How might Inter Miami play in 2022 under Phil Neville?
Taking a closer look at what we may see from the retooled South Florida side beginning on Wednesday vs. Universitario
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Phil Neville was forced to move away from his preferred style of play with Inter Miami in 2021, but it appears as though he is going to try to implement it again this season.
A revamped Inter Miami is in Week 2 of its preseason preparations, and already the team has done a decent bit of tactical fine-tuning in addition to the routine fitness work that takes place this time of year. The South Florida side did so arguably most notably this past weekend in the first friendly of the year — an unorthodox scrimmage that sources tell Miami Total Futbol consisted of four 20-minute periods, ended 4-1 in favor of the Columbus Crew, and saw centerback Ian Fray score the lone Inter Miami goal.
That exhibition was played behind closed doors, however, and as such there is still not a clear idea as to how this iteration of Inter Miami will play under Neville. Wednesday night’s tune-up at Drv Pnk Stadium against Peruvian power Universitario de Deportes will provide fans their first glimpse, but what exactly should they expect from this largely unknown squad?
“We want to dominate the ball in possession, of course” new Inter Miami midfielder Mo Adams told Miami Total Futbol. “Dictate the play, be able to move the ball, switch the ball from side to side, be able to penetrate through the middle. But then obviously out of possession to be a high-pressing team to try and win the ball back as soon as we can.
“That has kind of been a theme that we have been working on and something that we are going to continue working throughout the whole preseason.”
If that all sounds a bit familiar it is because that is how Neville initially talked about wanting to play when he arrived to South Florida in 2021. The Englishman stated shortly after being appointed Inter Miami head coach last winter that fielding a side with that kind of proactive, energetic, and imposing approach was his goal.
“When the supporters come to the stadium I think I want them to see a team play with an identity and say, ‘Yeah, this is an Inter Miami team, an exciting team that play a real open brand of football,'” said Neville in January 2021. “We want to play technical football, we want to be aggressive, we want to play on the front foot, we want to go out and try to win every single game.”
Of course, that idea changed drastically once Neville was hit with the realities of the Inter Miami roster he inherited. He recognized the players he had at his disposal had different characteristics and did not necessarily suit that attack-minded style, leading him to alter his strategy early in the season.
“Sometimes you have got to be adaptable with your tactics,” said Neville last May. “I think with the personnel and the profile of the players that we have got at this moment in time … maybe we just have to be a little more adaptable.”
With a retooled and younger roster now in place, it sounds as if Neville is going to try and get back to his initial plan of high-pressing without the ball and being possession-based with the ball. A lot of the offseason moves that were made were done so with those tactics in mind, with the principle idea being that the acquisitions will help Inter Miami better dictate the tempo of games.
Wednesday’s match against Universitario will provide the first public opportunity to see how this overhauled Inter Miami side goes about it executing that idea and whether the game plan is one worth sticking with this time around.
“We always want to keep the ball. We always want to have possession,” Fray told Miami Total Futbol. “We want to keep the ball as much as possible, make runs forward, and just want to connect passes.”