Inter's Heavy Loss to Cagliari Shows the Nerazzurri Still Trail the Top Teams

Despite a bright start to the 2014-15 season, Inter Milan's capitulation against Cagliari on Sunday shows they still have some way to go before they can be considered as Serie A contenders once more.

The Nerazzurri came into the game in third place on the ladder and would have expected to continue their strong early-season form against last-placed Cagliari at the San Siro.

But those plans were soon in disarray as the southern club launched wave after wave of first-half attacks, which caused panic in the Inter back line and resulted in a Yuto Nagatomo red card and a 4-1 lead to the visitors at the break.

The hosts attempted to claw their way back into the game in the second term but were unable to alter the scoreline.

It had been Inter pushing forward early in the game until Cagliari striker Marco Sau got on the end of a long ball and converted the chance to give his team a surprise lead.

Dani Osvaldo hit back for the Nerazzurri, who appeared to have the momentum once more, but the dismissal of Nagatomo for a second yellow card (albeit a harsh one) proved to be the turning point of the match.

Swedish winger Albin Ekdal scored two minutes later to restore his side's advantage and then added two more goals as Inter's defensive structures fell apart completely.

It was a fearless attacking display from Cagliari, the type you would expect from a team managed by Zdenek Zeman, but the manner in which Walter Mazzarri's men lost their composure under pressure indicates the gap between Inter and the likes of Roma and Juventus remains a wide one.

The fact that the two leaders both have perfect records from their five games highlights how much better equipped they are for the Serie A campaign than Inter are.

Mazzarri simply does not have the squad depth to have his side playing at its peak in two competitions.

Three Serie A games in a week, with the prospect of a Europa League clash coming up in four days' time, forced the manager to shuffle his playing deck for the Cagliari game.

Captain and central defender Andrea Ranocchia was rested, as was regular starting striker Mauro Icardi (who made an appearance late on).

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

Gary Medel and Yann M'Vila have shared defensive midfield duties so far this season and it was the Chilean who was preferred in this game, while Nagatomo starting meant the in-form Danilo D'Ambrosio began on the bench.

Though Mazzarri has some quality backup players to call on, the fact that the squad underwent a fairly major overhaul in the offseason means that an understanding of the system and rapport between players have yet to be established in all cases.

The necessary chopping and changing of the starting XI have resulted in inconsistent performance levels from match to match.

Against Cagliari, things fell apart when a player was dismissed and those left on the pitch did not have enough collective experience to deal with the situation adequately.

Roma and Juventus, and even sides like Napoli and Fiorentina, have had the same core group of players for a number of seasons now, and it shows in the way they play from week to week.

Inter, while boasting a number of talented players in their roster, will take more time to truly jell as a unit.

For now, the Nerazzurri are still a team in transition.