Thuram’s form hiding goalscoring problem Inter need to fix soon | OneFootball

Marcus Thuram’s brilliant moment of form is helping Inter offset Lautaro Martinez’s goalscoring struggles, but the Nerazzurri will require their captain to step up soon with an extremely congested fixture list looming over them from January on.

The Argentine star remained scoreless for the fourth consecutive Serie A game against Como while watching his attacking partner find his 12th league goal from 16 games.

epa11760964 Inter Milan’s forward Marcus Thuram (L) hugs Inter Milan’s head coach Simone Inzaghi after scoring during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Inter Milan and Parma at the Giuseppe Meazza stadium in Milan, Italy, 06 December 2024. EPA-EFE/DANIEL DAL ZENNARO

Inter can’t afford lack of goals from strikers in first months of 2025

The two Nerazzurri strikers are going at two completely different speeds, but Simone Inzaghi’s side will hardly be able to afford to keep relying on just one of them when season-defining fixtures start coming thick and fast immediately after the turn of the year.

Inter’s first match of 2025 will be the Supercoppa Italiana semifinal against Atalanta in Saudi Arabia on January 2.

Whether it will be followed by a final or not, the Nerazzurri will then play Venezia, Bologna and Empoli in the space of a week in mid-January, with Inzaghi expected to make rotations to preserve his players’ condition and needing as much firepower as possible to avoid dropping points in those matches before sterner test come in February.

Champions League football will also resume on 22 January, with Inter facing the pressure of getting at least four points from their remaining games against Sparta Prague and Monaco in order to finish in the league phase’s top eight and not spoil what has been a solid European campaign so far.

MILAN, ITALY – NOVEMBER 10: Lautaro Martinez of FC Internazionale controls the ball under pressure from Alessandro Buongiorno of Napoli during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and Napoli at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on November 10, 2024 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

The first half of February will be arguably one of the most delicate moments of the season for Inzaghi’s men, as Serie A clashes against Milan, Fiorentina and Juventus, as well as a Coppa Italia tie against Lazio, will all fall within two weeks.

With Thuram having scored more than half of his side’s goals coming from the strikers, it is evident how risky it would be for the Nerazzurri to keep getting scarce goalscoring contributions from the likes of Lautaro Martinez, Mehdi Taremi, Marko Arnautovic and Joaquin Correa.

The lack of goals from their captain is the one which could end up affecting Inter’s chances of competing for titles the most – he had already found 15 Serie A goals at this stage last season, proving absolutely crucial to provide his side with a decisive edge in the Scudetto race.