Sergio Conceicao appeared objectively disappointed after the game at the Stadio Sinigaglia in Como, despite the fact his team came from behind to win.
Milan approached the challenge in a disappointing and submissive manner in the eyes of the coach effectively leaving the ball in the hands of the home team, a choice only half-intended by Conceicao who instead was banking on an aggressive and efficient pressing phase.
As our colleagues at SempreMilan.it write, Conceicao has recognised early on that the 4-3-3 is not the right formation for his Milan, or at least isn’t the system to go all-in with. The presence of three midfielders, the coach also stated in the post-match, is perhaps not the right way.
“Yes, it’s true, Bennacer and Fofana together step on each other’s toes. Isma went off for a yellow, but they both have to improve,” he said. So what might change from here?
Quality over quantity
Paradoxically, in Conceicao’s eyes Milan need more quality rather than work rate, but quality that however must go hand in hand with intensity in pressing high and in not giving opponents time to build with clarity.
This is why, as revealed in past pressers, Conceicao’s goal is to bring a 4-4-2 to Milan, the main formation he used in his seven years at Porto which brought him 11 trophies, with some slight variations along the way.
There are some interesting similarities with the start of Stefano Pioli’s tenure as he inherited a team closer to mid-table than the top four and scrolled through various concoctions such as a 4-4-2 and 4-3-2-1 before settling on the 4-2-3-1.
At first glance, there are many unknowns regarding the change of system, starting with the use and position of the best and highest-paid player in the squad: Rafael Leao. However, let’s look at the various departments one by one.
Reinforced rearguard
The defence should be the department that will change the least. Mike Maignan will obviously remain the starting goalkeeper, while the full-backs Theo Hernandez and Emerson Royal do not seem at risk.
The latter however will have different instructions; in particular Theo will have the task of creating central options in the possession phase by inverting. The Frenchman can be an extra weapon in an attack that, in the 4-4-2, will need to fill the midfield with dynamism and creativity, which he certainly provides.
In the non-possession phase, both full-backs will move up to the midfield line to press. They will also have the responsibility of covering and possibly doubling up on the preventive pressing of the midfielders and attackers.
The build0up with Conceicao will start from the back but will not necessarily have to be prolonged: the team will play out from the defence but will also often look to attack the space in behind quickly, or invite the press and then play through it with quick one-touch passing and movement.
As for the central defenders, Conceicao seems to have chosen Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw (who is now injured too) at the moment, but it is not excluded that with the passing of the weeks he could also give some chances to Strahinja Pavlovic or Matteo Gabbia.
A mobile midfield
The midfield is certainly the most delicate department in Conceicao’s proposed new set-up. In this sense, the Portuguese wants a constant balance in order to never find the middle of the park outnumbered.
For this to happen, the Portuguese coach has created two well-defined pressing zones. The first is in the opponent’s half made up of one of the two attackers and the two wingers; the second in midfield with one of the two attackers falling back, plus the central midfielders and the full-backs.
What Conceicao wants is a compact and courageous Milan that is also capable of taking risks, but is also difficult to penetrate by teams that intend to build from the back. This type of intense and aggressive approach will force opponents to try long balls, giving time to recover.
In possession, the two midfielders will play higher and will often exchange with the two strikers. In an attacking sense, Conceicao’s Milan focuses a lot on winning and recovering second balls. The midfielders and full-backs will play on the same axis to collect loose balls and avoid immediate counter-attacks.
As for who will play, the two certainties will remain Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana with the addition of Ismael Bennacer and Yunus Musah in the rotations. The wingers will initially be Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic, when both are fully fit.
The Portuguese and the American will have an important dual role: pressing high in the non-possession phase and coming inside – both with and without the ball – while the two strikers will widen to throw off marking assignments and create half-spaces.
Conceciao’s 4-4-2: the attack
The attacking department is probably the most incomplete for the implementation of the preferred module by Conceicao. The former Porto boss, who expects a gift from the market, prefers two similar strikers but with specific characteristics.
Both must be physical but at the same time mobile (Mehdi Taremi and Evanilson were often the pairing at his old club) capable of both protecting the ball with their body and moving out wide to create space for overlaps.

In this sense, Milan have Alvaro Morata and Tammy Abraham in the squad – two players with similar characteristics to those sought by Conceciao – but nobody else. The links with Marcus Rashford, a player who can play in a front two, provide further evidence regarding the desire for formational flexibility.
Furthermore, Francesco Camarda, Noah Okafor and Luka Jovic are less complete players and seem unsuitable to play the role of two strikers as intended by Conceicao, in spite of the fact that the latter two have been ‘second strikers’ at previous clubs.
The transfer window should lend a hand, but it is not excluded that Leao could play in the front two in certain matches (or moments of the game). His run in behind against Como shows what the speed and intelligence of his movement can generate.
Seems like we don’t have the players for this type of 4-4-2. Leao did great things against Como by speeding up through the middle, but I don’t think he can be a second striker in this formation. Our players who are supposed to start the pressing action, aren’t as aggresive, as Conceicao probably expects them to be. The lack of depth in midfield leads to obvious fatigue and our players there prefer to stay back, rather than synchronize the pressing with the front three. We need a week free of matches to see how the team prepare while being slightly fresher.
