AC Milan and Torino played out an entertaining first game of the Serie A season on Saturday night, with three second-half goals eventually producing a 2-2 draw including a late fightback.
After impressing in preseason friendlies against Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona out in the United States – winning all three in the process – there was a lot of anticipation for the opener under Paulo Fonseca.
Out in the USA, the Rossoneri had shown some very positive things from a tactical standpoint with a clear style centred around possession-based domination of games and high pressing off the ball. Yet, as the famous Mike Tyson quote goes, ‘everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face’.
Indeed, Milan were punched in the face twice and going into the final 10 minutes they looked like limping to a rather embarrassing defeat after Malick Thiaw’s first-half own-goal and Duvan Zapata’s unmarked header.
Nonetheless, the substitutes came on and made the difference. Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders injected life, with Alvaro Morata got a debut goal and Noah Okafor netted a 95th-minute equaliser to steal the spotlight.
After a chaotic curtain-raiser at San Siro, our writer Rohit Rajeev has picked out some interesting tactical points from the game, one which saw a rather strange starting line-up named.
Set-ups and positives
Milan in possession used a 3-2-5 system with Saelemaekers tucking in as the inside forward while Rafael Leao stayed wide. On the right, Samuel Chukwueze came inside and Christian Pulisic stayed wider. Torino meanwhile tried to press Milan to the sides, keeping a very intricate structure.
One of the better aspects was how Milan broke out of the press using Mike Maignan. One of the team’s main issues last season was playing out of the back and this has largely improved under Fonseca. Milan tend to suck the press towards one side and then use Maignan’s ball-playing skill to switch play.
One of the ideas used to break down a three-man (or five-man) defence is to find space between the centre-back and the wing-back. Milan exploited this channel using passing manoeuvres, such as in the instance below where the space was clear for Pulisic but he couldn’t take the ball in stride.
Milan overloaded the midfield areas with extra men to pass out of mid blocks from the opposition, and this mostly came in the form of the centre-forward Luka Jovic dropping deeper off the ball.
Out of possession work
We saw some zonal pressing from Milan, which was a direct contrast to Stefano Pioli who preferred man-marking all over the pitch, welcoming 1v1 battles for his players and often allowing a lot of space in behind. A 4-4-2/4-2-4 shape off the ball was often seen vs. Torino.
Then there was the double pivot, which allowed Milan to expand. If and when the Rossoneri wanted to go all-out attack, the midfield tandem stayed back to allow the full-backs to go forward. This allowed them to counter press as well as protect the centre of the pitch.
Areas to improve
Jovic’s performance has come in for some criticism, and it is easy to see why he got little joy. By dropping deep to act as a ‘false nine’ it creates a big vacuum of space ahead and there is no player to hold up the ball. Sometimes Leao took that spot to try lead the line, but hold-up play is not his forte.
In a particular scenario where a cross was made, nobody from Milan took the risk and attacked the near post and thus the ball was cleared away quite easily.
It was remarked several times last season that – when needing a goal under Pioli the team would simply spam crosses to try and create something from nothing, and there were times on Saturday where that was repeated with little quality service forthcoming.
In addition to that, on the defenisve end the double pivot was extremely shaky. For example in the situation below Ismael Bennacer did not cover the path of the pass from Ilic to Zapata. Once the latter received the ball it created a 2v1 situation for Calabria which resulted in Torino’s first chance.
This was done a lot by Torino who used their wing-backs quite effectively, presumably under Paolo Vanoli’s instructions. This is why Fonseca spoke about improving the pressing, not just in terms of the amount but also the quality and intensity.
Set pieces
We end the analysis by taking a look at two corners: a defensive one that didn’t go well and an attacking one that did.
Firstly, there is the set piece from Torino’s left where Milan use a line of players plus a mix of zonal and man-marking. Somehow in the man-marking assignment, Bennacer is left having to pick up the much taller and much more aerially competent Zapata.
It is to nobody’s surprise that he was unable to stop his run to the near post, allowing the Colombian to get a free header that forced Maignan to make a reflex save with his legs. The assignments for player marking need to be better handled.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) August 18, 2024
Up at the other end, the Rossoneri did show some more creativity compared to last season. Having picked up on the fact that the Granata were also using a mix of zone and man, Milan used near post blockers and back post runners to scatter the markers.
The delivery to the waiting attackers at the far stick from Bennacer was pinpoint, and only a clearance off the line stopped Thiaw scoring what would have been a well-worked routine.
— Rohit Rajeev (follow @keralista) (@keralista_v2) August 18, 2024
About time someone points out Bennacer being awful defensively. People seem to pretend to be blind when it comes to Bennacer.
That example is one of many about Bennacer often being late or behind a play and just lacking urgency, defensive, and positional awareness. People confuse Bennacer’s ability to press better than the other midfielders with him actually being good defensively. The same was happening with Tonali.
