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Man-to-man, zonal or hybrid: Milan’s corner approach put under the microscope

By Oliver Fisher -

One of the areas that has been highlighted for improvement by AC Milan fans and the media is set pieces, and more specifically corner kicks.

It does not matter what level the team or opponent are, set pieces can be a way to add value to any side, both in terms of adding attacking threat and increasing defensive resilience too.

With the introduction of specialist coaches for that particular aspect of the game, teams are taking set pieces more seriously than ever and we have previously published an analysis on the fine margins involved.

Paulo Fonseca is now at the helm of Milan and he has brought with him some coaches that he trusts, ones who might be able to help bring fresh ideas and a new approach to different areas, including set pieces.

Previous plan

Our writer Rohit Rajeev took a look at a specific game last season, namely the one against Sparta Praha in the Europa League.

The most revealing thing about a corner kick is generally what happens before the ball is even kicked. From a standing position it can be seen whether a defending team is playing zonal or man-marking, and whether an attacking team are using crowding or blocking.

In this particular instance, Milan keep two men on the edge of the box for any clearances or ricochets, with the majority of targets grouped towards the far post and Yacine Adli as the blocker. Once the corner is taken things spring into action, with runs towards the near post and a dangerous delivery resulting in a goal.

 

As we highlighted in numerous tactical analyses last season, Milan used a mix of man-marking and zonal marking under Stefano Pioli and at times it seemed to cause some confusion in terms of assignments. 

In an ideal world a hybrid marking system should enable a defending side to both track runners from the opponent but also have coverage for balls that enter certain danger areas.

However, the risk of a ball falling into a zone that isn’t covered coupled with the possibility of someone losing their man means that it does not always work as planned.

New ideas

As La Gazzetta dello Sport highlight as part of their analysis of the friendly against Rapid Wien, one of the four obvious tactical indications in the preseason curtain-raiser came from corner kicks.

Fonseca chose to position six men zonal inside the area and ask the other four, around the edge of the area, to mark the runners. Will that be the strategy moving forward? It is too early to say.

The work on the training ground so far has only been going on for a couple of weeks and these are things that can be fine tuned a bit later than more fundamental aspects of the game.

However, Milan face off against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona in the United States with the first game coming on Saturday night. From there, we might be able to deduce some more concrete signs.

Tags AC Milan

9 Comments

  1. They are trying to sell us same ol’ cr*p in new wrapping paper here.

    It was first match of the PREseason. Calm with such wild theories and detailed analysis until season starts and we’ll throw cards on the table in January.

      1. Wayy too sensitive for deleting comments that’s relevant to the discussion (esp.when we’ve seen way worse on this forum). Probably going to delete this too smh 🤷‍♂️

    2. At no point in the article did it say it would be a success. It simply highlighted the obvious change from game one of preseason, which could be to our benefit or detriment. I think you’re the one who needs to calm down

  2. Great analysis. Corner kicks, and more generally set pieces, have been our bane for way too long. Although, last season we leaked goals from pretty much every possible position

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