Inter’s Chivu changed team’s style and it’s working

Since former Parma manager and 2010 Champions League winner Cristian Chivu was appointed to replace Simone Inzaghi at Inter, a lot has at the club. The Nerazzurri decided to appoint him in the summer 2025, only a few days after losing 5-0 to PSG in the Champions League final in Munich, one of the most disappointing moments in the recent history of the club. Inter seemed lost without Inzaghi, who also decided to leave the Italian giants after four years, one Serie A title and two Champions League finals, and the decision to hire a manager with only 13 Serie A games in his previous experience at Parma might have seemed a bit reckless. It turns out any concerns were unwarranted and Inter made the right decision. The team currently sits at the top of the Serie A standings with a four-point margin on AC Milan and are fully in the race for trophies in all the competitions they are playing right now.

It might be easy to look at the success and think nothing has changed, but that would be missing what Chivu is doing. Inter have shifted their approach significantly compared to recent seasons. Let’s take a closer look at the key changes introduced by Chivu since his appointment as head coach.

Less planned rotations 

Inter players are much more involved than before in the rotations but not because Chivu is making more of them but the exact opposite. While Inzaghi’s rotations during the week seemed pre-planned, regardless what was happening on the pitch, Chivu is less strict when it comes to substitute players during the game. A clear example of that is the game time of Federico Dimarco, one of the best players on the roster. The Italian winger was barely playing a full game under the previous management while with the former Parma coach he’s becoming one of the pivotal players again. Dimarco himself spoke earlier this season about his game time difference with the two coaches. 

“You can only train for matches by actually playing them, the more you play, the better your fitness gets. What I’ve been saying over the past few years is that coming off in the 60th minute made it mathematically difficult to improve my physical condition. This year it’s going better because I’m playing more minutes.”

The same concept can be applied to other players in the roster, such as the strikers. This season Inter have a stronger attack, with Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram considered as the starters while Yann Bonny and Italian youngstar Francesco Pio Esposito ready to play. Both Pio Esposito and Bonny and delivering and Chivu conisders them a lot when it comes to the rotations also during the games. It may be easier for him than it was under Inzaghi last season, when Marko Arnautovic and Mehdi Taremi were not at the same level as the other two strikers. Still, it’s clear that Chivu is managing the group more effectively. All four now appear to be considered genuine starters, which likely explains why they are performing better than they did last season.

More vertical possession 

If rotations are much different compared to the past season, looking at the how the team is playing there are some differences as well. Looking at the data compared between the 2024-25 and the 2025-26 seasons, there is no clear difference in ball possession, under Inzaghi’s last season the Nerazzurri performed an average of 59.9% ball possession while this season so far Inter have an average of 59.5%. Inter are basically keeping the ball the same amount of time per game, they just do it differently. 

Last season’s possession was much more passive and from the back of the defense, with the goalkeeper and the defenders more involved. Inter were keeping the ball in their defensive midfield and occasionally tried to get to the wingers when they had a chance.  

This season, things are different. Chivu’s tactical approach also focuses on playing the ball directly into the strikers whenever possible, favouring a more vertical style of possession than in the past. While this isn’t the case in every match, the Nerazzurri are clearly trying to attack more directly, making their possession more effective. Previously, it could feel passive at times. One way to understand this difference is that while Inter’s total passes completed are down, dropping from 486 to 463 in Serie A, their passes in the final third have actually increased from 107 to 126. Passes in their own half have dropped by 40 from 274 to 234. It’s a major change. You can really see the difference when you look at the heat maps of where they’ve had possession over the last two years side by side.

This isn’t necessarily a better way of playing, just a different one. Whether it will prove more effective should become clearer in the coming months, as Inter need to win a trophy this season to move on after the major disappointments of last year, when they finished without trophies despite reaching the Champions League final and losing the Scudetto in the final matchday of the 2024–25 season.