A different AC Milan was seen during the 3-0 win over Lecce on Sunday night, one that seemed to play with a bit more freedom.
As MilanNews point out in their analysis, Milan took to the pitch with a 4-4-2 system (or 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 depending on the situation) that surprised everyone a bit given that Ruben Amorim seems wedded to his 3-4-2-1. It was something Koni De Winter also confirmed after the game.
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An effective tweak
The reason is quite a simple one: to have more fluidity in attacking positions and be less readable on the wings with the overlapping runs of Pervis Estupinan and Mario Gila. Furthermore, Milan did it to be less predictable in their playmaking when coming out from the back.
If with the 3-4-2-1 the origin of the play was often confined to the central areas (Luka Modric or Ardon Jashari dropping deep, Gila on the centre-right), spreading the Spaniard so wide gave the opponent far fewer reference points.
Add to this Gonçalo Ramos clearly used as a playmaker, and you have a Milan that had many more attacking options. The goals demonstrated this, beyond the beauty of the individual technical moments.
For example, on Strahinja Pavlovic’s pass, Pulisic was ‘free’ because Ramos had drawn attention to himself in the attacking midfield by coming towards him. On Adrien Rabiot’s goal, the Frenchman immediately sprinted forward knowing the space was coming after Gila’s pass to Pulisic.
On Diego Moreira’s goal, Ramos recovered the ball in the attacking midfield, followed by a fine individual run at pace from the Belgian. Three different attacking styles, all three highly effective.
The tendency to seek the space in behind – something that hadn’t been done against Benfica – was immediately apparent. Pulisic, Samuel Chukwueze, Estupinan, and Rabiot took turns trying to launch themselves behind Lecce’s defence.
Rabiot, in particular, demonstrated great tactical intelligence. The short movements of Ramos and Pulisic, while the other attacking players remained high up the pitch, created significant space between the lines which the former Juventus man filled.
This explains Estupinan instead of Moreira as a left back. If we keep playing like this, I guess there’s a battle between Moreira, Saelemaekers and Chuk for the LM and RM slots. But most probably we will not continue playing like this, because it worked well, and Amorim is always searching for a way to self sabotage somehow
You characterize it as a “battle” but I wonder if it will more be tactical choice.
Each bring unique skill sets giving the coach choice for set up and choice for change in a game.
Each can also cover more than on position on the field.
I’m happy to be interested in stuff like this coming into the break. We knew what Allegri would do and so did every opponent. The approach here and your analysis show + my disagreement show we have a more thoughtful (too thoughtful?) gaffer.
Yeah well basically both Allegri and Amorim have the same flaws, in that they are very rigid and stubborn in their approach. Only advantage Amorim had over Allegri, was that Amorim’s general principles (pressing, dominance, fast play) are way more modern and attractive than Allegri’s (not conceding, not too much risk, slowing down the game to tire the opposition). If it’s really true that Amorim is learning from his mistakes, he will allow our players to alternate more freely between the positional structure too (3421, 4231, 442). That makes us much more dangerous against small sides, but also more vulnerable against the good teams. I guess Amorim will have to analyse his opponents better from now on and deploy the best approach per game (which at ManU he certainly failed to do). If Amorim can achieve that, he will be very good at Milan. But like I said, this is a stubborn man that in the end finds a way to self-sabotage. Even if the freedom to roam worked very well to day, I would not be surprised if Amorim tried to make a point in the next game that his rigid approach can also work. It’s also a question of reputation for him, I guess, as he proclaimed while at ManU that he would take his principles to his grave.
Did you read the post at all? Don’t be a nuisance contradicting what was written. If Amorim isn’t flexible with formation, why in earth is this article written? Think naw.
Moreira is starting from the bench because Amorim doesn’t want to start him and Chukwueze at the same time (from what I’ve read). Is it because he perceives Moreira and Chukwueze at the same time as a defensive liability? Who knows. But what we do know is that this guy decided to let Athekame leave on loan, and now he has 2 goals and 2 assists in 5 games for Lyon in a four back system. 🤦♂️
I hope this break is an extension of pre-season for the boys since a lot of them won’t be going to their respective national teams. It should give them enough time to smoothing some of the issues in the team and be well prepared against the stacked up schedule.
Pioli showed us that extended time like this as happened during the COVID period if it is utilised very well it can become a blessing in disguise for the team to fire on all cylinders.
Didn’t even notice. We looked like we played as if we had 3 at the back 🤷♂️ just that they took up slightly different positions (not to the effect of a 4 ATB tho)
Yeah first I thought the same thing, but then I re-watched some parts of the game. It really was a four men defence, but we changed between 3421 / 4231 / 442 constantly. That makes us much less predictable. But you’re right, the shift from a 3421 to a 4231, in the end, is not that big: Estupinan drops back to provide an extra solution instead of hugging the sideline, Gila goes wider (as a RB) and Chuk is less exposed / isolated on RWB. In the end the formation is not the shocking thing. It is that Amorim allowed the freedom to shift between different formations, whereas during his ManU spell, he was almost sickly obsessed with the rigidity of the 3421 structure. That was his downfall too. When Carrick took over, het let the player play freely and they were amazing. Carrick was, however, strongly lifting on Amorim’s general principles (hard work, dominance, intensity). You see that now: ManU under Carrick now is pretty lacklustre.
In the end it comes down to Amorim’s stubborness. I’m still not very convinced. He always seems to be looking for a way to self-sabotage. In the next games he might just as well switch back to his rigid approach.
A few observations:
I’d like to see Moreira and Saelemaekers start together on opposite flanks in these more tradition winger roles, but Saelemaekers has to learn to let go of the ball sooner – for every ball he wins there’s one he gives away.
I guess a 9 and single 10 means Ramos and Pulisic start with Camarda and Cisse as cover – cool but lets hope they’re not left to rot on the bench.
This is probably music to Tomori’s ears as he suddenly has a role as Gila’s understudy on the right. Getting rid of Akethame is looking an even worse decision now.
It took me longer than I’m prepared to admit, to work out what our shape was last night but we looked a proper unit and Amorim proved he has more than one page in his playbook.