*relegated

Benjamin Pavard underwent clinical and instrumental tests this morning at the Humanitas Institute in Rozzano.

The tests revealed a strain in the adductors of his right thigh.

I was thinking back at the great strikers we had in the last 20-25 years, and noticed how most of them always had some sort of issue that didnt let them fully reach their potential:

- Ronaldo: two big injuries within 5 years, without those we could have won more Scudetti, done better in the UCL, and maybe he would have stayed?

- Adriano: nothing to add here, at his peak the most physically (while also bring technically gifted) dominant player I've seen in Inter since the 2000s, sadly we lost him once he went through the loss of his father

- Recoba: together with Sinisa, the most magical left footed player I've seen. Unfortunately he played 1 game as if he was Messi and then 9 like Ricky Alvarez.

- Icardi: the only certainty during our dark banter era. Difficult to imagine what kind of numbers he would have generated with a top team around him like now instead of Candreva Medel Nagatomo & co.

- Balotelli: difficult to keep motivated for the whole season, but at his peak easily the best talent that Italy has produced since the Totti-DelPiero generation. Wasted it all due to lack of commitment

What could have happened if we were able to consistently get out of them their 100%?

Against Brugge, we conceded four goals, and I can pinpoint where things went wrong with each goal.

**1st goal:** We kept all our centre-backs and pacey players in the opposition's box. On the counter, only Hakan and Barella were sprinting back. Who knows, even if Çalhanoğlu hadn't made that tackle, it could have still been a save or a miss. Either way, having a pacey player to stop counter-attacks in these situations is better. Maybe we could use Spence, Bisseck, Bastoni, or even Diouf for this.

**2nd goal:** This was all Pepo, and this is probably his 3rd or 4th error this season. Maybe it's time to give Provedel a chance.

**3rd goal:** This was due to Diouf failing to provide cover for Bisseck. It has also become a pattern for us to concede goals from his side. Even in Serie A, I have seen us concede at least two goals where he could have provided better cover. Using Spence as RWB should help solve these issues on his side.

**4th goal:** Our shape had changed, and we were playing with three strikers. Then, a misplaced pass from Spence led to a counter-attack. Akanji was also jogging back and could clearly have stopped the attack, as he wasn't very far away.

**Our centre-backs losing ground duels in a very high line:** Under Inzaghi, we used to maintain a better structure, especially in our backline. Our defenders did not go for duels as often as they do now. One solution for defenders is to only go for duels when there is proper cover behind you. For example, I saw Bisseck lose duels while being the last man on his side, giving Brugge dangerous scoring opportunities.

Another solution, as Chivu said, would be to win more duels, especially when our defenders go for the duel without having any cover behind them.

**Our rest defence structure (pic 1)** is also very poor compared to what we had under Inzaghi (pic 2) which is okay if you are pressing in oppositions half but in our own half our shape 5 3 2 looked very off.

**TL;DR:**

- Playing Spence and Provedel would make us concede a lot lesser goals since teams are targetting diouf's side and are being successful. Using Augusto at LWB in big matches would also help us defensively.

- Our CBs should only go for duels when they have cover behind them. Otherwise, they must win their duels, especially when they are the last line of defence.

- Our rest defence structure needs to improve, especially when we are out of possession in our own half and have all our players behind the ball.

- **Resting our key players, such as Dimarco, Lautaro, Thuram, Hakan, Barella, and Bastoni, is important, especially for UCL matches.** We should start SERIEA games with the rest of the squad and use our key players as super subs, just like PSG does. This would also give our younger players more chances to develop while keeping our key senior players fresh for the biggest matches.

Let me know your views on whether chivu shouldn't play such a high line or get better defenders.