Only Inter showed up for the first leg of the Champions League semi-final clash last night as AC Milan’s tactical plans stopped before kick-off.
A fast start from Inter was enough to put the game and possibly the tie to bed in front of a sold out and hostile San Siro. In fact, 11 nightmarish minutes for Milan were enough for the Nerazzurri to not only got two goals up, but also to clearly demonstrate who are the better and more equipped side from every point of view.
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The final result is also a pardon of sorts for the Rossoneri, who undoubtedly deserved a more severe punishment as Inter even missed a handful of chances after going 2-0 up, without mentioning the overturn penalty which splits opinion.
The constant deep runs from Simone Inzaghi’s midfielders and the overwhelming physical supremacy demonstrated on the pitch instantly undermined the fragile and improvised resistance of the Diavolo, who appeared – as often occurred during the season – completely unprepared and at times inexplicably lost.
In the fourth derby of the season, Pioli failed to find an effective countermeasure to Inter’s strengths, failing in the dutiful task of protecting his team and its defects, a mission that Inzaghi managed to accomplish instead.
The Nerazzurri head coach has a far from perfect team at his disposal, but he seems to know it much better than his opposite number, having clear strengths and weaknesses in mind. It is from these deductions that he created the winning plot.
The impression is that this Milan has understood very few things so far this season. The team have often appeared – yesterday more than ever – to be disunited and frayed.
The protagonists have always intervened to keep the cart moving along, with excellent individual performances and efforts having managed to mask the tactical inadequacies of the collective.
In particular, it is inevitable to refer to the ‘excellence’ in question: Rafael Leao. Let’s not forget that the quarter-finals were overcome thanks to his work in the first leg and his incredible solo run in the second. From those moments the Rossoneri’s increase in confidence was visible, just as the psychological decline of the Azzurri was too.
However, it happened that bad luck decided to strike and rule him out of the game, which confirmed a rather worrying presumption: without Leao, Milan showed the whole world watching that they have very little to offer.
A clear demonstration of all this was the infinite pre-match tactics that played out. The only real strategy of Pioli’s Milan was played out in the hours preceding the kick-off, between Milanello, Twitter and the hotel retreat.
There was news of solo work at Milanello, a renewal being signed and a lunch together with the team, all an attempt to make their opponents believe that Leao’s presence would not only be possible, but even probable.
It was almost desperate move, at least as seen from the outside. The message reached Inter and Inzaghi loud and clear, aware that Leao would not only be the only Rossoneri player they should have worried about, but also the only real ballistic missile that Milan have.
Leao will probably be there for the return leg and Milan’s hopes of qualifying could depend exclusively on him, which once again paints a rather concerning picture of where this squad is at.
Leao is by far and wide our best player. Not only that, the most relied upon. We don’t have a RW or a CAM so everyone knows he’s the guy. Still though he manages to create and score despite all this. Sure you can say his presence was mind games but what do you expect for having probable lineups leaked all the time to the other team?
The game in the first few minutes were indeed bad. But if we play like in the second half, we have a shot. Objectively speaking our second half was good and showed us what Pioli had in terms of preparation and approach. The problem was players not executing the preparation from the beginning.
Also, Inter is vastly better than us. As a team they have a better players across all positions. Lautaro and Dzeko are definitely better strikers than Giroud and what else we have. Snake is a far far better CAM than Diaz, Barella is by far a better CDM than Tonali, Krunic or Benny. Theo vs Dumfries is a wash imo, as are the CBs. Their wingers Dimarco and Dumfries collectively are better than what we had today in Messias and Saele. From their bench they can bring in Lukaku, Brozovic, DeVrij and Correa. We have Origoat, Messias and Slowbega. 🤷♂️
Milan played compacted defence against Napoli in 3 games and Tottenham in 2 games.
I think here Pioli did bad job against shitter.
But he has 3 final games to win against lowest three serie a side to reach something more.
“the protagonists have always intervened to keep the cart moving along, with excellent individual performances and efforts having managed to mask the tactical inadequacies of the collective”.
Somehow, I think you’ve confused the word collective with coach.
“without Leao, Milan showed the whole world watching that they have very little to offer”.
Why is that??
I don’t know if the whole world was watching this season as Brighton and Girona showed that they can play great football in the EPL and La Liga respectively. Whether they win or lose, they’ve consistently been good, even against some of the biggest teams in their respective leagues. I’ve been watching though, and having seen what they’ve done, should I believe that Milan players are of a lesser quality than the two clubs mentioned? I’ll leave it there, because it should be clear where I’m going with this.
I’m not going to be harshly critical of Pioli because he’s done fairly well and all isn’t lost yet, but I’ll continue to plead for him to tactically evolve. He’s shown to be a good man manager, with an ability to get players to buy into his ideas and help them mentally. Based on those two qualities, I think he’s going to pull it off in the second leg because it’s kinda playing into his strengths and he’s shown that he can get the desired response from his players when under pressure.
Look guys, football 101, Pioli needs to be schooled on how to setup against Inter.
You can compare player for player all you like, but if they aren’t properly setup, they will still fail.
Remember, even when Leao played and Kessie and Snake played, we have always been severely dominated by Inter. It’s no magic, the formation doesn’t work.
Imagine Dimarco and Dumfries pushing Calabria and Theo backwards, and Latauro and and Dzeko pushing our CBs backwards, creating and imbalance in the midfield with with Krunic and Tonali to battle against Hakan, Mkitaryan and Barella.
Before Bennacer could even drop to support, the speed and technical abilities of Barella and Mkitaryan would have already outclassed our midfield.
The Christmas tree formation is the best formation I expect Pioli to execute in order to efficiently neutralise Inter’s formation.
Fielding 3 combative midfielders – Tonali, Bakayoko and Pobega or Krunic/Vrankcx to neutralise Mkitaryan, Barella and Snake.
2 quick AMs who can quickly transition in Counter Attack – Leao and Rebic/Diaz – They will be our creative force and supply for Giroud.
With effective zonal marking, Inter’s 5-man midfield will be occupied by our 3-man combative midfield and fullbacks, if properly executed, would isolate Latauro and Dzeko.
It will also enable Leao and Rebic/Diaz express creativity when Giroud is mounting pressure on one or two CBs.
Ostavite se ljudi Intera i navodnog finala LP !!! Milan je slabiji i GOTOVO !! Učinio je Milan na tom planu i više nego što je iko u klubu i mislio da hoće !! Pokupio je novce od plasmana , ulaznica reklama , tv prava i.t.d. Jedino što je važno sada je PLASMAN MEĐU PRVA 4 To osigurava neophodan napredak financiski i u smislu novog kadra igrača za dogodine. Ako to ne uspiju bit če bačeni nazad u odnosu na ostale i teško će to stić više ikada