Cristian Chivu's interview, published on TMW and TUTTOmercatoWEB, highlighted Inter's difficulties after the defeat in the Milan derby. Although the loss did not reduce the title chances, the result highlighted some critical issues that previous victories had only partially hidden. Chivu underlined that, compared to last season, the team seems to have lost a bit of "hunger" and some technical details on the pitch, elements that in the past had been masked by the presence of Federico Dimarco.
The most obvious point concerns Dimarco, who had a much weaker first half of the season compared to the previous year. During the first ten league matches, the left wing defender recorded just one assist and no goals, a stark contrast to the 25 contributions (18 assists and 7 goals) he had provided the previous season. In the Milan derby, Dimarco was kept on the bench until ten minutes from the end, a behavior that was repeated in the first league games. His lack of energy and offensive contributions has left a void that Inter must try to fill.
Another critical element is the lack of a "leader" on the field. Andy Diouf, who had a decent performance in terms of numbers, was unable to fill the role of "physicality" and leadership that Dumfries had guaranteed in the right lane. Spence, however, has not yet been seen on the pitch. The combination of these factors negatively affected the attack, where the tactical experiment against Milan did not work: Thuram remained too isolated and players like Bonny and Pio Esposito did not reach the expected level, even if both were inserted during the matches.
The prolonged absence of Lautaro Martínez further highlighted the lack of attacking drive. Chivu suggested that the January transfer window could be an opportunity to fill this gap and strengthen the attack. The entire team, in fact, must face the challenge of recovering its "hunger" and restoring technical coherence to remain competitive in the title race. With the season still long, Inter will have to find quick solutions to prevent these weaknesses from turning into decisive points in the next matches.