Inter Embrace Chaos as Chivu Defends Martinez Ahead of Roma Showdown
Inter are making a habit of walking the tightrope. For the second straight home game in Serie A, the champions fell 2-0 behind, this time to Udinese, and for the second straight time they clawed their way back with a furious, high-scoring response that had San Siro on edge and on its feet.
It is not calm. It is not controlled. But Cristian Chivu is not pretending otherwise.
“These are our qualities and what we know how to do,” he told Sky Sport Italia, reflecting on another wild night. Inter again lived dangerously, again survived, and again reminded Italy that no lead against them is safe.
Chivu did not spare his players for a flat opening spell. “For the first 25 minutes we did try to do certain things without the right energy, and Udinese did well to make the most of our attitude,” he admitted. The damage was clear on the scoreboard. Yet the reaction, once more, defined the evening.
“We stayed in the game, didn’t want to lose, and I am pleased with that,” he said. No talk of perfection. No illusion of control. Just a team leaning into its strengths and accepting the bill that comes with them.
Goals, gaps, and a deliberate risk
The numbers tell the story of a side built to attack and willing to live with the consequences. Inter have hit 14 goals in four league matches, the most prolific attack in Italy. At the other end, they have shipped eight in the same stretch. This is not the ironclad Inter of old; this is a team that throws bodies forward and dares opponents to live with the tempo.
Chivu is under no illusions about what that means.
“If I don't say I'm worried, I'm not a coach,” he said bluntly when asked about the goals conceded. “But this is today's football, with the intensity we put in, we take some risks because we want to play this style of play, we bring a lot of men into possession and when we lose the ball we expose ourselves to risks.”
He is not backing away from that identity. The coach pointed to the sequence on Nicolò Barella’s goal as the blueprint: “The counter-pressing on Barella's goal was done well, we're not perfect, we don't even want to be and we have to keep working, because the season is long and there are things we need to work on.”
No perfect team, he repeated. Not in his career, not now. What matters to him is that Inter hold onto their “human values and the principles of this group,” even when the scoreboard swings violently in either direction.
Chivu draws a line around Martinez
If the game itself was chaotic, the post-match debate tried to narrow its focus: the goalkeeper. Josep “Pepo” Martinez has been under the microscope, just as Yann Sommer was last season. Every slip, every hesitation, every goal conceded is being replayed and dissected.
Chivu has had enough of that narrative.
“Last year Sommer was the problem and you pointed it out immediately, now it's Pepo Martinez,” he snapped. “I will defend him to the death, just like [Ivan] Provedel or others. I kindly ask you not to always make headlines about our goalkeepers. We don't have problems with goalkeepers.”
The message was as much for the dressing room as for the cameras. Inter’s boss underlined that selection in goal, as everywhere else, remains a meritocracy.
“Last year you kept hammering on about Sommer and Pepo was wanted. Today it's Pepo because Ivan is wanted. Who is a great goalkeeper and will have his chance. But not out of pity, but because they deserve it. Everyone makes mistakes and so do I.”
No public trial. No scapegoat. Chivu is making it clear: the chaos is collective, the responsibility shared.
Roma on the horizon and no room to breathe
There is no time to process any of this slowly. The league has teed up a blockbuster.
Inter now march into a clash with Gian Piero Gasperini’s Roma at the Stadio Olimpico, a meeting of two sides with perfect records after four rounds and all the ingredients of an early Scudetto marker. It is the kind of match that can tilt momentum, even this early.
The build-up, though, comes with tension. Hakan Calhanoglu is battling a muscle strain in his adductor and remains a doubt. John Stones is another major concern after limping off around the hour mark. For a coach who relies heavily on rhythm and automatisms, those are not minor worries.
“Against Roma it is an important match before the break also because then I will be left with three players,” Chivu noted, a wry nod to the looming international exodus. “But we will continue like this, because this is the status of this group and we will try to improve along the way.”
Inter head to the capital as the most entertaining side in the country, a team that scores in waves and defends on a knife-edge. The question now is simple: can this thrilling, risky version of the champions carry them through a title race, or will the chaos one day finally swallow them whole?