It’s a concern because the question becomes: who leaves? The clock is clearly ticking for Gabbia (which is sad), and then I think in the end one of our wingers (Leao or Pulisic) will eventually also get moved on for a more defensive type, and then I think Reijnders will eventually pay the price, as there are only two central midfielders in 4-4-2 and they both need to be good defending. That’s the issue with 4-4-2. We’re built for 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, even if Conceicao doesn’t like the latter, with our wingers pushed up high and not expected to do much defensively. But management chose Conceicao and now we’ll have to contend with the with formation/players that he wants, or we don’t and he busts out, and we start again with another manager. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oh and Camarda. Forgot about young Camarda. It seems unlikely he will get further significant playing time this season, and probably next, unlike with Fonseca. So it will be interesting to see if he sticks around or decides to elsewhere to develop. Hopefully it will be all worth it and Conceicao will make us competitive again, or else in about a 1.5 years we’ll be looking for another coach while having lost a lot of good players because of a short-term system change.
I try Okafor in 4-4-2 system. In Attack we can play Morata – Leao and in midfield Okafor – Raijnders – Fofana – Pulisic. But definitely Chuk is not good enough, we should sell him and buy better deputy to Pulisic. But first we need another striker to pair with Morata especially if we sell Jovic
It all sounds fine in principle, but our fitness levels aren’t there yet for a 90mn consistent, aggressive press, because we can’t rotate the players enough to give them rest and recovery. There’s no one to replace Tiji or Fofana.
Musah and Bennacer are good enough to rotate with them. Tijji is not offering much anyway. Musah can’t be worse. It’s kinda strange to me that everyone is claiming that there are no midfielders to give Fofana and Tijji a break.
I think with coaching Leao could be a forward with coaching and time. Especially since conciecao likes his forwards to drift wide. It didn’t work with Pioli because Pioli isn’t very tactically flexible and hardly seemed to give any new direction to his team when he did switch up the formation. I think with Pulisic’s work rate he’d be fine as a RW but Chuck would not so it leaves the squad thin.
With all that said the team wasn’t constructed for a 442 and perhaps that’s why Fonseca was chosen in the end even though it does seem management liked conciecoa from the beginning.
I think we’ll continue to see a 433 (which is fine) unless we make some changes in the next few weeks. Fortunately you can do a lot of the things that the coach wants with a 433 and I have faith that conciecao is capable of adjusting and adapting his tactics as well as teaching the squad his tactics to get us to summer then let the overhaul happen.
If we go 442 and our team was built properly I’d put Theo as the left midfielder and Leao as one of the strikers who can roam. But alas, we don’t have a proper sub for Theo or another defensive minded LB (I guess Jimi could work but he also attack minded).
A 4-4-2 with Theo as a LM could an interesting thing to see in the future (we don’t have the depth to try it this season). We can’t try it with a more defensive LB (like Bartesaghi) and make it some sort of a 3-4-3/5-2-3 defensively with Theo as a LWB and Bartesaghi as the 3rd CB.
So a bit like this:
Offensively:
————— Leao ——- CF —————
Theo—–Reijnders—-Fofana—Pulisic
Bartesaghi—-Thiaw—–Gabbia— RB
Defensively:
Leao————–CF————-Pulisic
Theo—–Reijnders—-Fofana—RB
Bartesaghi——-Thiaw——Gabbia
I didn’t determine the RB because it’s clear that Calabria and Florenzi are leaving and I do not wish to see Emerson starting again. For the ST we will need a better one than either Abraham or Morata.
The double pivot part is going to be difficult, while I don’t dislike Reijnders, he will have to learn how to defend or this system isn’t going to work. Fofana is a box to box midfielder who can attack and defend, Tonali and prime Bennacer could also play there but Reijnders isn’t defensive enough so far.
Leao will also have to learn to play as support striker, which so far was met with no so succesfull results.
But that’s just my take.
Yep that formation is exactly how I envisioned it. Leao isn’t bad as an SS but I’d worry if he is asked to be too close to the striker. That roaming role albeit on the left is where he’s most dangerous. He could take up an LW role and both him and Theo just run ragged on that side of the field with the Left back almost playing like an additional CB but much further back to allow space.
But again….squad construction
Okafor is similar to Evanilson. Skilful and speedy. So maybe try him with a striking partner.
442 twin striker is correct! Finally a coach who understands Milan DNA!
Here are the solutions:
1. 3-4-3 formation.
This will add more bodies to the midfield, move Theo to midfield, we will maintain our front 3 attackers, but our defense will be deeply hit as we will be short of personnel.
Leao – Morata – Pulisic
Theo – Reijnders – Fofana – Musah
Gabbia – Tomori – Thiaw/Pavlovic
2. The 4-3-3 formation.
This in my opinion is the best formation for this team, I believe if the players understand this system, the true strength of the team will be evident for all to see.
3. The 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 formations.
While these formations are well balanced formations (especially the 4-2-3-1), these formations don’t bring out our strength, as we don’t have two strong and combative midfielders as the base. Because in execution both formation are essentially a 4-2-4 due to the characteristics of the players we have.
Leao and Puli are not LM and RM respectively, in a 4-4-2 formation, they will always be on the wings to support the two strikers, thereby leaving the midfield for the two combative midfielders to absorb the pressure from a counter attack.
In a 4-2-3-1 formation, we two combative midfielders who can allow the wingers, the AM and the Striker to be creative in attack.
Liverpool had a combative midfield of Fabinho, Wijnaldum and Henderson, these three midfielders gave them the freedom to alternate between a 4-3-3 formation and a 4-2-3-1 formation easily depending on the opposition.
While I love the 4-4-2 formation, we cannot effectively execute it, we all know Leao is not a CF, same applies to Pulisic, our two most creative players will not be at their best in this formation.
Forget all these dreams of formation, theories and BS. Nothing will ever work if the players are slow and clumsy in front of goal. How can Milan win games if The GK touches the ball million time more the entire forward line. The leading teams don’t use this constant tactic but rather take the ball at their opposition third. No formation will ever work if the plan is to involve the GK at every opportunity. I hope to be proven wrong but Conceicao cannot perform miracles unless complete overhauled of Milan playing game.