Simone Inzaghi

[CafeCordoba]

Two ways of looking at Inzaghi’s approach to the CL:

One is that it was extremely stupid, we could have easily secured top spot by prioritising it just a little more.

Another way of looking at it is that was both incredibly smart and brave:

Smart in the sense that we’ve secured promotion while resting our best players, ensuring we remain top domestically.

Brave in the sense that Inzaghi backs the team to face off against the world’s best.

I lean more towards stupid, but we’ll see.

Watching this Sociedad match, I think it's not reasonable to say "we could have easily secured top spot by prioritizing it just a little more". This match didn't look like we would have bagged it with full (available) first teamers either. Maybe we could have won, but it wasn't like you say it.

If we played all the group stage matches with full 1st team lineups, maybe we would have won the group? Who knows. But that clearly was not the priority, Inzaghi rotated in CL and have max focus on the league. That's how it is and I don't even think it's purely his decision. The decision comes from the higher ups, Scudetto or bust. So that's what the coach does.

Of course the knockout qualification is a requirement aswell, but that was in the bag after round 4 (we had rotated already before that).

 

[Besnik]

Meh, too much overreaction over something that isn't deciding our season. Who wouldn't want to finish the group in the first spot?

Sometimes you get into uncomfortable situation that you have to improvise with what you have in order to escape the worse situations. Limone tried his best to save energy in our key players whilst keeping the team competitive. I'd wish he kept Thuram in little longer, but I trust his decisions.

I mean, uncomfortable situation was that we have to face Lazio right after. Pretty sure we'd see a harder effort with our strongest line-up in case we'd have to play against a bottom team of the league in the weekend. Also keep in mind, our team has played with a high intensity recently. Things are always easier said than done. Appreciate that we're still a serious candidate for Scudetto and CL. Our team is facing so many financial issues, and then injuries in the squad and whatever else. We are still very competitive and doing very well towards the goal, which is having a deep run in the CL and winning Scudetto.

 

[Raul Duke]

Watching this Sociedad match, I think it's not reasonable to say "we could have easily secured top spot by prioritizing it just a little more".

I agree, I didn’t mean just this match. Had we started a half-decent team against Benfica for example…

 

[Besnik]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734715400724808126

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734709769456275568

https://twitter.com/x/status/1734709133146816803

 

[Fitzy]

At the end of the day, if he gets through the next stage, none of this matters.

It's also worth noting that we could have come first and then drawn PSG.

This will probably be forgotten to an extent if we smash Lazio.

 

[ath]

Honestly I think we have the team to do great in the CL, but we can't win both the CL and the Scudetto with this squad.

Our defense is top notch and when everybody is fit, we're frightening. But there is a large gap between our starters and our subs in midfield and attack. The match is in february, we NEED to buy at least a midfielder and a forward in january to prepare ourselves for the second half of the season.

If Ausilio and Marotta can put their magic at work, then honestly, bring on City, Bayern, Barcelona, we'll be ready. I'm not saying we will win, but at least we'll have the squad depth to talk back.

 

[brehme1989]

Problem with an incoming tough draw is that we'll probably have 1-2 crucial absences as usual which will prove costly.

 

[bubba zanetti]

I dont see any problem with CL campaign as long as we win second star in the end of the season. If we fail that than we can blame Limone for something. Right now I'm not gonna do that. Realistically I cant see this team winning CL so I dont really care about it.

 

[Raul Duke]

One silver lining is that we know we’re going to get a tough draw.

We’re not scared to face anyone that may arise.

It’s our opponents that are going to be praying not to draw Inter. We’re the ones bringing the fear this time around.

 

[CafeCordoba]

I dont see any problem with CL campaign as long as we win second star in the end of the season. If we fail that than we can blame Limone for something. Right now I'm not gonna do that. Realistically I cant see this team winning CL so I dont really care about it.

