The Coach's Scudetto

The Nerazzurri's North Star: Simone Inzaghi has guided the team to the Scudetto worth a second star. It's his light that has illuminated the path Inter have been on this league season. And it's been a smooth path, with very few bumps along the way. The Nerazzurri's strength has been on display from the opening few matchdays, with Inzaghi's men reaping the rewards of their hard work to write their names into Club legend by winning Inter's 20th Scudetto title.

3-5-2: A WINNING FORMULA

3-5-2 has always been his formation, one which has become his winning formula. He's perfectly transmitted his footballing beliefs to his players, who have become one with their head coach. This league season, Inzaghi has often and proudly emphasised how the willingness of the group has been key to the team's trophy success in the past three years. The players have displayed all their potential, adapting perfectly to Inzaghi's system and tactics. As the matches have gone by, there have been tweaks here and there, and, above all, numerous attacking solutions have been found. From Bastoni's forays forward and assists through to Mkhitaryan's pivotal role in the centre-left of midfield, Calhanoglu's creativity and Barella's incredible engine. Then, of course, we have the contribution of the team's wing-backs, who are frequently involved in the Nerazzurri's build-up play. Dimarco, for example, has grown exponentially under Inzaghi. The Nerazzurri Coach has placed his full trust in the Italian wideman, who has repaid this faith with some wonderful pieces of play and brilliant strikes that have been a crucial part of this triumph. On the right, Darmian has been a hugely reliable and versatile figure. Up front, meanwhile, in almost surprising fashion, Thuram hit the ground running right from the opening few matchdays. Through the Frenchman, Inter have found the perfect strike partner for Lautaro Martinez, who has enjoyed a magnificent season and become the eighth-highest Nerazzurri goalscorer in history.

RECORDS AND NUMBERS

The certainties that the 3-5-2 offers have been key to the team's success. And the numbers only serve to underline the great work that has been done. After all, ideas only become successful if they're backed up by the data. This Scudetto title is Simone Inzaghi's sixth trophy since taking charge of the Nerazzurri, who he has also led to two Coppa Italia and three Supercoppa Italiana triumphs. It means that Inzaghi is now the Club's third-most decorated head coach in history since the introduction of the round-robin format in Serie A; he only trails Helenio Herrera and Roberto Mancini, who won seven trophies each. Against Udinese, the Nerazzurri had 76.9% possession, the highest percentage Inter have recorded in a league fixture in the past 20 seasons in Serie A.

In general, out of all the head coaches who have taken charge of at least 50 Inter matches, Inzaghi has the second-highest average points tally per Serie A game in Nerazzurri history: 2.21 points per match. The wins have kept on coming, culminating in this extraordinary title triumph. Against Genoa, Simone Inzaghi took charge of his 300th match in the Italian top flight, a prestigious milestone that deserves to be analysed in depth.

With 179 successes to his name, the coach from Piacenza became the coach with the highest number of wins in 300 Serie A games, ahead of Carlo Ancelotti and Massimiliano Allegri. Since his debut in the dugout in the Italian top flight, Inzaghi has collected the most wins in Serie A, over 20 more than any other coach in this period. Fantastic numbers that were also recognised by Lega Serie A, who named him as the Coach of the Month for October and January. As the icing on the cake, he was on the podium for The Best FIFA Men's Coach after being listed as one of the three finalists for the 2022/23 season.

GOALS AND CLEAN SHEETS

Simone Inzaghi's Inter certainly like to attack, but they've also been very solid defensively. In fact, this season, the Nerazzurri have conceded the fewest goals (17) and kept the most clean sheets (19) across the top five European divisions in 2023/24. In general, only once have the Nerazzurri recorded more shutouts in a single Serie A season: 20 in 1988/89.

At the other end of the pitch, Inzaghi's men have been relentless. The Inter boss has become the third coach to see his side score in 40 consecutive Serie A matches, following in the footsteps of Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri. Inzaghi is also the first coach in Nerazzurri history to watch his team find the net for at least 25 straight top-flight matches. Under Inzaghi's guidance, Inter scored at least four goals in four consecutive fixtures (against Roma, Salernitana, Lecce and Atalanta in February 2024): this feat had only been achieved once before in Nerazzurri history (under Árpád Weisz in 1930).

This season, Inter have scored the most goals following moves from open play involving at least ten passes: nine, in fact. The Nerazzurri's defenders constantly get on the ball and contribute to the team's attacking play: across the major European leagues, Inter are the only side to have had seven defenders score at least one goal this campaign (Federico Dimarco, Denzel Dumfries, Yann Bisseck, Matteo Darmian, Francesco Acerbi, Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni).

THE BENCH A BIG FACTOR

With Simone Inzaghi's Inter such a well-oiled machine, the substitutes the head coach has sent onto the pitch have often made the difference this season. The new arrivals have seamlessly fitted in, giving Inzaghi plenty of options to use.

Davide Frattesi has certainly had a big impact in terms of goal contributions, with the Italian bagging stoppage-time winners against both Verona and Udinese. Bisseck and De Vrij have also impressed at the back when they've been called upon. The same can be said for Carlos Augusto and Dumfries, who have covered so much distance out on the flanks and add quality to Inter's play when Dimarco and Darmian are given breathers. 'Quality' is also a word that can be used to describe Inter's attacking options: Sanchez and Arnautovic have offered different characteristics, always maintaining the Nerazzurri's threat.