AC Milan have not started the season the way they would have liked from a results perspective but also from a defensive point of view, with six goals conceded in three games.
La Gazzetta dello Sport have taken a deeper look into the defensive struggles, starting with the fact that the Expected Goals number from the three games was a combined 5.67, a sign that Milan were not a victim of bad luck but conceded as many as they should have.
The list of culprits is not complex. It is long and begins with Theo Hernandez, Fikayo Tomori, Davide Calabria and Emerson Royal. In what order, everyone is free to decide. However, it is mandatory to extend it to the other departments because the system is failing the Rossoneri.
In the summer, Fonseca asked for changes compared to the past, when defence was a serious problem. He asked for aggression and possession, to be used also for defensive purposes, to manage the pace of the game.
Little or nothing worked and Milan today appears to be a team full of players who, due to their characteristics and mentality, create many problems in the defensive phase. All the midfielders – except Youssouf Fofana – look forward, they are better at attacking than playing without the ball.
The attacking wingers left in the squad, from Samuel Chukwueze to Rafael Leao, with the partial exception of Pulisic, have no defensive application. Thus, the plans fall apart: Milan want to defend compactly but often remains with too many men above the line of the ball.
Fonseca does not want to defend man-to-man and tries to maintain numerical superiority at the back, but often the mechanisms fall apart and the defenders find themselves facing a three vs. three, a four vs. four etc.
The game against Lazio showcased many shortcomings, starting with individual errors. In the first attack of the match for Lazio, Tomori completely got his movement wrong on Castellanos and Dia found him in behind. Dia shot weakly, and Pavlovic recovered on the goal line.
Filippo Terracciano, with Milan ahead 1-0, lost Tchaouna in the area and let him head the ball behind him. Milan were saved only because the header is weak and central.
The goal by Castellanos changed the game. Things fell apart when Fofana did not notice the movement of Dia behind him and at the same time Tomori comes out aggressively to target Nuno Tavares. Pavlovic did not move over to give cover to Tomori and the Englishman completely lost Tavares, twice as fast.
Then we move to Dia’s goal. Chukwueze was taken out of the game by the Nuno Tavares-Zaccagni combination on the wing and Emerson Royal was slow, underestimating the danger. Then, Tomori did not close the only possible passing lane for Dia and Pavlovic was beaten to it. A chain disaster.
With Liverpool and Inter to come, Fonseca will have to work hard and ‘probably make unpopular choices’. The team mentality will have to change, the application will have to grow a lot, and could a player like Matteo Gabbia also be useful?
Tomori is the constant involvement in all the goals. Reckless aggression, poor positioning. And this is without speaking about how limited he is with the ball. The goals come all from the right side also because he is now playing on centre right.
If Fonseca has the balls he should simply try to play without him and try Thiaw or Gabbia for a few matches.
Try Thiaw? That guy’s nickname is mistake. I have watched the goals and Tomori wasn’t really to blame, not sure how would he block this guy when Emerson was following him and he tried to intercept the ball. The idea he didn’t close the exact spot where the attacker passed is stupid. Who can guess that? Ther could be another man running behind his back and he would be blamed for that. In the middle, Pavlovic left his man and he scored. Tomori was least to blame from these 3, by far. Emerson is jogging.
Tomori is clearly to blame on the 2nd goal of Lazio. Watch it again, he is out of position and gets beaten by Dia. I may let him pass the first.
omori is the constant involvement in all the goals. Reckless aggression, poor positioning. And this is without speaking about how limited he is with the ball. The goals come all from the right side also because he is now playing on centre right.
If Fonseca has the balls he should simply try to play without him and try Thiaw or Gabbia for a few matches.
I truly believe that Tomori should be dropped and Gabbia should start along side Pavlovic going forward. Tomori had form has continued from last season.
What’s bizarre is that Milan have a lot of mezzalas in the team and yet Fonseca is insisting on playing 4231 when RLC is proving that he is not an attacking midfielder and he is not a defensive midfielder so he cannot play in any of those positions except for a mezzala in a 433. The same goes for Reinjders, Musah and Bennacer.
So the real question is why is the coach and his staff creating this unnecessary unbalanced formation forcing square pegs in round holes? Either they are incompetent or just plain stupid.
If Milan lineup with a 3 man midfield our defense problem will be solved. Reinjders, Fofana, Bennacer/RLC.
It makes no sense given the players we have to go with a 4231 formation or a back 3 formation and it makes no sense for us to use a high press when our wingers like Leao and Chukwueze are very poor at coming back to help defend. Only Pulisic provides defensive cover.
This milan team is better off playing a mid block with counter attacking football. Leao and Pulisic/chukwueze needs to be isolated in 1 on 1 with defenders because Tammy Abraham and Morata are very mobile strikers who move a lot. Only a counter attacking style will get our wingers to break quickly to score or setup assists.
The incompetence of this coach and his staff is insane. They use data analytics and still can’t see what the issue is because they insist on playing a certain formation and style of football that is not suitable for the players we have in the team.
AGREE 1000 PERCENT WITH ZIONTRAIN !! NO HIGH BLOCK !!
I agree with everything you said here.
I think part of the reason we’re so insistent on possession+high block and press is that it looks prettier for the fanbase (especially the american one).
Sitting deep and counter doesn’t attract a lot of views and can be boring and ugly sometimes.
Of course if the goal is to win and make the best use of what we have, we’ll have to pick whatever works best regardless of “aesthetics”.
our team should be 433
gk:- mike
lb:- theo
cb:- pavlovic
cb:-tomori/gabbia/thiaw
rb:-calabria
cm:-bennacer
cm:-fofana
cam:-reijnerds he has good passing long shot but is useless in the defense
rw:-pulisic
lw:-rafa
st:-morata/okafor/jovic/abraham
4321
Libe and Pul as AMFS
Thiaw……. Mr. MISTAKES Bennacer…..too SLOW & Floats too much Fofana …..Mr, I only go backwards with the ball Leao……. DEFENCE ?????
Bennacer can only Play mezzala??? 😅
We need to face reality the only kessie replacement is kessie himself
It is any physical midfielder that can also run a lot. There is so many of them that it is incredible Milan didn’t manage to buy one. Kessies path after Milan shows how “good” he is. Nobody would buy for 12.5M that Barcelona sold him to Saudi Arabia. Ok? 12.5M, nobody wanted him.
We’re three games into a new defensive setup.
Chill.
When Inzaghi made changes to his tactics in the Napoli Scudetto year, he ended the season with 12 league losses and nobody batted an eye.
If you want the team to evolve, then let them make their mistakes and learn from them.
Ryan , we cannot play a high press ( defensive setup ) with the players we have !!!!! Only my boy PULI can handle that.
Journalist: “Are we going see Gabbia starting any time soon?”
Fonseca: “Who?”
Journalist: “Gabbia. Milan’s best CB last season.”
Fonseca: “????”
Since we’ve got Pavlovic we can pretty much say that Gabbia will be burried under the rubble. If he’s lucky he might manage to steal minutes from Tomori.
I don’t always agree with Maldini’s Heir but this management+staff do seem to have a thing against home grown players and Italians.
Yep. Everyone except the players and probably the people in Milanello seems to want an all-foreign Milan.
Just learned today that we managed to develop another new midfielder to Azzurri as Brescianini was called up. So… Apparently he’s good enough for the national team but not good enough for Milan. Deja vu. When will we learn? I guess never. I’m sooooooooooo fed up with Moncada already and want him gone.