This is basically the modus operandi for the whole club this season. The second star. Nothing else eventually matters (now that the euro campaign minimum targets were met ie. group qualification + club world cup)

 

[Tamirk]

But if we win then its all to players. Thats how it works for Tamirk, forzainter257, Pioli lover IM21 and co.

Really bro, I have absolutely nothing against inzaghi, I give him credit and good words all the season, but is a fact that his starting lineup against benfica was so bad in terms of defensive play, we looked like bunch of clowns in the first half in this game, with our first 11 we never concede 3 goals to this clown mario, yesterday his subs totally stop all our attacking momentum and give sociedad control again, the fact we ended second will be big difference in my opinion..

As I said, I have nothing against inzaghi, I love the football we play this season under him, but sometimes he can get stupid decisions in critical situations..

 

[varmin]

I don't get that whining honestly? Many of you claimed that Inter is a top team, and now start complaining because Inter will face another top team in CL? If we want to compete with the best , we shall beat the best, not only some second tier teams like Milan.

 

[wera]

I blame Asllani, not Inzaghi, for that Benfica game. The same "B team" started the comeback against Benfica, so I'm happy they proved themselves in that game.

On to the next one, I'm happy we'll play somebody tough, although this year every team looks tough. Even Kobenhaven.

 

[Tamirk]

I don't get that whining honestly? Many of you claimed that Inter is a top team, and now start complaining because Inter will face another top team in CL? If we want to compete with the best , we shall beat the best, not only some second tier teams like Milan.

You not wrong, but still we need some luck if we want to climb in the CL, even better teams than us do everything to end first at their group for not getting top team to play against..
Our ambition need to be to climb as far we can in CL and if we want get far we need to whatever we can to end first in our group, we cannot be always satisfied with pass the group stage and whatever happens will happen...

 

[vex]

As long as he keeps this defensive solidity we are going places, maybe not winning tripleta but definitely doing something big.

If only he introduced it in the beginning of his tenure, he definitely had capable defenders even back then...

 

[junior55]

TBH Inzaghi is trying to manage the situation as much as he can.
He is trying to give opportunities to Sanchez & Arna because he needs to do so, its not his fault that they are beyond useless at this stage of their career.

Ofc we would be having better chance with both Lauti & Thuram but we just can't play the same duo every 3 days. At the end no one knows in what condition we will be in Feb even if we were 1st on the group so at least we manage to keep our key players fit enough for the Serie A until then.

In feb we see who we get then and in what shape we are. As of today , the only team i would be truly afraid would be Man City. All the rest is 50:50 for me

 

[Il Drago]

This discussion reminds me a similar one among Inter fans in 2008 when we finished second in the group behind Panathinaikos which sent us to Man Utd and elimination.

If we get an easy draw and most importantly if we qualify to quarter finals no one is gonna remember about finishing second in the group. But if we get eliminated i can see this being a talking point as a criticism like it was for Mourinho.

 

[brehme1989]

This discussion reminds me a similar one among Inter fans in 2008 when we finished second in the group behind Panathinaikos which sent us to Man Utd and elimination.

If we get an easy draw and most importantly if we qualify to quarter finals no one is gonna remember about finishing second in the group. But if we get eliminated i can see this being a talking point as a criticism like it was for Mourinho.

But Mourinho knows he needs to lose at home to Panathinaikos if he wants to win CL the next season

 

[junkie]

he did ok, he rested some players, he pushed it in the last minutes for a win, we didn't have luck, so what, it's ok

 

[Adriano@10]

Dont get me wrong it s not a huge issue but i would have prefered if he pushed for the victory here and if he started our best 11..
Gap between the teams who finished first and those who finished second is huge that does not mean we re out or that we would have passed anyways if we finished 1st but still.. chances of advancing would have been significantly higher if we finished first...

The rest thing can also go both way getting an easier opponent might have allowed us to rest some players in the second leg in feb/march...

Bottom line i dont understand why we did not go for the win and i dont think rest for the lazio game is an adequate explanation...