Inter Milan Vs Napoli [2–2] – Serie A 2025/2026: High Pressing, Defensive Gaps & A Costly Stalemate – Tactical Analysis

Inter Milan hosted Napoli for the 19th fixture of Serie A, and the clash ended with a 2-2 draw that keeps Inter Milan at the top of the standings but makes the standings even more challenging for everyone.

With this draw, Napoli are now tied for third with Juventus, knowing the Bianconeri have already played an additional game.

This means that Napoli can confirm their third spot if they win their next game, but they should do more to avoid losing more points, since both Inter Milan and AC Milan now hold the first and second spots.

Napoli played a very ambitious and courageous game, relying on an attacking game plan and man-marking throughout the pitch.

This was initially very successful, but it did not last long after conceding a first goal, which made Napoli’s defence shaky and less confident.

Napoli’s high pressing could have been successful if they combined it with better defending at the back, and that’s the area of improvement that Napoli needs to focus on for the upcoming game if they plan on using the same strategy going forward.

In this tactical analysis, we examine both teams’ defensive weaknesses and attacking solutions, shedding more light on what prevented them from winning.

Inter Milan Vs Napoli Lineups & Formations

Cristian Chivu started the match using Inter Milan’s usual 3-5-2 formation.

Yann Sommer occupied his usual spot in goal behind Yann Bisseck, Manuel Akanji, and Alessandro Bastoni as the three centre-backs.

Federico Dimarco started the match at left wing-back, while Luis Henrique started at right wing-back.

Piotr Zieliński formed the midfield trio with Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Nicolò Barella as the three central midfielders, with an attacking line made up of the usual duo: Marcus Thuram and Lautaro Martínez.

On the other hand, Antonio Conte started the match in a 3-4-3 formation, with Vanja Milinković-Savić as goalkeeper and a defensive line of Juan Jesus, Amir Rrahmani, and Sam Beukema.

The midfield was composed of Stanislav Lobotka and Scott McTominay as central midfielders, Leonardo Spinazzola and Giovanni Di Lorenzo as wing-backs, with Matteo Politano and Eljif Elmas as wingers and sometimes as advanced playmakers, and Rasmus Højlund as the main striker.

It is important to note that David Neres was absent from this match, which impacted Napoli’s attacking play, and it counts for the team that they were still capable of finding the back of the net against Inter Milan despite the key absences.

Napoli Effective But Risky High-Pressing Plan Vs Inter Milan Defensive Weaknesses

Napoli chose to start the match very competitively and preferred to use an attacking approach to defend against Inter Milan’s potential attacks.

In other words, Napoli applied continuous high pressing on Inter Milan’s players to prevent them from building from the back and to avoid conceding dangerous opportunities.

Their plan was especially successful in the opening minutes of the match, as they forced Inter Milan players to build up from the back with difficulty and often resorted to long passes, leaving them little space to exchange passes or control the ball freely.

This helped Napoli a lot in avoiding Inter Milan’s early attacks and domination, allowing the visitors to create chances and force Inter Milan to play in the middle of the pitch and in their own half most of the time, not inside Napoli’s half.

More importantly, Napoli tried to limit passes to Inter Milan’s essential playmaking players by applying tight man-marking on them.

In fact, Napoli relied on man-marking all over the pitch, with each player marking his direct opponent in his zone, except for Jesus, who had to follow Martínez wherever he went.

This was done to prevent Inter Milan from using Martínez as a station to allow the rest of the players to advance, as it was also done to limit Martínez’s potential progressive vertical passes.

Marking Martínez tightly was problematic for Inter Milan, as they relied on him a lot for playmaking, given that he often retreated to receive the ball and serve one of his teammates vertically.

Furthermore, Napoli’s defensive plan was also intended to isolate Thuram from Martínez by doubling the marking on Thuram when he has the ball and keeping an eye on Martínez to prevent Thuram from finding a potential passing trajectory towards Martínez, and vice versa.

The following picture clearly shows how Jesus followed Martínez outside of his zone, even when the latter retreated to his team’s own half in an attempt to free himself and receive the ball.

The picture also highlights the importance of Jesus’ reactive double marking on Thuram, preventing the latter from finding a passing option to Martínez.

Napoli Game Plan Drawbacks & Inter Milan’s Counterattacking

Napoli’s defensive system and overall game plan were very risky, especially against a team like Inter Milan, as we required zero mistakes from every Napoli ball holder to prevent dangerous counterattacks.

But with Napoli’s first mistake in the build-up, McTominay was unable to resist Zieliński’s interception attempt, which led to a dangerous recovery inside Napoli’s own half, with four Inter Milan players facing four Napoli defenders.

