Inter's ability to respond under pressure is being tested early this season, and the 3-1 win at Bologna offered a timely answer. Coming off a bruising 4-3 Champions League defeat to Club Brugge at San Siro, Cristian Chivu's side trailed at the Dall'Ara before turning the game around through Marcus Thuram, Carlos Augusto and Ange-Yoan Bonny. The result kept Inter level with Lazio at the top of Serie A on 19 points after seven games.

The bigger concern surrounds the injury list. Captain Lautaro Martinez is out with a muscle problem and will not return until after the November international break, while Benjamin Pavard has also been ruled out with a similar issue. Both absences arrived in the same week, compounding the fallout from the Brugge defeat. Chivu publicly accepted responsibility after that European loss, describing the performance as a collapsed structure, and his team's response at Bologna was an important signal.

Bonny is emerging as a key figure in Lautaro's absence, scoring in consecutive matches and pressing for a more regular role. Carlos Augusto, introduced from the bench at Bologna, is producing numbers that rival Federico Dimarco's impact from previous seasons. With Inter hosting Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on 21 October, Chivu must stabilise a squad that has shown it can win without its captain, but cannot afford further defensive frailty in Europe.