Inter’s building up and transitions
When they are in the build phase of their own third, Inter’s players were always dependent on sending long balls through the wing-backs, or sending long balls forward in the sweep between Fiorentina lines that are inconsistent with each other. These are exploited by smart players like Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez, as the below map shows the passes of the Inter players in their own third.
Here, for example, Lukaku dropped into the gaps between the midfield and the defensive line. He received a pass in this space, and used it optimally by keeping the ball and then waited for Lautaro Martinez to move into a more dangerous area against Fiorentina. Indeed, Martinez received it, but fell in the penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty kick before VAR intervened to cancel it.
The Antonio Conte system relies heavily on counter-attacks and rapid transitions from defence to attack, which does not require much thought in Inter matches since the Italian coach took over
Conte believes that in order to make the counter-attacks and transitions from defence to attack in the best possible way, they need to get the ball first by winning the duels or effecting pressure on the opponent’s players, then starting the counter-attack through players who are characterised by speed and skill such as Lukaku and Martinez.
Here, for example, is a typical example of this case, when the Inter players got the ball. Barella moved with the ball a great distance and then passed to Martinez in the left half space, so that the 23-year-old Argentine scored a goal in a wonderful way.
Inter attacking structure
Inter’s attacking style relies mainly on the objective rotation between the offensive players Lukaku and Martinez, as well as the speed of the wing-backs on each side, which directly contributed to exposing the Fiorentina players who do not have good monitoring inside the penalty area.
This is clearly shown in the expected goals (xG) report of the match, as it shows the great role played by Lukaku and Martinez in the depth, where the xG ratio in the depth of the field shows 59% of the total xG of the Inter players in the match.
Here is the xG report of the match, which shows the high xG ratio made by the dangerous duo Lukaku and Martinez, where the xG for them together is 1.90 of the total xG of the remaining players, which is 2.64.
The good understanding between the duo contributed greatly to settling the meeting in favour of Inter. When the ball is with one of them in the half spaces, the other player moves deeper to provide an opportunity to pass in more dangerous areas
For example here, when Lukaku moved vertically in the half space, Lautaro went deeper to give the Belgian star a better chance to pass in dangerous areas. Indeed, Lukaku passes the ball to Lautaro, who then won a penalty, which was then overturned by VAR