The quick joining of Dimarco to the action made the difference mainly because it created the numerical superiority for Inter Milan and allowed Thuram to favour Dimarco’s overlap on the left wing over any other choice.

It counts for Inter Milan that they were not affected by Napoli’s first attacking attempts or by their successful high pressing to prevent them from creating chances, before making this decisive mistake.

The goal was conceded mainly due to Napoli’s reliance on a high defensive block in an attempt to keep Inter Milan away from goal and keep Napoli’s lines close to each other.

Against teams that are excellent at attacking transitions, like Inter Milan, it would have been wiser to play with three midfielders (including a defensive midfielder), as that would have guaranteed more security at the back and a less-risky build-up from the back.

However, Conte opted for a more attacking plan and did not prepare concrete defensive plans against Inter Milan’s high recoveries, and his team paid the price.

Napoli Vertical Passing, Højlund Vs Akanji, & McTominay Impact Inside The Box

Napoli were soon capable of equalising, mainly thanks to Højlund’s reliable work in the playmaking process despite the marking of Akanji, and to McTominay’s ability to join the box quickly and finish the action.

The goal action also highlights the impact of McTominay’s vertical key passes, which helped Napoli break Inter Milan’s lines and quickly advance, gaining time over the Nerazzurri.

McTominay’s pass allows us to shed light on Højlund’s ability to retreat, receive, and protect the ball despite the tight marking of Akanji, pass the ball back, and still be quick enough to get back to the box and occupy Akanji, which allowed McTominay to have the space needed to score.

Napoli’s work on the left wing was also remarkable, as both Spinazzola and Elmas were effective enough to avoid marking and create some space for themselves to provide the well-timed pass to Højlund/McTominay eventually.

The latter proved once again that he is crucial inside the box and that he always exploits the unpredictability of his advancing to that area in a significant way.

In this action, he avoided Zieliński’s marking and attacked the space left by Akanji on the near post, exploiting the fact that Akanji was distracted by Højlund.

Inter Milan Defensive Weaknesses

Napoli were also capable of adding a second goal in the 47^th minute, following an excellent pass from the goalkeeper to Højlund, who proved once again very difficult to mark or stop, exploiting Akanji’s failed anticipation of the pass.

However, Højlund could have done better with his finishing; he had that home and space to score, but failed to be accurate enough with his shot.

But this action illustrates Inter Milan’s defensive weaknesses.

It confirms their failure to consistently win the big games this season, as they have not managed to balance their attacking and defensive performances.

Using a high defensive block and making risky anticipation attempts while having no one to cover if the pass went through was a massive mistake by Akanji, giving Højlund the time and space to score.

Inter Milan Marking Issues & McTominay Crucial Attacking Role

With his decisive second goal for Napoli, McTominay once again confirmed that he is Napoli’s lethal attacking weapon, especially when things look complicated, and the team fails to find solutions through their attacking players.

This is not the first time McTominay has saved Napoli with goalscoring, and doing so against Inter Milan in an away game can only highlight the midfielder’s impeccable, very rewarding attacking input.

During this action, he joins the box to be at the receiving end of the cross from the right wing and to ensure numerical superiority inside the box for Napoli.

But as the action goes on, he escapes from marking. He exploits the fact that Bisseck fell on the ground to re-position himself well, receive a pass, and coordinate his body very quickly to execute a perfect volley that Inter Milan’s goalkeeper could neither predict nor save.

The action confirms McTominay’s goalscoring instinct and his excellent shooting techniques, especially in terms of volleys and quick decision-making in this regard.

That said, Inter Milan’s defence could have done better to prevent McTominay from executing the volley without marking.

Bisseck himself stood up and could have reacted more quickly in order to get closer to McTominay and intercept the pass, or at least prevent him from executing the volley.

At the same time, Çalhanoğlu was not marking anyone in this action, and his role was ineffective at the near post.

This highlights a marking issue within Inter Milan’s defence, as in such cases, Çalhanoğlu or one of the midfielders should have been instructed to always mark dangerous players, especially McTominay.

This was done during either the first goal action or the second goal action, resulting in Inter Milan conceding two goals that could have been avoided if marking and double-marking had been applied with greater discipline and intelligence.

Conclusion

The draw does not serve either Inter Milan or Napoli, as it helps the other teams get closer to the top of the standings.

That said, both teams had their key moments, but they were not good enough defensively.

It will be crucial for Inter Milan to fix their marking issues and become collectively and individually more intelligent in this regard; otherwise, it will be difficult for them to win such encounters.

Fixing this defensive dilemma will be decisive for Inter Milan regarding their title chances, given that their attacking plans and system are already good enough, with a variety of solutions and a plethora of reliable attacking players.