Inter's Thrilling Serie A Journey: Chivu Prepares for Roma Showdown
Inter are turning Serie A title defences into box-office drama. For the second straight home league game, the champions fell 2-0 behind, this time against Udinese, and for the second straight time they clawed their way back, echoing their recent rescue act against Napoli. It is thrilling, reckless, and at times unnerving – and Cristian Chivu seems almost at peace with it.
“These are our qualities and what we know how to do. We can score a lot of goals and keep a high level,” he told Sky Sport Italia, before admitting the start had been all wrong. The first 25 minutes, he said, were played “without the right energy”, and Udinese punished that attitude. The response, though, pleased him. Inter stayed in the game. They refused to lose.
There is no illusion of perfection here. Chivu made that clear.
“There is no perfect team, never seen in my career. We will try to maintain our identity, for the human values and the principles of this group,” he said, fully aware that the same boldness that fuels Inter’s attacking fireworks can drag them into trouble. “Obviously in some matches you pay more or less and we are aware of the fact that we could run into difficulties in the future too.”
Goals, goals, and more goals
Inter’s numbers scream entertainment. Four games, 14 goals scored. The most prolific attack in Italy. The flip side? Eight conceded in that same stretch. This is not the sterile dominance of a side strangling opponents into submission. It is a team that plays on the edge.
Chivu is not hiding from that. He is leaning into it.
He knows his aggressive blueprint leaves space behind, knows that flooding men into possession phases opens doors for counter-attacks. He simply sees it as the price of admission for the football he wants.
“If I don't say I'm worried, I'm not a coach,” he said, bluntly. “But this is today's football, with the intensity we put in, we take some risks because we want to play this style of play, we bring a lot of men into possession and when we lose the ball we expose ourselves to risks.”
The key, for him, is what happens in the seconds after the ball is lost. He pointed to the counter-pressing that led to Nicolò Barella’s goal as a model of what Inter are trying to do.
“The counter-pressing on Barella's goal was done well, we're not perfect, we don't even want to be and we have to keep working, because the season is long and there are things we need to work on.”
No goalkeeper crisis
If Inter’s defending is under the microscope, their goalkeepers are living under a spotlight. Again.
Josep “Pepo” Martinez has become the latest target for criticism, just as Yann Sommer was last season. The narrative is familiar: a big club, a demanding fanbase, and a constant search for a weak link. Chivu is having none of it.
“Last year Sommer was the problem and you pointed it out immediately, now it's Pepo Martinez,” he snapped, drawing a clear line. “I will defend him to the death, just like [Ivan] Provedel or others. I kindly ask you not to always make headlines about our goalkeepers. We don't have problems with goalkeepers.”
He reminded everyone that Martinez was “wanted” by the club, just as Provedel is now. The rotation, he insisted, is not about sentiment or damage control.
“Today it's Pepo because Ivan is wanted. Who is a great goalkeeper and will have his chance. But not out of pity, but because they deserve it. Everyone makes mistakes and so do I.”
It was a strong, pointed defence of his dressing room and a warning shot at those trying to manufacture a saga between the posts.
Scudetto test in Rome
The calendar offers no time to breathe. Inter now head into a huge clash with Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, a game that already feels like a statement fixture in the Scudetto race.
Both teams have taken maximum points from their first four league matches. Both have swagger. Both want to dictate, not react. Something has to give.
Complicating Inter’s preparations are fresh fitness concerns. Hakan Calhanoglu is a major doubt with an adductor muscle strain, a potential blow given his control and set-piece threat. John Stones is also in serious question after limping off around the hour mark, adding another worry in a squad that relies heavily on its core leaders.
Chivu knows the stakes and the timing.
“Against Roma it is an important match before the break also because then I will be left with three players,” he said, half-wry, half-resigned to the realities of international windows. The plan, though, does not change. “We will continue like this, because this is the status of this group and we will try to improve along the way.”
Inter are not flawless, not watertight, not serene. They are something else entirely: dangerous, volatile, and impossible to ignore. The question now is simple – in a title race that already looks unforgiving, can a team that lives on the edge keep its balance in Rome?
