Edin Džeko 2021/22: The 35 y/o veteran leading Inter’s attack – scout report

In the summer, Inter were unable to retain their key players because of their financial situation. Even after winning the league, their head coach and key players, including Antonio Conte, Romelu Lukaku, and Achraf Hakimi all departed. To fill the vacancies, the Black and Blues recruited Edin Dzeko from Roma for free. While some thought the main partner of Lautaro Martínez would be Joaquín Correa, instead, Džeko was the man to succeed Lukaku’s role. The former Manchester City man was a surprise this season, despite being 35-year-old already, he stilled produced a consistently high level of performance since August. At the time of writing in 23 games, he scored 11 goals and provided four assists to his teammates, being one of the top goal scorers of his side.

This tactical analysis is a scout report that details the strengths and tactical roles of Džeko at Inter. The big Bosnian has done quite well at his new club, thanks to Simeone Inzaghi’s tactics to bring out the best of the player.

Construction phases 

Džeko is a tall striker (1.93m) who possesses body strength, but he is not the conventional type of striker who only stays on the shoulder of the defenders. Instead, he is given an important and constructive role to connect plays in the midfield, helping his side to move the ball forward. Comparatively, his partner, Martínez, has more physical qualities and pace to make runs behind and that was a reason for Inter to setup in a 3-5-1-1 conceptually.

Džeko often plays deep to achieve a numerical superiority for his side in the midfield. Usually, Inter wanted to have one more players centrally to create that additional free player. Also, when Džeko dropped into the midfield, a question what also posed to the opposition centre-backs on whether they should follow the Bosnian or not.

The first example already shows Džeko’s deep positioning in Inter’s build-up. Against AC Milan’s 4-2-3-1, the Black and Blue initially had a 3v3 in the midfield but Džeko made it a 4v3, the “+1” advantage was clear. In this particular scenario, when Marcelo Brozović dropped towards the keeper, the attacking midfielder waved his hand as he was confused. If he followed Brozović, Džeko would be free in the midfield as Inter always had the wide midfielders stretching the opponent midfielders in half-spaces.