Following AC Milan’s victory against Juventus, reports are suggesting that Sergio Conceicao could look to use the 4-4-2 going forward.
The first 45 minutes of Juventus-Milan were heavily underwhelming, and the new head coach made his team aware of this in the half-time interval – something that will continue to happen as he revealed after the game.
Aside from this, half-time was used to go over some tactical videos, and the side came out in the second half in a different shape. Conceicao opted for a shift into a 4-4-2, rather than the 4-3-3 which had been failing him.
As Calciomercato.com reports, for the first time this season, the Rossoneri experienced a result overturn due to the work of Conceicao. The tactical change ‘altered the fate’ of the game, and this is a system more familiar to the new head coach.
The system had previously disturbed the Diavolo, Inter and Manchester City when the coach was at Porto. For this reason, the success of it against Juventus could ‘dictate the way forward’ for Conceicao, changing what he had originally planned.
Of course, the game against Inter could be completely different, but if a similar tactical set-up is deployed successfully, a permanent change to a 4-4-2 could be on the horizon for Milan, given the side are a ‘revolution in progress’.
Milan won majority of their titles and trophies under Berlusconi playing a 442 during the Sacchi and Capello era.
Only Zaccheroni 3412, Ancelotti Christmas tree 4321 or 4312 and Allegri 4321 and Pioli 4231 was different BUT Berlusconi ALWAYS insisted that Milan should play with 2 strikers.
So I’m excited to see the return of the 442 formation. We beat Inter , Juventus and Real Madrid this season with 442 so why not continue to use it.
Jesus..before the 21st century all teams played 442 more or less…
It was the 60s formation especially with the rising of Brazil and after the Magyars dismantled the WM a decade sooner. The 70s saw the rise of the 4-3-3 in Netherlands then the 5-3-2 became a bit more used, but the 4-4-2 was still the most used type of formation.
The English teams kept using the 4-4-2 up until 2010 more or less after which the 4-3-3 (popularized by Mourinho with Chelsea) became more popular.
As for us, this season we don’t enough strikers, let alone quality strikers, to afford using 4-4-2 all the time.
Nevermind that we’ll have to get rid of Leao in the summer, since he can’t defend as a more traditional winger in a 4-4-2, and isn’t as effective playing inside if he’s used as one of the two strikers as proven when Pioli tried 3-5-2 for a while. Oh well.
442 could work but 3 things need to happen. The crucial one is leao successfully becomes a SS in the front.
Then puli on lm and musah on rm.
Imao it’s 2 much work to mold this team into a 442. We’d need to swap out 4-5 players. That’s basically a summer revolution, again.
Seems like all we do is revolution in the summer since M&M got fired and gazidis left.
If leao can play as one of the 2 strikers like sheva or pato then it might work.
Well don’t forget that the market is saturated by players for 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1 formation.
In Berlusconi era Milan played mostly 4 3 1 2.
Kaka was behind 2 strikers, but midfield with Gattuso ambrosini seedorf and pirlo was super defensive covered. No mention how defenders was strong.
This Milan with Leao, can’t play 4 4 2 in terms where Leao is central forward. He is only good as winger
Nope. Sacchi and Capello played 442 and they won more trophies than Ancelotti. 4312 was only during Ancelotti tenure. So the majority of the time Milan played 442 under Berlusconi.
442 !! My favourite one
It opens so many options , you get many LM options as theo,jimenez,pulisic,musah,maybe rejnders idk if he played that , and RM aswell jimenez,musah,pulisic,chukwu , also terraciano and florenzi when he gets fit , we would have 4 for CM fofana,rejnders,benacer,loftus , and many players for striker combinations like leao,tammy,morata,okafor,camarda ,
My favourite one would be (it will never happen anyways):
————-Maignan
Jimenez-gabbia-thiaw-theo
Musah-fofa-tijjani-pulisic
——morata-leao—–
The difference between 4131 and 442 is minimal depending on the role of the second striker. Wengers arsenal went from 442 to 4231 purely because Bergkamp dropped off Henry. They still had a solid midfield 2 and flying wingers. Pulisic could play the Bergkamp role. Rafa is too effective out wide.
Guys, do you remember when Pioli went for 3-4-2-1 after the nightmarish January 2023? We played Conte’s Tottenham and a few Serie A games where the team regained its stability, had a more fluid game in the middle, but guess what? Rafa didn’t look too happy as a second striker and not long after that Pioli dropped the idea. I don’t think the situation here is much different. You have a formation that makes sense for most of your players, but not the star player. What do you do? Leao needs inspiration and positive attitude to play his best game and I have major doubts that changing his role would benefit said attributes.
I do remember all of that.
The problem for Leao is that for such a talented player he is pretty one dimensional. He can only play as a LW. He was a striker but can’t play as a CF anymore and can’t play as a SS. You think that a player like him who doesn’t like tracking back will thrive more in a 3-4-2-1, but I think he needs to have more time and space to dribble a defender and cross/shot. In other words, he needs to receive the ball a bit further from the opposition’s box to make his playing style work.
As for the 3-4-2-1 (or 3-4-3) it does have some advantages IMO. Theo will have less defensive duties, we don’t have 3 good midfielders so can only use Fofana and Reijnders and overall less defensive problems. The problem is that we don’t have enough good CBs to make it work, although Calabria or Royal might be able to play as RCB if needed but also we will need a true RWB which we don’t have, Musah did it well once but that’s about it and Calabria and Royal don’t have enough offensive qualities to play as RWB. Maybe we can’t try Jimenez as a RWB but the results aren’t guarantee, and we definetly lack depth.
When I think of a classic 4-4-2, I immediately thought of the class of 92’s Fergie. With double targetmen in Yorke + Cole, which we unfortunately don’t have right now. Morata is world class, but he’s more known for his pressing and work rate than his prolific scoring ability. Abraham hasn’t got back to his first year Roma’s form, and Camarda isn’t ready.
I also don’t know if Leao is going to fit in 4-4-2, he is neither a striker nor a second striker, always sulked when being played there and has poor finishing for a player of his caliber. I know Reijnders found his scoring boots this season and one might hope the same with Leao, but in 4-4-2, I suspect that he would be playing even further/wider on the pitch. He would also be needed to be the first line of defence in terms of losing possession; well, I just hope he won’t be nonchalant.
Another point is that, with changing the formation, we also risk changing the ‘fortune’ of Reijnders and Pulisic who had been carrying the team this season. A different tactic might works differently, and let’s hope they are able to maintain the form despite going yet another revolution here.
Having said that, I’m glad that I’m not the coach, so I hope Conceição could concoct a winning formula here.
Oh boy here we go. Revolution? Let’s just let them work in peace and not over exaggerate what they’re doing. Fonseca also had a revolution, look how that turned out
With this bunch it would be better to go 4141. A compromise between 4231 and 442. That way Puli, Leao and Reijnders would still play their roles and all that’s needed is a proper DM. Or maybe Benny can slot it if he stays healthy.
Didn’t we beat Inter with 442?