Inter: The atypical Italian team

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Inter are an intriguing team: they can play some smashing football but also be very boring. Just look at their most recent matches.

They avoid defeat twice against Bayern but then lose to Bologna. How? Well, Inter is an atypical Italian team.

Italian teams generally tend to play a certain way. It comes from the way football is taught in the country, where defence is king.

They don’t really play too vertical or quick, or score too many goals. At least not usually. Inter and Atalanta are the exceptions, and the standings show that.

Inter has scored the most goals in Serie A with 72, with Atalanta following at 66. The rest of the league trail considerably, with Lazio being the best one at 53. That’s a huge gap, and it’s not by mistake. It’s by design.

Filippo Inzaghi has shaped Inter into a fast-paced side that can overwhelm you both in midfield and on the flanks, employing tactically innovative concepts in their play.

It's enough to observe how Inzaghi uses his center-backs, who regularly rotate with the defensive midfielders and sometimes even push up into the front line.

This season alone, Inter has had five open-play situations where one center-back assisted another, clearly showing that Inzaghi demands risk, initiative, and attempts at something beyond just defensive rigidity.

Inter does not represent traditional Italian football. On the contrary, Inzaghi builds his team on entirely different principles—and the same can be said for Atalanta under Gian Piero Gasperini, though he operates with a far smaller budget than what's needed to compete at the top level of European football.

Everyone else plays slowly, without intensity or risk, relying on rigidity, outdated football, and waiting games.

Inzaghi’s team does have some hallmarks of Italian football. There are still some of those defensive principles in there. Inter have managed to keep a clean sheet a lot of times this year, which speaks about a determination to keep the ball out of their play.

They manage to score in most of their games as well, so essentially it’s a balance. A really nice balance, where they do what's necessary to win the match without actually compromising on either side of the ball, unlike the other teams who might focus more on the defensive side.

Inter won’t dominate with intensity for the full 90 minutes, but when they win the ball, they can launch rapid counterattacks in short bursts that make a difference.

They won’t steal the ball from everyone, nor do they insist on possession, but when control of the game is needed, they can dominate through positional play. They won’t crush or exhaust opponents with duels, but they have a midfield that can tighten up and smother the opposition’s midfield line.

That’s why Inter is in the Champions League semi-final, why they reached the final two years ago, and why they remain relevant in Europe—while other Italian clubs aren’t, at least not at the highest level.

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