Relationism, shape and set pieces: Massimiliano Allegri’s tactical approach explained

AC Milan moved quickly to make key decisions this summer, as Massimiliano Allegri’s return was made official just days after Igli Tare was hired.

Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!

Indeed, in a statement on the official website, Milan announced on Friday that Allegri will be back for a second spell at the club. He takes over from Sergio Conceicao as the head coach, who joined on December 30 but lasted just a few months.

In a feature later that day we revealed the full background on how Allegri’s return materialised, and since then there has been media speculation about the way that the Rossoneri might look under him.

For the present and the future we can draw upon clues from the past. Rohit Rajeev‘s analysis takes a look at his general style of play over the years with different teams.

Before we go into the specifics, there are two schools of thought: positionalism and relationism. Pep Guardiola, Roberto De Zerbi and Paulo Fonseca are from the positional principle of thought, while Diniz (a coach in Brazil) is into relationism.

Coaches like Carlo Ancelotti, Stefano Pioli and Allegri stand somewhere in the centre, where they apply a mix of ideas.

Juventus: Out of possession

So how do Juventus defend? Their shape depended on the base formation. For example, in his last game versus Atalanta as Juventus coach, he adopted a 5-4-1 formation.

In the famous 2-0 win against Barcelona, he adopted a 4-1-4-1 shape. It turned out to be a 5-3-2 shape or a 4-4-2 shape in different stages.

Juve usually did not press high. They preferred to sit back in a mid-block and invite the opposition to attack. And when they try and penetrate Juve’s mid-block, then they would press them, win the ball back and try and counter.

The shape of the press once again depended on how the opposition set up against Atalanta, Juve pressed with 2 men upfront, trying to cut off the defence’s passing option into the midfielder acting as the deep-lying playmaker.

Was this the case against all teams? No. Juventus would press high using a man-to-man marking system. This depended on the opposition. If the opposition was a team like a lower division team then the press would be high and intense.

Now, if the team was prime Barcelona, then Allegri would instruct his team to press high in pursuit of a lead, and once the lead is taken, then sit back and absorb the pressure.

Juventus would press their opposition teams horizontally whenever they would try and use the flanks to penetrate. A man-marking approach would be taken and Juve would press them using the byline as a defender.

What is the main ideology behind Allegri’s philosophy? It’s to clog the centre and make the opposition work double hard for their goals. As you can see here nearly six Milan players are parked in the centre allowing little to no space for Barcelona to pass through.

And what if the opposition tries to go through the flanks? With the amount of players at the back that Allegri has, they would try and outnumber their opponent in the flank (3v2 or 4v3) and win the ball back.

Earlier, we spoke about how Allegri uses relationist principles in his style of play, but that didn’t apply to their defence. He used positional principles where each defender was given a particular zone to defend (not even a marker) and they would have to keep the structure.

Juventus: In possession

Now this is where the relationist principles kick in. Allegri, unlike his peers, does not believe in structures and overloads etc., he allows his players to dictate attacking play and score goals without interfering. But there are certain principles.

Build up with an irrational structure

Back when Allegri coached Juventus he never had a clear structure like how we have observed under Conceicao or Fonseca. Even when he was at Milan, Pirlo, Gattuso, or even Seedorf would drop into the defensive areas to receive the ball.

The closest that thing to this structure structure was this 3+1 when Lemina dropped between the lines to act as a receiver for the three centre-backs in front of him.

Here we can see Bonucci distorting the conception of structure and moving into space (purely because he was really good on the ball) to join the attack or even aid in the build-up.

Baiting the press

Against teams that press high (like Atalanta), Juventus likes to bait the press quite like Inter to create a separation between their midfield and defensive line, after which they will play out from the back either with clipped balls or third-man combinations.

Verticality

Like all Italian coaches, Allegri believes in the quick vertical movement of play and this means a lot of clipped balls/long balls over the top to bypass the defensive lines of the opposition. An excellent example would be the long ball played to Vlahovic for his goal against Villarreal.

Third-man combinations

https://x.com/MilanYouthFocus/status/1928787522949144935?t=NihwOe4pi1hrLWrJqPqYZw&s=19

While Allegri does not believe in structures, he gives ideas to his players to progress the ball and make changes. One such idea is third-man combinations.

Players, purely on the virtue of chemistry and understanding, create passing combinations where a third man recognises a space and positions himself to receive the ball.

