And Asamoah is no slouch either... he is in the form of his life, pacey, and even though he prefers to play more centrally he is as about as hard of an assignment as you're going to get defensively in terms of acceleration.
After Guarin came on Cassano, the game changed completely. We shifted personnel with Palacio playing slightly off of Milito on the left and Guarin just in front of the pairing of Gargano and Cambiasso. Guarin picked up Palacio's defensive duties (slightly deeper) and continued to mark Pirlo. Palacio starting playing across the the width of the park while Milito continued to feed off of his teammates.
It was impressive to watch, and I must say it looks like it was planned from Strama. He rolled the dice at the beginning of the 2nd half with a slight tweak and it paid off.
Forza Nerazurri!