Serie A 2020/21: Why did Sassuolo’s efforts fail against Inter? – tactical analysis

Sassuolo hosted Inter for what was expected to be a fierce battle keeping in mind both teams’ attacking prowess and their current positioning in the top three of Serie A along with Milan.

Inter grabbed the three points in a 3-0 victory, but although the result would assume a very one-sided game, the meeting was full of chances for both teams. It turned out though that the Nerazzurri were better prepared and managed to secure the win by adjusting to Sassuolo’s style of play and lured them into a trap of individual errors and uncertainty.

The Neroverdi expectedly relied on high pressure and creating as many opportunities as possible, but Inter trusted their guts and focused on intelligent marking and quick actions in attack to achieve a balanced performance both defensively and upfront.

Both teams created quite a few goal-scoring opportunities but Inter managed to take advantage of the opposition’s mistakes better and score three times, while the lack of precision from the Sassuolo players resulted in their failure.

In this tactical analysis, we will examine why Sassuolo’s usual strategy didn’t work out against Inter and how the Nerazzurri’s tactics helped them in taking the most out of the game.

Line-ups and formations

Roberto De Zerbi relied on his usual 4-2-3-1 formation in aim to continue with his possession football and high pressing strategy. The goal was covered by Andrea Consigli, while the four-man backline consisted of Rogério, Gian Marco Ferrari, Vlad Chiricheş and Jeremy Toljan. Rogério would overcommit to his attacking duties that he would often fail to support the defensive actions properly, exposing his team on a few occasions. The central midfield included Manuel Locatelli and Maxime López with Filip Đuričić in front of them. While they were very beneficial for keeping the possession and for Sassuolo’s ball progression, Locatelli and López were often late with their support to the backline.

Jérémie Boga and Domenico Berardi provided width, while Giacomo Raspadori was the striker and covered the central areas. The 20-year-old Raspadori couldn’t meet the expectations failing to produce a single shot throughout the game making it more difficult for Sassuolo to convert their chances into goals. Although they did get a lot of time on the ball and most of their possession in the opposition half, Sassuolo lacked the precision all over the pitch, while Inter’s press often forced them back, which resulted in a lot of passes with high pass accuracy but actually decreased their explosiveness.