Inter Milan A “Shell” Of Themselves Due To Squad Rotation In Serie A Draw Vs Monza | OneFootball

Inter Milan looked like a “shell” of themselves in their uninspired Serie A draw with Monza, with squad rotation a key factor.

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

Inter coach Simone Inzaghi made big changes to his team for yesterday’s Serie A match away to Monza.

It’s not exactly hard to see why. Inter have two huge matches just on the horizon.

In just a couple days’ time, the Nerazzurri open up their Champions League campaign with a hugely imposing match away to Premier League juggernauts Manchester City.

Then next weekend comes the derby against AC Milan.

Therefore, Inzaghi aimed to keep as many of his key players fresh as possible for those matches.

There were changes all around the lineup against Monza yesterday.

Inter Pay For Squad Rotation In Serie A Draw Vs Monza

The regular starters who were in the lineup yesterday were hardly without blame.

Midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan and defender Benjamin Pavard put in performances to forget.

And then in attack, Inzaghi actually did not rotate at all. The first-choice duo of Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram got the nod from the start.

Martinez in particularly had no impact on the match, while Thuram was unable to keep his hot start to the campaign going.

However, it is hard to look past the impact that all the changes to the team had.

In midfield, Kristjan Asllani and Davide Frattesi got relatively rare chances to start.

Neither were particularly bad in isolation. But they did not give the Nerazzurri’s midfield its usual rhythm and directness, with the team’s possession far too slow and side-to-side.

And tellingly, even in the second half Inzaghi did not use his regular starters in midfield.

Piotr Zielinski got the chance to make his first Serie A appearance for Inter.

But neither Hakan Calhanoglu nor Nicolo Barella came on to restore order in midfield.

Nor did Inzaghi decide to put on Alessandro Bastoni, often a key influence for Inter in possession.

The end result, the Gazzetta argue, was an Inter performance that just didn’t look like the usual team. They looked like a “shell” of themselves.