four key elements of transformation”

The Romanian technician managed to rebuild the group, restoring its confidence and identity. Journalists from Gazzetta dello Sport identified four key elements that led to this transformation: aggressiveness, adaptability, solidity and rotations.

“The transformation is based on a clear style of play: advanced pressing, aggressiveness and a rediscovered defensive solidity. If in the first three games the team conceded six goals, in the last six they conceded only two. Another relevant statistic is the decrease in the number of shots allowed by the opponents, from an average of 11.3 to 7.1 per game. Moreover, in the first eight stages, Chivu used 22 different starters, a strategy that involved and valued the entire batch.

The pillars of Chivu's team's comeback:

• Aggressiveness: A constant pressure on the opponent, quick recovery of the ball.

• Adaptability: The ability of the team to adjust tactically according to the opponent and the moments of the game.

• Soundness: A much safer and better organized defence, which drastically reduced the number of goals conceded.

• Rotations: Effective use of the entire batch, maintaining a high level of freshness and competitiveness,” wrote Italian journalists from Gazzetta dello Sport, who detailed each point in an extensive analysis.

Cristi Chivu, under the magnifying glass of the Italians after the first months at Inter

A matter of ranking, straightened without even giving the others time to realize, and of “posture” on the field: Chivu's Inter stood up clearly…with straight back and shoulders. Now he is high in the ranking, but also in the level of pace, aggressive attitude and so on, in this happy search for a “vertical” football: here is the adjective symbolic of the new era. The trigger of the Romanian revolution is in the defensive line, raised by almost eight meters, but it is a generalized attitude.

In the Inzaghi era, insistent possession, sometimes too much, dictated the pace, while with Chivu advanced pressing allows the automatic creation of attacking opportunities: to be precise, in one year, offensive ball recoveries have increased from 6.2 to 7.6 per game, so the ball is pushed forward immediately. It would be enough to re-watch Bonny's goal at the Olimpico to realize: it was born of an intuition, vertical, but Barella could have passed to Dumfries in front of him. Or to Dimarco on the left. Or Akanji's back.

Instead, he immediately looked towards the peaks: a new conditioned reflex, trained more and more at Appiano. As well as the willingness to commit fouls during advanced pressing: fouls have increased, no one is ashamed of it, even the staff appreciates this statistic. In this way, by the way, the duels won also increased: from 44.1 to 45.8 on average per match. And every ball recovered is often an extra ball to make the attackers smile

– Aggressiveness

There is no longer a single version of Inter, a unique 3-5-2 carved in stone, a millennial and immutable code. In this new era of Cristian Chivu, it starts from the old way, the most suitable for the characteristics and habits of the team, but the match can be interpreted differently depending on the events: it is not a small thing if we think about the dogmas of the past.

A very modern team is being built and, precisely for that reason, able to adapt to circumstances, a trait necessary for self-preservation. The Romanian technician likes the adjective “dominant”, he chews on it in press conferences and repeats it in the privacy of Appiano, because that's how he imagines his Inter, but it can't always be like that: there are moments in a season or in a match when others dominate.

There's nothing offensive about that, that's life and football, the important thing is to be able to navigate both the storm and the sun. Rain clouds gathered over Inter's head in the second half at the Olimpico on Saturday night, but Chivu's side managed to escape: they simply understood the moment and shrugged it off.

So he adapted. It took a bit of luck mixed with the mistakes of the opponents, but everyone's concentration was maximum: no tension drops, no trace of the old arrogance, but lucidity, as in certain interventions of Acerbi and in the superb closings of Akanji. It's good to play aggressively and offensively, football in a tuxedo, but when needed, you have to know how to put on a blue jumpsuit

– Adaptability

The “director” goalkeeper of this era, the one who builds from below, using his feet more than his hands, like a creative midfielder, is not part of Cristian Chivu's manual. The ball can go back to Sommer, of course, but it only happens because the opposition pressure forces Inter to do so.

It is therefore not a choice, but a necessity to manage thanks to the quality of the reborn Swiss. Especially in Italy, however, opponents rarely press the Nerazzurri high, forcing them to pass back, and for this reason too, the Nerazzurri's thinking is always forward-oriented.

Among other things, defensive imperfections gradually disappeared as the team assimilated the new principles and individual attention increased. The numbers are there to confirm: in the first three matches of the season, Inter conceded six goals, in the last six it dropped to two (the ones against Sassuolo and Cremonese did not hurt). Consequence, the collapse of shots received: the original average was 11.3 per game, now it is down to 7.1

– Solidity

Inter is on a course of happy self-rediscovery, worthy of a psychology textbook, especially after a trauma. Nicolò Barella is only the last of the Interistas to publicly bless the change from the bench, because the “break” with the past, in certain cases, is necessary, while the new coach is the analyst who digs into the “I” to rebuild the “we”.

He stroked everyone's hubris to restore the spirit of a group that was wrinkled but also deeply angry. Chivu tries to do this by drawing on his own experience as an elite footballer: he wants to share responsibilities, rotate strategically to get everyone involved, even if he starts from a basic formula.

Seeing the growth of Pio and Bonny, the Romanian technician has four solutions of similar strength in front of him, but the dosages also change outside the attack: the rotations are mainly done in the lanes, where they run more, and in the middle (especially on the left side of the center, where the young Sucic threatens the eternal Mkhitaryan). Incidentally, now the matches are coming together and there is room (almost) for everyone. And if someone is upset because they are taken out of the battle, like Dumfries, hysterical against Cremonese, for Chivu it is even better: the analyst is always looking for a reaction as well

– The rotation

Serie A standings