A nice win, attained through a very mature performance. In such difficult conditions, it's paramount a) to have players with strength in their legs, and b) to remain compact on the pitch. That's where we won the game.
The decision to let the initiative to Torino proved to be a happy one, as it forced them to pass the ball ceaselessly from one side to the other in vain search of an opening in our defensive setup, and failing that, to spam an infinity of crosses into our box, where their forwards were easily overpowered by our three CBs. Naturally, losing Belotti so early into the game was a massive blow for them, because it let them without physical presence inside our box*. In a sense, one could see it as poetic justice, after all the times we had to watch Icardi being gangbanged into irrelevance by their defenders over the past few years. On top of their offensive struggles, Torino's constantly let a good 30m between their defensive line and the goalie, which exposed them to the danger of being hit in counterattack.
All in all, I would say that Conte outwitted Mazzarri in this 3-5-2 battle.
As for the individual performances, de Vrij, Skriniar, and Godin offered solid, no-nonsense performances (as was required today), while Handanovic was up to the challenge whenever he needed to. Also, finally we got another clean sheet, which was missing since matchday number 6, and the first goal from a defender. Nice.
D'Ambrosio had a solid defensive performance, whereas Biraghi was more involved in the attack, and had an assist to his name. All in all, they were both more than adequate. Candreva and Dimarco were involved in the dying minutes of the game. Good to know the latter is still alive.
Barella's injury is the only downside of an otherwise good night. The fact that he limped his way to the bench gives me a little hope, but his words to Conte ("Ho rotto qualcosa" = "I broke something") are not encouraging. Let's hope he can bounce back as soon as possible. We need him. Vecino was his usual self. You watch the game and almost forget he's on the pitch, only for him to suddenly pop up with something completely out of the blue. Tonight it was an assist instead of his usual (not so much, in reality, but still) goal. Let's be content with it and move forward. Brozovic is a favourite of mine. I think I was one of the first to jump on his cart, but today he fell asleep with the ball a few too many times. At times, it looked like he had never seen the rain in his life. He gave an assist, though. Borja was surprisingly good, considering the heavy ground doesn't really suits a player such as him.
As for Lautaro and Lukaku, well done lads. They both ended up on the score sheet, but what's more important is how hard they worked for the team, holding up play, making runs behind the line, and harassing Torino's ball-carriers tirelessly.
After what happened this afternoon in Bergamo, even the more naive Inter fan should have realised that we're against something that we can't defeat on our own. We'll drop points sooner or later, and there will be no referee oversights (let's call them that way) to come in our help. Let's just say that tonight's performance was yet another proof of the progress we made in terms of mentality.
When things like these happen, a part of me wants to quit watching football. But then I feel proud of being an Inter fan. They can cheat their way to all the scudetti they want, but I say we won the day we chose not to be like them.
* It was not ideal for us either, as it meant we had to endure Zaza's cuntish face for the entirety of the game, which I believe we all would have done without.