The best news: we've got a real team now

The match against Empoli is a match we need to keep in mind more than other victories because it was the demonstration we've finally got a team. We won with no difficulties and the three chances occurred to our rivals don't have to distract us because the score has never been in discussion.
There are two particular aspects that are really important:
1) BIG TEAM
Yesterday we played as a top team. Even in other victories, we played without the right mentality. We entered on the pitch and we started playing as if we should win only because we are Inter, but not yesterday. Against Empoli I saw eleven players that since the first minute wanted to score a goal and win the match, aware of their strengths. I can't call it "the eye of the tiger" because we played with the calm that a top team must have. This is really important: ok, Empoli isn't a good team, but we lost matches against Hapoel, for example, only because we started the match sure that we could have won 4-0 only because we are stronger. Not yesterday. And let me say this is the most important aspect because we didn't just win a match, we won it as a top team.
2) GREAT KONDOGBIA, EDER AND GAGLIARDINI
Gagliardini has given a balance in our team and he is very good in keeping connected the defense and the attack, but he is much more, he is a total midfielder in a modern way. He can play defensively, offensively, he had to score at least three goals saved by their goalkeeper, perfect! There is one particular aspect that shows us we are looking at a top player: he always does the right thing. I mean, not the most spectacular, just the right one. He's not Gabigol or Ibrahimovic or Cristiano Ronaldo that like to play with the ball, no, he possesses the ball just for the time to do the best thing. He plays with one-two touches and this is amazing.
His game has been a benediction for Kondogbia too. Let me say, if the real Kondogbia is the one we saw the last two months, well, he must play in every match because we do have a top player. Now, the +30 million we paid for him are really justified. Amazing players.
Eder is a player I don't really like because I prefer those that play in an area on the pitch and they do their best in that positions. Eder can play wherever, but he's not a striker such as Icardi, he's not a winger such as Perisic or Candreva. Maybe is a second striker or maybe not, his role is not clear, but yesterday his continuous motion was amazing and in some moments seemed to play in twelve because he was everywhere in their half portion of the pitch.

@Inter.it

3) THE DEFENSE
In Italy we play differently and the first idea is: not suffer a goal. If your opponents don't score a goal the match can end 0-0 and you get a point. But, maybe you're lucky and you score a goal: you get 3 points. Maybe the best difference that Pioli has done is to correct our defense.
These are our last matches after the loss against Napoli:
Genoa 2-0
Sassuolo 1-0
Lazio 3-0
Udinese 2-1
Chievo 3-1
Palermo 1-0
Pescara 3-0
Juventus 0-1
Empoli 2-0
We suffered just 3 goals in 9 matches. This is our biggest secret and the biggest job Pioli has done so far. Even with DeBoer we knew that we could score a goal but we suffered too many goals and we lost a lot of matches. Now the music has changed. Go!

Lessons learned from Juventus-Inter

We lost an important match, ok, but now we must avoid the worst problem: thinking we are not as good as we thought. We do are good, but we are not as good as Juventus, simply. Anyway, these are some lessons we have learned from this match:
BIG MATCH: We haven't played these type of matches since 2011 when we won the Coppa Italia final and we lost in the Champion's League. Since then, we have played a lot of matches that we called "big" but they weren't "big", moreover, every time we played a match that could be "big" we lost (think of the Europa League's matches, for example). The answer is simple: we don't have the habit to play these match when you don't have to make any mistake, you must be concentrated for 95 minutes and all of your players must play at their best. Juventus knows how to play them, because they have played the Scudetto for 5 times and because they have played a lot of important matches in the Champion's League against top team such as Barcelona and Bayern, but we don't.
We need to improve this aspect because next year we'll want to win the Scudetto and every match will be a "big match".
TACTICS: The defense with 3 players has worked fine. Murillo, Medel and Miranda have played a good match and this explain why Higuain or Mandzukic haven't played a good match. Not only, D'Ambrosio has played a good match against Cuadrado and this means he can play well on the left side as well: he isn't a winger so we can't expect to see him crossing the ball near the opposite's area, but he is important in that position because he can protect Perisic (more than Ansaldi).
Unfortunatelly this means we lose a player in the midfield, but this also means that we can play with three offensive players (Gagliardini, Joao Mario, Brozovic). Problems are that I'm not sure Candreva can cover the whole area as a wingback, and Perisic is a winger and not a withdrawn striker. I don't know if we can play with a 3-4-2-1, because the actual team is perfect for the 4-2-3-1.
THE GAP: It's still too big. We have the good first half in our eyes when both Juventus and Inter could score a goal and when Inter played at the same level and it could shot at least one of the three penalties that were denied bu the referee. However, there is also the second half, and in the other 45 minutes, we didn't shot a single time toward Buffon. This is not a performance by a top team. We had the ball for a lot of time, Juventus decided to play defensively, so we had to shoot and to score a goal, but we didn't. This is the gap: Juventus has played a normal match until the goal then it has controlled the match and Buffon was like a tourist in the second half. We must play for 95 minutes.

