Maybe it's a controversial take. But I didn't dislike Piolis 3-5-2. I only (massively) disliked his player choice in the starting line-up. Messias RCM!? No Leao despite soooo much space to exploit!? Calabria who's clearly physically out of form (couldn't handle Di Marco even a little bit) RFB instead of Saele? No Vranckx? Why did he hide Thiaw for so long and gave the space instead to Gabbia!? So many questions. Pioli corrected most of them in the 2nd half and voilà, the game became even. Why not just start like that?
I also didn't dislike our very conservative approach to the game. I know people say we gave away an entire half. But for once I agree that after conceding 3-4 goals in the first 45 minutes for four weeks straight, this time around it was more important to be compact and not concede, and only from then on to see what we can do upfront. Unfortunately, we conceded once again from a fucking set-piece, and it also has to be said that Inter was knocking on Tatas goal even before that. Which is not surprising at all when you try out an entirely new formation. The error was to wait for this long. It wasn't necessary to let it be the Inter game to try something entirely new.
Speaking of Tata. Great night. That's what I'm asking from him. The difference was evident: He kept the team in the game und bought us time to work a way out to at least get a draw with a lucky punch. We barely had this chance for weeks (if not even longer) because we were already three or four goals behind at halftime with many of them absolutely avoidable, even when the defending wasn't superb. But yeah, last night he finally delivered a performance worth of a goalkeeper, even if he's only the 2nd GK. But that's his fucking job. Anyway, credits when credit is due. He's also my MVP of yesterday.
Pioli has been working on 3-5-2 for some time now, albeit more attacking versions. We should stick with it now and try to build on it, ideally with some decentralized version that allowed to play Leao as a LF balanced by one player oscillating between RF and right mezz` ala like Pobega, CDK or Diaz.