Inter Milan Need Ex AC Milan Star To Reach Top Form To Regain Brilliance As A Team | OneFootball

Inter Milan need Hakan Calhanoglu above all other players to regain his best form if they’re to find their “brilliance” as a team.

This is the view in today’s print edition of Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, via FCInterNews.

In Inter’s first Serie A match of the season, they failed to start their title defense off with a win away to Genoa.

As with the last two visits to the Marassi to face the Grifone, Inter had to settle for a draw.

The late penalty for Genoa from a Yann Bisseck handball in the area was the headline moment.

But the ninety minutes that preceded it were not Inter at their most convincing.

And the Gazzetta have a diagnosis for the Nerazzurri’s struggles to find fluency: Calhanoglu not playing at his best.

Inter Need Hakan Calhanoglu To Regain “Brilliance”

Over the last two seasons, Calhanoglu has become perhaps Inter’s most “irreplaceable” player.

The Turkish international is the player who sets the tone in possession from his deep-lying midfield role.

And while Calhanoglu was far from disastrous on Saturday at the Marassi, he failed to show why he’s become so influential.

The 30-year-old former AC Milan midfielder went through the motions in possession, the Gazzetta argue.

But Calhanoglu failed to really ramp up the tempo at any point that he was on the pitch.

This meant that Inter couldn’t really put Genoa’s penalty area under sustained pressure at a high tempo to make their superiority in possession count.

And on the other side of things, Calhanoglu failed to play through Genoa’s pressure consistently.

The Ligurian side applied intense pressure in midfield.

Had Calhanoglu been more decisive with his passing through the centre of the pitch, it could have forced Genoa to play more conservatively.

But the 30-year-old’s passing was relatively safe. This only encouraged Genoa to congest the middle more, and put Inter’s goal under regular threat.