Bedlam in La Beneamata

Another one bites the dust. Yet another casualty in the Inter managerial carousel, this time we say Arrivederci to Stefano Pioli. This is a truly surprising decision from the owners considering the timing of the dismissal considering that two weeks ago the club released this statement following the defeat to Fiorentina:

“The club confirms its full backing and that of the ownership in Stefano Pioli and his entire technical staff. Pioli joined Inter at a difficult time and the work he has carried out over the six months since he joined in November last year has been exceptional and deserves our respect. The club will not be distracted by rumours circulated by those outside of the club.”3

While the timing of this is strange, it was something that was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Pioli replaced Frank De Boer at the helm at the San Siro on 8th November 2016 and signed a deal until June 2018. The fact that De Boer was only in charge of Inter for 85 days told the full story of exactly the size of job Pioli had on his hands. They were 9th at the time and there wasn’t much optimism amongst the Inter faithful but credit to the former Lazio boss because he was able to get a reaction from this Inter side.

A tactical reshuffle from a 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1 undoubtedly helped improved the teams performances at all ends of the pitch. In defence, the rotation of Murillo, Medel and Miranda seemed to help solidify the defence as they conceded just nine goals from when he was appointed till early February, collecting 5 clean sheets in that time which was a big improvement. Next was the midfield and the introduction of Gagliardini from high flying Atalanta really sparked a change in the team. Another notable change in the midfield was Brozovic. While he seems like a mainstay in the team nowadays for Inter, under De Boer’s tenure he was often overlooked in favour of Joao Mario, Kondogbia and Medel in midfield which didn’t really work. Pioli’s change of system allowed the likes of Kondogbia and Brozovic to showcase some of their qualities, the former’s tenacious work breaking up play and the latter starting plays in the final third and also chipping in with goals himself.