Inter Club Focus: Too many holding midfielders in Mancini’s side

Since the start of the Serie A season, Roberto Mancini has stuck with three central midfielders in his team, and it seems to be getting sussed out pretty quickly.

Despite being second in the table, the Nerazzurri have only scored eight goals in seven games which proves that something needs to be improved in the attacking areas or less emphasis should be placed on the defence.

Because that’s why Inter are where they are in the table, because of the performances of their solid defence.

But is Mancini paying too much attention to the his back line and not enough to the attacking positions?

I can’t help but think that that is the case.

Since the Milanese club brought in both Geoffrey Kondogbia and Felipe Melo, it seems like it’s proving to be difficult for Croatian international Marcelo Brozovic to find a place in the team, despite having an impressive pre-season.

Ivan Perisic has come into the side but it is usual to see Jonathan Biabiany and Adem Ljajic come off the bench in the second half to play more flowing football.

But shouldn’t the coach be trying that in the first place? Maybe if he played Fredy Guarin and Melo and dropped Kondogbia, because truthfully he hasn’t looked to be worth half of that €35 million price tag as of yet.

And then added another attacking player such as Ljajic, Brozovic or Biabiany, Inter may score more goals and subsequently find a better style of play.

At the moment, the Nerazzurri seem to be to rigid and are lacking any kind of dynamism and even a bit of creativity behind the striker, though Stevan Jovetic could offer a bit of that after he returns from injury.

At the weekend it took them a while to get going, but in the second half dominated Sampdoria without having many clear opportunities and were also denied a clear penalty.

But on a positive note, the international break may do the team some favours. It’s come at the right time with the team on a bit of a dip in form.

It will give the coaching staff a bit of time to sort out any problems and hopefully a tactical change in formation to help the team play a more attractive style of football and maybe, just maybe, they’ll be able to score more goals.