AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has confirmed that he tried a different system in the game against Sassuolo on Wednesday night.
Pioli spoke after the Genoa game about how he wanted Rebic to essentially play close to Leao to support him up front, and it became apparent that a 4-2-2-2 (basically a 4-4-2) was being used against Sassuolo, as we picked out in our tactical analysis of the game.
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In that 4-4-2, Saelemaekers was operating predominantly on the right but looking for pockets in and around the edge of the box, just like against Genoa. Rebic and Leao were occupying a centre-back each and Calhanoglu peeled around to the left to cause momentary confusion.
Pioli spoke to the media who gathered at Milanello on the eve of the game against Lazio and spoke about the change in system against Sassuolo, with his comments transcribed by MilanNews and translated below.
“When we had the ball it was a 4-2-2-2, without the ball we played with the 4-4-2. We prepare every single match to enhance our qualities and put the opponents in difficulty, so the positions on the pitch change. Our players know the spaces and this is important,” he said.
Good thought Pioli. 442. We played well actually against Sassuolo. The problem was Bennacer not playing. Because in 442 the two MC must have defensive awareness that Meite poor of it.