Here we can see Rabiot acting as one of the third men and once the move is completed it opens him up to a whole lot of space.

Freedom to move

While Guardiola is a stickler to players taking their positions, Allegri has no qualms about players moving out of their zone to build up play.

Here are two examples: we can see Cambiaso, the designated RWB in the game, playing in the centre of the field, trying to pierce Atalanta’s right flank. In a throwback, we can see Zlatan playing as a No.8 while Seedorf is playing as an attacking midfielder.

The ‘Toco y me voy’ (pass and move)

The ‘Toco y me voy ‘is a principle where a player on the ball is encouraged to pass the ball and move which in turn encourages simple one-twos. Here we can see Khedira do the Toco y me voy and move the ball forward eventually turning out to be the build up to a goal.

Strikers acting as the tabela

It takes two to tango and the tabela is described as someone who joins the player initiating the Toco y me voy, here we look at the striker acting as the tabela.

The striker acts as the furthest point of reference for the ball players and either holds the ball up or makes lay-offs taking his marker out of the equation and creating space.

Below, we can see Higuain creating a lay-off, which became the catalyst for Dybala’s second goal of the night.

One-touch passing football

Allegri teams are also able to conjure great one-touch passing combinations to create chances like this chance they cooked up against Atalanta.

It was quick, and it didn’t allow Atalanta to settle into a defensive position. The quick nature of the passing clasped open the Atalanta defence, something coaches of all tactics emphasise.

Playing out of the press: Escadinha

Teams with positional play usually prefer to switch sides to catch the opposition out of position but Relationist teams prefer to play through them.

One such method is the Escadinha, or players diagonally aligning themselves, which helps them to play through the press. Here we can see Juve players forming an Escadinha.

When Juve had Dybala, who played as a natural trequartista and had a great understanding of spaces, Juventus also used to form passing triangles like this.

Counter-attacks

Of course any team that plays deep defensive football will always try to take advantage of the space behind with brilliant counter attacks. Morata’s goal against us is a brilliant explanation of this.

Individual brilliance

Lastly, none of this is possible without the individual brilliance of the players. Allegri enjoys flair and he encourages them to express themselves to help score goals. Here is an example of Cuadrado doing step-overs to attract two Barcelona defenders to make space for Dybala’s wonderful shot.

Set pieces

Attacking Corners

With a penchant to defend more than to attack, Italian coaches always focused on set pieces. Juventus scored 13 goals in their 2023-24 season from set pieces. One such goal was from Cambiaso.

Salernitana used a zonal marking system in corners. While Chiesa was taking the kick, Juventus players rushed to the front post while Milk blocked the view of the furthest Salernitana layer at the far post, making it easy for Danilo to head it into the far post area for Cambiaso to tap home.

Another set-piece goal came against Barcelona. Barcelona used a man-marking scheme while defending.

Juventus overloaded the front post, and Bonucci made an off-the-ball run, distracting Pique, which left Chiellini alone with Javier Mascherano, who is not the tallest player.

Defensive corners

Juventus used a hybrid marking system with some players given man-marking assignments and some who were zonally marking their assigned zones.

The drawbacks

Isolated striker

With a defence-first approach to his style, Allegri can over-commit defenders to their half and, therefore, isolate the strikers, especially when they have a lead. Here we can see Vlahovic isolated and 3v1 against Atalanta players.

No proper structure

One of the biggest strengths can also be the biggest weaknesses. If the lack of structure makes Juve unpredictable, it can also make them disorganised.

Here, we can see that Locatelli has to turn back and pass the ball to his backline to recycle it because he has no safe passing option forward.

While positional play ensures almost all spaces are covered, relationism depends on the intelligence of the players and how they interpret the spaces.

Conclusion and verdict

Allegri is not an idealist, he is an excellent strategist who often adapts his style of play depending on the oppositions strength and weaknesses. Below is Evra providing a testimony of this.

The style of play is something that is often used as a stick to beat Allegri with, but he has provided results. Result which the management seek, of course, but there is some real work to be done.

With a very flexible approach to tactics, Allegri depends a lot on the quality of the players. With Milan and Juventus he had some world class players in Zlatan, Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso, Silva, Higuain, Pjanic, Pogba which makes everything easier.

However, Max was not a big success in his second spell with Juventus and he left under a cloud. The management must provide him with some quality players to turn around the club’s fortunes and ensure that this second stint doesn’t go the same.