AC Milan have been the in-form side in Europe in the calendar year of 2020, and it is all thanks to the work of Stefano Pioli and his players.
Milan are unbeaten in their last 25 games in Serie A, their best unbeaten run since 1993 (with Fabio Capello in charge). The last game without a loss in that run of 58 matches unbeaten was a 2-2 draw against Lazio, but the Rossoneri went one better on Wednesday by beating them 3-2 to stay top.
Below is a thread which looks at the Rossoneri’s tactical approach this season including defensive shape and playing to our very specific strengths, from our writer Rohit Rajeev…
If the opposition pass the half line into the Milan half then Milan form a narrow block and try to push the opposition wide and press them like this pic.twitter.com/LGrsvbzwO3
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
If the team is not pressing high and crowding the center one of the double pivot falls back into the backline, pushes the full backs and creates space for Alessio or Kjaer to pass. pic.twitter.com/cZIcYgbpR4
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
Milan use overlapping full backs by having the wide players move infield and the full backs make an overlapping run inside the box or cross pic.twitter.com/oqea6qczf4
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
Transitions are, if practiced well, impossible to stop. Milan are deadly on the counter and with quick players with good ball control, they are difficult to stop pic.twitter.com/DzY835DfDC
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
Earlier in the season when we had Ibrahimovic and our players were more fit and Athletic, Milan use a lot of one touch passing combinations to open up defences. When you move the ball as quickly as Milan, it is impossible to stop them as again there are no set patterns here pic.twitter.com/pd8OStIbPW
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
And then we use quick switches of play. Milan suck opponents to one side of the and then use one of the double pivots (now even they are not needed) to quickly switch play to the other wing and it opens up the defence pic.twitter.com/JZt4XJsgGj
— Rohit Rajeev (@milantactics) December 24, 2020
