Inter timed to perfection

Euroscene: Arsenal are about a month too late. As the Premiership leaders prepare for their "do or die" clash with Inter Milan at the San Siro tonight, it will be of little consolation to them to know that, ideally, they should have played this match one month ago.

One month ago Inter were in total crisis. A Milan derby defeat, a draw with lowly Brescia and a series of less than convincing Serie A performances had finally persuaded club owner, Massimo Moratti, that time had run out on his over-cautious Argentinian coach Hector Cuper.

Moratti sacked Cuper just hours before Inter were due to fly to Moscow for a Champions League game against Lokomotiv Moscow. With reserve coach Corrado Verdelli on the bench, Inter gave a miserable showing in a 3-0 defeat.

That night in Moscow was the lowest of low points from which Inter, under new coach Alberto Zaccheroni, have been slowly but surely recovering. Unbeaten in five games and having taken 10 points from four Serie A ties under Zaccheroni, Inter emphatically underlined their revival with a sparkling 6-0 demolition job of Reggina in a Serie A clash last Saturday night.

It could be argued that relegation battlers Reggina do not represent the toughest opposition. Certainly, they are light years removed from Inter's next two opponents, namely Arsenal and then Juventus at the Stadio delle Alpi on Saturday.

Yet, for anyone who had become familiar with the laboured, fractured, unconvincing performances so often offered by Cuper's Inter over the last two seasons, Saturday night's performance was a revelation. Not only did Inter score goals, but they looked like a hungry, motivated, attack-oriented side.

When Zaccheroni first burst to prominence with Udinese in the late 1990s, guiding the Friuli club to its best ever Serie A finishes of fifth in 1997 and third the following season, he did so with a bold, 3-4-3 basic formation.

In particular, his lineout made the most of powerful German centre-forward Oliver Bierhoff by providing him with two wide men to supply the crosses.

To some extent, Zaccheroni is repeating that model with Inter. The central target man is Christian Vieri whilst on Saturday night he was flanked by Dutchman Andy van der Meyde and Nigerian Obafemi Martins.

Against Arsenal tonight, Zaccheroni may well be tempted to stick with that initial trio even if he has a useful replacement in Argentinian Julio Cruz .

Likewise, Zaccheroni has replaced Cuper's constant tinkering with the tactical certainty of a 3-4-3 line-up in which individual elements will inevitably change but which has already identified the two Zanettis (Cristiano and Javier) in midfield and Colombian Ivan Cordoba and Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro in defence as foundation stones for the renovated Inter edifice.

Zaccheroni is the first to admit, however, that the biggest change he has brought to Inter concerns not so much tactical formations as mental attitude.

He says: "I believe in a different type of football (from that of Cuper) and therefore I've had to change everything but all the players have shown themselves very willing. We're doing really good work here and we're catching up fast."

Arsenal fans could take comfort from their last trip to Italy for a Champions League game: a year ago they trounced AS Roma 3-1. On that occasion, Arsenal's timing was just right. This time, however, the Gunners may be about a month too late.