Paulo Fonseca deserved a lot of praise for the way that he set AC Milan up against Real Madrid last night, for five key tactical moves in particular.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report in their piece titled ‘checkmate in five moves’, the first move was that he used Yunus Musah as the fifth defender on the right to double up on Vinicius Junior, who may not have won the Ballon d’Or but still deserves a special treatment.
Milan defended against him with five men but the number doesn’t matter, the attitude does. Fonseca often kept the line high, defending the centre to avoid through balls and allowing men between the lines, as he had already done against Inter, at the cost of exposing the wings.
Above all, he managed to have a compact Milan, often squeezed into a space 20 metres, with the three lines (defenders, midfielders, attackers) very close together. This made the difference, and it is something Arrigo Sacchi has spoken a lot about.
The second thing of note is the role how Rafael Leao played. He was seen defending almost as the seventh man in the line at times, he read situations well to drop back when Theo Hernandez went forward and he followed his man when the danger rose. In other words, he did what Fonseca asked.
Milan showed Fonseca’s style with the ball too. Real Madrid kept the ball more (57%) but Milan managed it much better, playing positional football and managing the ball well, all with control of the pace of the game.
When the Rossoneri were in possession, Theo Hernandez pushed up on the left, Christian Pulisic pushed in towards the centre, Alvaro Morata dropped back to help with possession, Yunus Musah often played in the middle and other times out wide.
The result was an orderly structure, thanks above all to Youssouf Fofana and Tijjani Reijnders in front of the defence, and the right freedom to improvise. Milan sometimes lost the ball and suffered from Real Madrid’s counter-attacks, but almost always controlled the game very well.
The fourth point is that Alvaro Morata was fundamental. He is a very intelligent striker, he has technique and uses his movement well, almost becoming an additional playmaker at times. Then, he popped up a few yards out to score what would prove to be the winning goal, and being tough to predict is not a bad thing.
The last move was set pieces. Milan are scoring a lot this season from corners and free-kicks, because they have dangerous headers in the middle (Thiaw yesterday, before that Pavlovic and Gabbia), plus quality deliveries from Pulisic, Theo and Reijnders.
It is striking that Fonseca often chooses the same solution: a corner taken towards six-yard box, Morata attacking the near post, the centre-backs jumping behind him. It is just how Thiaw’s goal came, and if it is working then it is worth repeating.
Indeed the compact 5-4-1 is what made the difference. Don’t know how much it is applicable in serie a though
It will be interesting to see, regardless playing in a compact fashion can only help, I think the challenge in the league is remaining compact while providing a valid offensive threat against the small clubs like Juve 😂😂 who only know how to pack 8 in the box
I really liked seeing the back 3/5 variant and I was very impressed to see how well Leao did with it, playing some defense. I don’t think they will use it a lot, but it’s an extra tool for playing against top attacking teams like Madrid and maybe Inter as well. Musah looked very good as a right wing back. That might be his best spot.