@Inter.it

Why the match against Lazio is the best defeat we could have

Well done Inter! I know, it sounds strange to celebrate the defeat against Lazio, especially because it kicked out from the Italian Cup but we must go a bit further the simple result.
MENTALITY: After this match, I’m pretty sure we will end this season with a qualification in the Champions League tournament, even more than after one of our last victories. Psychology is strange: you must lose to understand how strong you are and, moreover, you must lose to understand that you’re not the best one in the world. Strange, huh?
But it’s true. After 8 victories the idea that we are very strong has overwhelmed our minds. “The best team after Juventus is Inter”, “Inter is the only team that can compete against Juventus” and so on as if we weren’t the team trained by DeBoer that used to lose against everyone. We are building our structure, our mentality and enthusiasm are ok but too much enthusiasm when you’re not as good as a top team is a bad thing.
At the same time, we lost because Lazio played a good match tactically, but from the 60’ we have controlled the match and we have transformed it in a monolog even if were playing in 10: we scored a goal but we could score more. This shows to us that we lost because of our underestimation of Lazio and for that idea “ok, we can win easily” that we already had against Hapoel. The last 30’ demonstrated that if we play concentrated we are really strong.
ATALANTA: The history of this sport is full of example but the first one I remember is the match against Atalanta in the first year with Mourinho. We lost in Bergamo and that match and the Portugues Coach said: «You won the first Scudetto in an office, the second against nobody and the third in the last second. You are a s**t team». A strong and bad statement but the result of that speech and of that defeat was the first stone towards the Triplete.
It’s strange, but some defeats are better than victories.

@Inter.it

TACTICS: Pioli is a good tactic-man but yesterday he lost the match tactically. And this is really bad because he lost against his former team about it is supposed he should know everything.
Ansaldi: Inzaghi has played with a 4-3-3 that was a 4-5-1 with Lulic and Felipe ready to go in a counterattack. He used this solution in the Serie A’s match as well. It’s easy: Lulic plays more defensively and Felipe is more offensively. And what do you do? Pioli placed D’Ambrosio (a defensor) against Lulic (a defensor) and Ansaldi (a defensor that can’t defense) against Felipe (an attacker). Simple: Ansaldi was always behind Felipe and this brought Miranda to mark him. Pioli should invert his players: D’Ambrosio against Felipe and Ansaldi against Lulic. Or, better, place Nagatomo (faster than Ansaldi and less attacker) as left-back.
Banega-Palacio: Banega played very well against Lazio in December and he needs to play to understand the Italian style, but he really needs to find a new position because he can’t play in that position behind the striker. He is supposed to mark Biglia and to enter in the area to be the second striker, but he didn’t mark Biglia efficiently and he never entered the area, an action that was easier with the Palacio’s movements to open space for midfielders. Then, Palacio is a former soccer player. It’s sad to say but he can’t play at this level anymore and he can’t play as a sole-striker. The sooner Pioli understands it and the sooner we will avoid this sad performance by him.
Palacio needs another striker because he likes to play in every zone and this means that nobody is in the are to get the advance from his movement.

Anyway, behind these tactical issues, the big problem is the approach and the mentality: only on the 0-2 and in 10, our mind became as clear as three months ago when we were in the 12th position.