Good evening, Inter fans!
It’s Monday so it’s time for your weekly helping of Extra Time
and Massimo Paganin is back after a week’s rest!
Hi Federica, hi everyone, hi Alberto – I’ve given it away!
Welcome back, Alberto!
Hi Federica and welcome back, Max!
We know he’s a busy man – with the U20 World Cup on the horizon!
Let’s hope he comes back from the World Cup in Poland with the trophy!
Hope so!
What are we looking at today, Max?
We’re looking at three individual players and then a more general point.
The first is the vital Brozovic, who has come back and produced a top performance.
De Vrij – I’ve picked out one of the centre-backs, but Skriniar did well too.
Lastly is Asamoah, who I think did very well in terms of defence
and as regards pushing forward and building the play.
These three players had the highest pass completion rates out there on Saturday.
Brozovic had 92%, Asamoah had 96% and De Vrij had 94%.
The majority might be sideways passes or easy passes, 
but a high pass completion rate means more passes and better possession management.
That’s vital in the development of a team.
The last point is precision in possession.
There was one point when Inter had the ball for nearly 90 seconds
before playing it in and winning a free-kick.
It shows great confidence in their ability and maturity – I think that’s growing too.
Let’s start with Brozovic, who came back in and showed just how important he is.
Yes. That’s his position, simply. He’s earned it with his performances and build-up play.
It’s simple stuff but he knows where to put the ball.
He’s already seen where Asamoah is so he can turn and kick without looking.
Now look at the run he makes to get it back – he covered over 12 kilometres on Saturday.
He gives it to Perisic who then buys a foul off Pjanic in the middle.
He was involved in almost all Inter’s build-up play, making a huge 105 passes.
Here we see his importance in the build-up play again.
Vecino pushes up to open up space, and he’s always there to get it back from a team-mate.
He makes simple passes to move the opposition and make options and find forward passes.
Here he gets the ball back from Asamoah and plays it forward first time.
The ball travels over 30 yards and finds the striker, who wins a foul from Bonucci.
There might be simple passes in there, but they alternate with direct, forward balls.
It’s the same thing for Asamoah, De Vrij and the other defenders – Skriniar did it well too.
De Vrij is a player that combines defensive strength with good build-up play
but always makes his physicality felt when needed.
Here we see how many times he touches the ball in the build-up play.
Instead of going backwards, he gets his head up and finds Brozovic, who switches it.
The personality he shows as a centre-back is important, especially in the build-up play.
Here he steps up to intervene and instead of getting rid, he gets his head up and finds Brozovic.
That possession management is vital in the build-up play.
The centre-backs given the team a sense of real security.
Number three: Asamoah.
Asamoah played very well.
He didn’t get forward against Juventus as much as he has done
but he made virtually no mistakes, with a 96% pass completion rate.
This wasn’t a simple one either: it’s into space for a player to run on to.
He made a lot of horizontal passes as part of the build-up
but there were also a lot of through balls for players to latch on to.
Here we see the ball moved from right to left, with Asamoah picking it up on the run.
He can’t attack the space so he goes back inside and the play is switched.
Inter held onto the ball here for a long time as the ball comes back to the left again.
Asamoah plays a number of one-twos here, plays it back and then shows for it again.
He made lots of passes and they weren’t all simple ones.
Here he helps to maintain possession again.
It’s vital to have players like that, especially in big games like the Juventus one.
Let’s end with precision in possession.
There’s a 90-second spell of possession from 54:20 to 55:50.
We’ve sped this up, but Inter keep the ball with such precision that Juve can only watch.
They move it quickly, from right to left – here’s that play from Asamoah again.
It shows good progress from Inter.
Of course, you need to attack the opposition goal and cause the opposition problems
but that’s the next step – first it’s about building the play, then capitalising on it.
Construction is the foundation upon which you can go and build your play.
Inter are working well and showed that in a big game against Juventus.
I think it’s a gradual, continuous process of development – but it’s starting to bear fruit.