On Torino 1st goal, Bennacer, who is supposed to be a defensive midfielder, is nowhere in the picture because he quit on the play at the center of the pitch. Pulisic was back trying to defend, RLC was there, but Bennacer was absent.
44th minute, again, chance for Torino, Ilic shot from the outside of the box, Maignan saves. RLC is there, Pulisic is there, but Bennacer is 20 yards behind the play barely jogging., even though he is supposedly the defensive midfielder, and according to biased people, head and shoulders, by far, Milan best midfielder, and the only one good on defensively. Hilarious.
Besides that Bennacer is not good in the build up and offensively. Unless it’s a short forward pass, his passes are usually lateral or backwards. He even spends most of the time running with the ball towards Maignan instead of the opposite way.
Fans and even media spend time criticizing RLC, who didn’t have a good game, but Bennacer along with Thiaw and Chukwueze were the worst Milan players on the pitch.
Z, bennacer and pobega are the worst midfielders in our squad he isn’t DM either AM he isn’t good tackler either fast to recover balls he is just good passer nothing else
The starting lineup did not set us up to win. Saleamakers at LB? WHy? I’m sure Theo and Morata could have started this match. Even if you needed to take them out after 65 minutes that would have been fine. Jovic while he has proven that can come off the bench late in games and score some goals has also proven that he is not a starter. From now on if Morata can’t start I prefer to see Okafor up top.
Chukuweze right back to his regular season form. He doesn’t make good runs, he just stays out wide, waits for someone to pass him the ball, then holds it too long and tries to dribble two defenders every time. Still don’t know why the some people including the coach was so impressed about a couple pre-season friendlies against B-side competition.
Same goes for Saleamakers. He’s a useful bench player but not more than that. We had him for years and there is a reason we wanted to get rid of him, and there is a reason Bologna did not want to keep him.
Calabria we all know is not good enough.
Once we get the new signings of Fofana, Pavlovic and Emerson in there I think the team will be just fine. I would go back to Pulisic on the RW and Loftus at AMF with Fofana and Reijnders/Bennacer in the double pivot.
You might be right. In fact, Fonseca pulled a Pioli right there. If they don’t have 90 min their feet, then play them for 50, 60, 70 min, whatever and then put in the subs.
Re right wing, I think it’s too early to give up on Chuk this season, but if he’s not progressing by the end of October, then yeah, it may be time to revert to Puli at RW and push RLC back up. I would even argue to test Reijnders as AMC and test Musah next to Fofana. Then we’ll have to figure out how to move Chuk on in 2025 without taking a loss.
Yes, the defense was poor, but the majority of the problem was engineered by the midfield formation.
Chucky, Puli, Leao and Jovic didn’t track or press to support the midfield. They were all upfront, we literally played a 4-2-4 formation in that match, plus Saladmaker isn’t a LB.
Only Benn and RLC had to contend with Lazaro, Ilić, Linetty, Ricci and Bellanova, and RLC was really poor, leaving Benn to sort the problem out.
Playing 3 midfielders could have helped.
We surely need quality in our midfield.
I would disagree with this. I think there is a ton of quality in the midfield. Just need to find the right combination. The problem is the actual defenders we had out on the pitch. Saleamakers is not a defender and definitely not a LB. Thiaw has zero IQ when it comes to defending, always making bad decisions. And Calabria has a real problem defending anyone 1v1, was poor last season and poor again in this game.
Once we have Fofana , Pavlovic and Emerson in the starting XI along with Theo back our defense will be much stronger.
We sure need quality in our midfield.
Obviously I was referring to our next game man.
I recommend a 3 man midfield, obviously we have Fofi and Benn who I rate highly.
Maybe with kone or Musah or Reijnders, but a midfield 3 would be more ideal in my thinking.
My comments were obviously in relation to our midfield formation in the last match, formation? Combination? What’s the difference? I don’t seem to get you disagreement here?
I also highlighted that Saleamakers is not a defender, which you also buttressed.
Well, Calabria, I’m tired of even picking him out, it may seem as though I have a personal issue with him, but y’all should know by now how critical I have been of in the last two seasons.
I also highlighted that the defense was poor, I simply don’t disagree just for the sake of disagreeing though. I expected a counter trajectory.
I can’t seem to post comments
Ok maybe this is where the issue generated from.
“We surely need quality in our midfield”
Should have been:
“We surely needed quality in our midfield”
I bet Fonseca will repeat his Roma roschade with us and change this formation. We do not have midfielders for 4231.
And neither for 433. We’re missing a true DM.
Watch him experiment with 343.
we totally need midfield overhaul.
One or two additional defensive ones to
supplement Fofana and Musah. Leaving
T.R and RLC as attacking midfielders
All others including Bannecer be put up for sale to make room for the new ones.
