Three Thoughts on Inter’s 1-0 loss to Bologna

Lunchtime kickoff? Check. Horrible weather conditions? Check. A trickier than it looks mid-table opponent? Check. All of the circumstances were there for dropped points, and Inter fell right into the trap with a 1-0 loss to Bologna just days after a Champions League Round of 16 wins over Porto. I would call this Pazza Inter, but is it really Pazza if we all expected it to happen?

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Bologna is becoming a bogey team

Bologna is rapidly becoming one fixture I’d love to wipe off the calendar completely. This one wasn’t quite as bad as last season’s Radu-sparked debacle, but boy was it not a fun one. As if the 6:30 AM kickoff wasn’t bad enough, Inter put in one awful performance from the word go. There was no doubt which team was the superior one on the day, and it wasn’t the one in that garnish shade of yellow. To give the Rossoblu credit, they’ve been rock solid under Thiago Motta and are in the mix for a European spot with Juventus. Riccardo Orsolini might even be taking that leap into stardom that he’s been perenially one good season away from. And who knows, maybe these three points will be the ones that edge Bologna ahead of Juventus come Matchday 38, and that would be an ever-so-slim silver lining to one ugly defeat.

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Time for a UCL race

It’s no secret that Inter’s results have not been what they should be for a while. Despite (deceptively) big wins over Napoli and Milan, the Nerazzurri have managed to drop points to Monza (2-2), Empoli (0-1), Sampdoria (0-0), and Bologna (0-1) since 2023 began, following up a rocky 2022 with yet more chaos on the pitch. These dropped points are starting to pile up, and Inter is now facing the prospect of a battle for a Champions League spot in a homage to the pre-2020 Banter Era Inter sides. Milan has now stabilized after a horrid run of form of its own and looks a lock for the top four, while the two Rome clubs are albeit flawed but definitely in the mix.

Napoli, of course, already has two hands on the Scudetto but things could get really interesting if Juventus win their appeal against the 15-point deduction for financial cheating. Inter would then be tired in 2nd with Juventus and Milan on 47 points, followed by Lazio (45), Roma (44), and Atalanta (42). In short, it would be a mess.

I still think Inter will end the season in the top four, but it really, really, reeeeeaaaaalllly needs to start picking up maximum points against the weaker sides in the table. Inter ends the season with Atalanta, Napoli, and Roma in 3 of its last 5 games, and though the Nerazzurri have been good against top sides this season, leaving its fate up to those games would be a fool’s errand.

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Sacking Inzaghi is not the solution

The pressure on Il Mister is higher than ever. He’s proven to be a Cup expert at Inter, but the Nerazzurri’s league form is canceling out the goodwill he’s earned. However, any idea that sacking him will fix the problems this Inter side face doesn’t take into account the depth of Inter’s worries. Until Suning sells or fixes its financial problems, Inter’s ceiling isn’t much higher than what we’re seeing now.

No January reinforcements and the continued loss of top players make it impossible for any coach to improve season after season, and Inzaghi is no exception. While he’s definitely not doing a stellar job, he has done more than enough to stay. If he wants to, that is. It’s hard to blame him for wanting a more stable job this summer, and Inter’s chaos from the very top down will only make it harder to find a coach that is as good as Inzaghi, let alone an upgrade on Inzaghi.