Transition season: Will the Italian Cup bring Inter back to life? | Israel today

Luckily for Inter, February is short and is already over.

This month Simona Inzaghi's team played six games in all competitions and won only one.

In the league they recorded losses to Milan and Sesotho and ended in a draw with Napoli and weak Genoa, in the Champions League they probably ended their way when they absorbed 2: 0 from Liverpool at San Siro, and only in the Cup did they experience a moment of relief with 0: 2 over Roma.

The Narazuri started this month at the top and with the possibility of a significant step to a second consecutive championship, but they finish it in third place and with a foot and a half out of Europe.

"We are missing this victory that will take us on a new path," said Inzaghi this week, who hopes that this victory will come tonight - the first day of March - in the first game of the Cup semi-final against the great rival Milan.

This derby has already proven itself as a game that could be a crossroads.

Last season Antonio Conte's Inter came to him as a guest in the 23rd round, and with a 0: 3 victory increased the gap at the top to four points and more did not look back.

This season, with Inzaghi on the lines and this time in the 24th round, Inter could have done the same, but surrendered 2: 1.

In retrospect, this game was the catalyst of the current crisis.

From that moment on the Narazzi scored only two league points out of nine possible, lost by their deterrent power, and within 15 days suffered three home losses.

The main crisis is in the attack.

In seven league games in 2022, Inter have scored just six goals.

Lautro Martinez, the king of goals at 11 this season, has been in crisis and has been without a league goal for more than two months, with Cannes Celenhaulo still unable to find the net in 2022.

Edin Dzeko does his best, but Joaquin Corra's injuries and Alexis Sanchez's instability leave the team without enough ammunition.

Tonight's derby comes after 313 minutes without a goal in all competitions.

Simona Inzaghi, Photo: EPA

This situation takes Inter fans back to the days when the beginning of the year was cursed.

Last year, Antonio Conte may have managed to get past February with 100% in the league on the way to the championship, but before that the team used to get to this time of year and crash.

In 2017/2018, under Luciano Spalletti, Inter played eight league games between December and February and did not win (scraping two points).

A season later, again with Spalletti, Inter won just two of seven games in the same time period.

This was also the case in 2015/2016 under Roberto Mancini.

Inter reached those dates first, but five losses and three more draws dropped it to fifth place.

When you add the collapses of Inzaghi Lazio, at that time of year, you get a lot of worries.

Inter's luck is that this time, despite the crisis, the league did not run away.

Milan are also stuttering, and Napoli came back to win only in the 94th minute of the last round.

Everything is still in her hands.

"We must not get into anxiety," Inzaghi declared this week, "we must rediscover our strengths."

A derby, in a Cup semi-final, in March, can be a beauty of a start.

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