AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli outfoxed his counterpart Luciano Spalletti with two perfect tactical moves: Brahim Diaz on the right and Ismael Bennacer as the playmaker.
Today’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanNews) focuses on the position of the Spaniard, who has already played wide on the right and did so with great success in the 2-0 win over Juventus at San Siro earlier in the season.
It was evident in the early stages last night that he would be able to profit from the role again given how easily he beat his opponents on the dribble, weaving in and out of three players to set up Rafael Leao’s opening goal before scoring himself from close range.
Then there was Bennacer’s more advanced role. He played mostly as part of the forward line with Rade Krunic as a holding midfielder alongside Tonali, because the Algerian’s first task was to shield the opposing playmaker Lobotka which he did.
Pioli’s reason was obvious: a player like Krunic would probably have struggled against the small Slovakian midfielder, while Bennacer – having similar physical characteristics such as a low centre of gravity – marked him more easily.
The former Empoli man was virtually flawless in both phases, so much so that he too ended up on the man of the match list together with Leao and Diaz.
Bennacer is such quality player you can field him anywhere and he will excel. Diaz, when playing AM was always drawn towards the right, he likes it there. He likes playing close to the out line, where he can dribble, make space, do his stuff.. Central, he is poor, cant play with his back towards the goal, gets bullied off the ball easy etc etc
I wouldn’t say ingenuity. Fans have been calling for deploying bennacer as no 10 and Diaz as a RW for 2 years in a row. The fact that it took Pioli two years to realize their best positions compared to their skills can be categorized as a lot of things but ingenuity isn’t it lol Spain NT, Man City, And RM always Saw Diaz as a RW yet we were trying him as a CAM. I know it’s because of the lack of players in that position but still. Fun part is.. both Saele and Bennacer’s skill matches that no 10 position perfectly yet we always opted for players such as Krunic and Kessie who are pure DMs.
Like i said in latest reply for bennacer, he deserve and more danger if he play more attack to distribution the ball. Leaves tonali and krunic for double pivot. Milan more danger and i guess more creative…
Pioli isn’t a genius for playing Bennacer or Brahim in their preferred positions. If any of you have followed Bennacer during his time with the national team when they won AFCON, where he subsequently won the player of the tournament, you would know that he played in an advanced midfield role. Diaz has been part of Man City and Real Madrid systems, which are predominantly 4-3-3 systems, so I guess they saw him as a winger. I will consider Pioli a genius if/ when he can finally find the key to unlocking the true potential of the team he’s been given.
Pioli’s stubbornness is what is hindering him from getting more out of this team. Management has assembled a very good (man v man) squad.What I mean is ;most of our players will excel in 1v1 situations, whether it’s a defender or an attacker. It’s like it was a prerequisite to be a part of this new Milan team. So it shouldn’t be surprising to see Diaz do what he did, when presented with isolated situations. The problem has always been getting enough of those isolated moments for our players to exploit so that they can be more decisive. Pioli has to look at the strategy of matching his opponents in tactics and see if we can achieve more decisiveness from our players. Instead of sticking with one formation, just match the formation of the opponent and see if that generates more 1v1 duels.