Inter Milan are almost neck and neck with Juventus when Serie A has reached its midway point.
One interesting development of their season to date is the role played by the 20-year-old defender Alessandro Bastoni.
The youngster has been given a real chance to establish himself in the Inter team at the expense of the veteran Diego Godín.
That signals a real trust from Antonio Conte, who is not known to field youngsters just for the sake of it.
Clearly, Bastoni has something and gives Inter something.
This tactical analysis & scout report will focus on why Bastoni is preferred over Godín in Inters tactics.
Alessandro Bastoni Style Of Play
Before looking at Bastonis importance to Inter, lets take a look at his strengths as a player.
The 20-year-old is a very intelligent defender who positions himself well, defends in an aggressive, front-foot manner, while also offering a lot of quality in possession.
Smart Positioning
Inters defensive approach is flexible between a positionally-orientated and a man-orientated setup.
Largely, Inter are positionally-orientated in their own half while pressing in a man-orientated manner.
In the image below, we can see an example of Bastonis excellent understanding of positional defending.
With the ball likely to enter the wide area, he has positioned his feet in a way that allows him to move in every direction depending on what Atalantas ball-carrier does.
This is something he consistently does very well, and which helps him defend space excellently.
Bastoni is also, as all Inter players, very good at realising when to push, when to drop and when to shuffle across.
That understanding in a positional setup is when you move according to the position of the ball and your teammates.
In the image below, we can see h
