Inter Milan 1-2 Cagliari: Player Ratings

Yup, that actually happened. After a weekend of controversy and comical actions on the parts of Mauro Icardi, the Ultras, and Inter management the team fell to a loss in a match that should have (and probably needed to) end with a home win. The club needs to get its act together both on and off the pitch quickly. The season is long but not long to afford many more slip-ups in the race for Champions League places. Plus the Chinese owners have high hopes of bringing in world-class players but even if the club can pay the fees, they still have to convince the players to join and if Inter continues to look like a circus that will not happen. (Will’s match recap can be found here).

Samir Handanovic-5.5

Inter’s goalkeeper made a number of huge saves in the second half to deny Melchiorri, Sau, and Di Gennaro and for a while it seemed like he would ensure Inter walked away with something from this match all on his own. Unfortunately he missed a cross from a corner and then put the ball into his own net. He didn’t deserve that after all his good work earlier.

Cristian Ansaldi-7

Hidden in this loss is the fact that Ansaldi actually had a really good game. He both defended and attacked well throughout his time on the pitch. Him and Candreva had a good partnership going; the Argentine shouldn’t have to worry about anybody taking his starting spot anytime in the near future.

Jeison Murillo-5.5

The young centerback was a little shaky yesterday. His touch allowed Cagliari’s equalizing goal to stand, and had a few other moments where he seemed to move before thinking. With Marco Andreolli returning from injury Murillo needs to start putting in those confident displays so often seen in the first half of his debut campaign.

Miranda-6.5

As usual a calm display by Miranda. The man never seems to have an uncomposed moment and helped make sure Cagliari couldn’t extend their lead when Inter was pressing for an equalizer. Every matchday I am grateful that he plays for this team.

Davide Santon-6

Solid if unspectacular. The Italian wasn’t targeted that much during the match so he was able to put in a quiet shift defensively.

Gary Medel-6

I honestly can’t remember Medel doing anything to stand out in my mind good or bad during the match. Tackled well and when he kept his passing simple there were no problems.

Joao Mario-7.5

Without a doubt Inter’s man of the match. The Portuguese international did it all yesterday; he pass brilliantly, made smart runs, and positioned himself well throughout the game. He showed great tenacity to follow up his own shot to score his first Inter goal.

Antonio Candreva-6

He was a bit of a livewire in the first half, picking up the ball a lot and sending in crosses. The problem was that few of those crosses reached their target, both because Icardi wasn’t attacking them and some of them just were too high or strong. Faded a little in the second half and was replaced by Eder.

Ever Banega-6

In the first half he was brilliant, constantly picking out Perisic and Candreva. He faded sharply in the second half and a lot of Cagliari attacks early on in that period began when the ball was stripped from him. Both fatigue from the international break and an eye towards the Southampton match on Thursday was probably why he was pulled in the 60th minute.

Ivan Perisic-6.5

Didn’t pop up on the ball as much as Candreva but Perisic was more effective with his crosses. Though he was unable to find Icardi as much as he would’ve wanted (though that wasn’t entirely his fault), he linked up well with the midfielders and was the spark for Mario’s goal.

Mauro Icardi-4

His head just wasn’t in the game. After the controversy with the Ultras it might have been seen as a signal of FdB’s support of the captain to play him but it was a decision that backfired. I’m not sure if he was just distracted or he was scared to mess up but he seemed to avoid making the usual dangerous runs that makes him such a deadly striker. He won a penalty in the first half and stepped up to take it, but sent it wide.

Substitutes

Assane Gnoukouri-5.5

The youngster was sent on to replace Ever Banega and he was kind of just there. He didn’t really offer much going forward and one can only wonder how different things could’ve turned out had Marcelo Brozovic been the one to replace the Argentine.

Eder-5

Came on for Candreva and didn’t do much of anything. The naturalized Italian showed no real attacking threat during his time on the pitch and Gabriel Barbosa must be thinking that he will be getting minutes soon.

Stevan Jovetic-4

Can anybody tell me one useful thing Jovetic has done all season?

Manager

De Boer-4

He got his overall gameplan right to keep Cagliari contained, but Inter was unable to kill off the game and this time that is on him. Mauro Icardi should not have started this match given his mental state and his timidness cost the team a lot going forward. Furthermore, his decisions to bring on Gnoukouri over Brozovic and Eder/Jovetic over Barbosa made little sense. The Croatian would have done a more adequate job helping Mario control the midfield and link up the attack while after remaining in Milan during the international break Barbosa surely deserved a chance and based on the his rivals’ performances he wouldn’t have had to do much to make more of an impact. The right decisions from the manager could’ve easily won this match and this might be a little unfair, but I blame him for this loss as much as I blamed him for the strange decisions he made for the opening loss against Chievo.