The problem with the team is how to win back lost balls or recover them, for effective transition
that play in the 14th min is the perfect example of if one person plays aggressive defense the whole team has to, any break in the chain leads to choas…chuk pressured the ball and bennacer had so much time to get up to apply pressure higher up. Ultimately ending up perfectly in the middle to give up the angle for the pass because he’s too far away and too far from the attacker to catch up and defend there. The entire team is bypassed by two very simple passes.
LOLOLOLOLO
Why is anyone surprised??? I mean really. We hired Fonseca not Kloop or Pep. Fonseca was hired not for his tactical prowess, his amazing understanding of the game nor his innovative coaching methods. He has neither of those. He is a good coach, not a great one. He was hired because he can (allegedly) develop cheap YOUNG developing players) players into professionals – to increase their RESALE value. So let’s be honest here. This was not unforeseen. It was watching Pioli-ball all over again. Same defensive issues as last season. Same disappointing players like Chukuweze and inconsistent players like RLC.
Ya ya I know I know the Redbird lovers will say: “wait till we start Fofana Pavlovic, Emerson and Morata” lol. Ya I’m sure they will help (although Mortata is expected to miss the next game via injury – who would have guessed it!!! LOL). Now I M sure they will definitely help – But that ignores a huge problem. This is about TEAM defending. And it’s hard to defend as a TEAM when you have players playing positions they are NOT accustomed to or well suited for.
RLC is not a DM
Salad is not a RB
Jovic is not a true #9 – he’s a second striker
Okafor is not a true #9
Reindeer’s is not a DM
Musah doesn’t know what kind of player he is yet
Fofana is not really a DM
Pulisic is not really a CAM – he doesn’t track back and left the mid exposed
Adli is not a DM
Pobega is not a DM or CAM
Etc…..
BUT this is what happens when our cheap A$$ owners just buy players because they are available on a discount – they don’t necessarily fit the system. We just get them because they fit our WAGE CAP and then expect them all to adapt. Well some can and some cannot. So we have an UNBALANCED team. Fonseca (or any coach for that matter) will have a hard time changing that. Ya ya I’m sure next week vs Parma we will win 3-0 and then everyone (Redbird lovers) will think we are ok again just like last season – (hey we finished 2nd – only 19 points off Inter and didn’t win a trophy and didn’t qualify for knock out of UCL and got bounced from Coppa Italia – but hey we are cooking right??). BUT the truth is we will still have them same issues (with a few different players) as we did last season.
While management is waiting around (Day 7??) to “sell” players for peanuts – other teams are easily outspending us and snatching our targets (Atalanta just signed Samardzic; Roma will sign Koné). I thought we didn’t NEED to sell in order to BUY???? Isn’t that what Furlani and Zlatan said??? Crickets????? lol
Ya ya we spent 69M already right so Redbird can’t be that cheap??? Well minus CDK (23M) Simic (3M) and now Kalulu (3.5) – that is a NET spend of 39.5M – almost we’re we are supposed to be at our yearly 35M NET SPEND. And don’t worry we will likely sell Benny so I’m sure that we will have a ZERO NET SPEND by end of August. Yes more PROFIT for Redbird LOL.
Can’t wait till Theo goes down with injury and we have no replacement – oh ya we have the amazing Terracino night last January to…ummm….what was he bought for?? Anyways he’s finally gone to Como!! Yes. For 1 Euro. Maluku gone too for a whopping 3.5M!!! Amazing business. And Morata? Oh wait he’s already injured and will likely miss up to 3 weeks. No worries we only have 50 games left to play I’m sure he will start all of them and if he can’t we have the man the myth the legend: Jovic!!
Good times!
I really don’t mind Fonseca if he wants to utilize more and more of young talents. From what we’re seeing on the pre-season matches, it was promising. But it’s all vanished on our first official match as he fielded the ol’ regular faces. Couldn’t help but to see there are still too many Pioli’s DNA on the game play.
The only bold thing he did was to field Alexis on LB, and, well, we all know how it went. Well, to be fair it’s only the first match. Let’s hope it’ll be only an uphill from here.
Just look at Motta, he surprisingly fielded Mbangula right from the start. He clearly has this faith on young talent (as he did in Bologna), and boy how that went well.
Ironically the problem is all the players are so Fast, they get in and out of position so fast. pulisic chuk leao tomri. some of the fastest players in the world.
Bennacer is NOT a poor defender — he is probably the best on our team at winning tackles and is typically (despite not being tall) really excellent defending aerial balls and winning possession. That corner kick routine that led to the Zapata header was more Jovic’s fault for not reacting and jumping to clear the ball. he stood there DIRECTLY in front of where Zapata jumped and headed his shot on goal forcing the great Mike save and Jovic just stood there and watched, didn’t jump/react at all. TERRIBLE lack of concentration and intensity by Jovic.