Stefano Pioli’s switch to a 3-5-2 formation was designed to make the AC Milan team more solid in defence but it yielded yet another defeat for a struggling Rossoneri, a report claims.
As has been reported by Corriere della Sera (via Milan News), the Milan coach decided to try and arrest the terrible run of form by matching Inter up player for player in Sunday night’s Derby della Madonnina.
Milan primarily play in a 4-2-3-1 formation and occasionally in a 4-3-3, but he decided to start with three centre-backs, a five-player midfield and two strikers. Milan had conceded 12 goals in the three games prior, so he wanted to stop that flow.
His other bold call was to leave Rafael Leao out of the side who, whilst regarded as Milan’s best player, has been badly out of form.
His introduction failed to bring any sort of reaction from the team in the second half and Inter cruised to a 1-0 win.
His decision to leave Leao out in the first half was stupid and he has to shoulder the blame. In the first half, not a single shot towards Inter’s goal.
I’d say Pioli’s experiment was a success as Inter couldn’t score 4-6 goals as everyone (realistically) expected. Conceding only once was a huge leap forward. That kind of performance MIGHT even keep Torino from scoring more than 1 goal. But that begs the question though… Who in Milan would/could score from the 1-2 good(ish) scoring chancing they might get?
But it was definitely a step into the right direction for sure. The opponents only get weaker from now on for a month or two. Turn the ship around on Friday and follow the Napoli’s WWWWWWWWW-example. That shouldn’t be so hard for a reigning champion that didn’t want to spend money on transfermarket as their new motto is “we are fine as we are”. 😉
*1-2 good(ish) scoring chances (obviously)