It is no secret that Paulo Fonseca has wanted to change several things about AC Milan since his arrival, and the defensive changes are being seen with the Rossoneri’s style shifting in recent weeks.
When Fonseca arrived in the summer, he stated that he wanted to see a ‘dominant’ Milan. It is fair to say that has rarely been seen in the first few months of his tenure, but this is changing after some monumental results, topped by the win against Inter.
Drops are always expected with change, of course, not to the level that the Diavolo have experienced at times, but it is a work in progress, which the Portuguese head coach is very aware of.
Ahead of the Rossoneri’s clash against Leverkusen, Fonseca spoke about the style of defence he wants to see, alluding to the fact that he had multiple different set-ups for the structure. Because of this, Milan News looked into the changes, and they identified some different things.
Starting with games where Milan may not be able to be as dominant, the report suggests that Fonseca asks his team to be deeper and more compact, making central areas more difficult to penetrate – which we saw against Inter.
Fonseca asks his team to concede space in ‘less dangerous’ areas, to allow the defence to have better coverage of significant areas, rather than employing a man-to-man press, for example. Of course, danger can still come from these areas, but it is believed that Milan will eventually be better as a result of the new shape.
Leave pavlovic on the bench. That would be a good change.
A druga vratiti Kalulua pod hitno!!!!!
One of the issues I noticed since Fonseca made some changes (or maybe even from the beggining but then we had other issues that took the spotlight) is that we’re too narrow on the flanks.
I understand that being compact and having lines close to one another is a good thing, but the problem is we’re leaving massive gaps on the sides that our opponents exploited each time. inter’s goal came from Barella on the flank to Dimarco on the other flank to then Lautaro and Dimarco again. Leverkusen’s Boniface had a great success against Emerson getting the better of him each time.
And of this is a bit bizarre because the 4-2-4 and 4-2-3-1 are not narrow formations.
So aside or rather from who should start Fonseca would be wise to think about the width issue.
The difference between our flanks exposed and our flanks covered, is the difference between Leao & El Sharaawy in our match against De Rossis’s roma: defensive work rate. Having players who run into our half and STAND there doing nothing does not count as a defensive strategy. We need players who want the ball when going forward – off the ball movement is key, moving between channels & exploiting spaces. sometimes, i feel our players are hiding behind opponents not creating spaces. this only highlights lack of technical skills and a defeatist mindset.
Better to leave space on the flanks , than to leave space in the middle of the field.. on the flanks, opponents will need to cross the ball before having a shot.. in the middle ,they can have a shot at goal easily, and still have the options to play on the flanks if ure closing on the player with the ball … At the flanks , attacks are less direct, thats why a coach will prefer being attacked on the flanks than the middle . .