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title: "Inter forward Marcus Thuram's share of the team's box touches rose from 11% to 27% after Lautaro's injury"
date: 2026-11-09T20:31:00-05:00
categories: ["opinion"]
url: https://tacticsjournal.com/2026/11/09/inter-forward-marcus-thuram-s-share-of-the-team-s-box-touches-rose-from-11-to-27-after-lautaro-s-inj/
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# Inter forward Marcus Thuram's share of the team's box touches rose from 11% to 27% after Lautaro's injury

Francesco Lisanti for [UltimoUomo](https://www.ultimouomo.com/inter-como-2-0-analisi-tattica-chivu-fabregas) translated from Italian:

> A graphic produced by Sky Sport after the match showed Thuram's "usage rate" percentages, a metric used far more in the NBA than in football in general, before and after Lautaro's injury. Before, 11% of all of Inter's touches in the box and 14% of all their shots on goal went through his feet; now he is responsible for 27% of touches in the box and 25% of shots on goal.
>
> In purely numerical terms, this difference in centrality was natural (Lautaro is the most important player in the squad in every respect), but in terms of responsibility it was not a given.
>
> [...] When Inter manage to build from the back without a single fixed playmaker, relying on the fluid rotation of the back four, in which even Çalhanoglu can often end up playing right back, as we saw yesterday, they automatically defuse the opponent's aggression and create space vertically.
>
> With a body feint Bastoni gets past Douvikas and opens up the pitch, while Akanji finds himself as the playmaker, forcing Perrone to switch markers, Barella plays centre-back and Calhanoglu full-back. When Inter play with this lightness and fluidity, it is difficult for any opponent to break shape and re-form without leaving space.

I think this plays a lot into how modern football is moving with rotations from midfielders moving back into the back line more often. Look at Frankie de Jong at Barcelona, Declan Rice at Arsenal, or Andrey Santos at Manchester United. Hold up play central becomes more important and more frequent when you lose a player in the midfield.

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