AC Milan and Juventus played out the very familiar outcome of a draw on Sunday night, but there was late drama in Turin.
The first half was not short on intensity but was lacking in quality from both sides, with Juventus perhaps going in happier at the break. Then, it was changes in the second half that unlocked things, for both sides.
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Substitute Alphadjo Cisse opened the scoring with a lovely finish after cutting in on his right foot, then Federico Gatti’s header crashed in off the bar in the second minute of five added on to earn Juventus a share of the spoils they probably deserved.
The squeeze on Moreira
Amorim has chosen to make four changes to the starting line-up from the team that beat Venezia last week. Diego Moreira got his full debut at wing-back while Pervis Estupinan started on the other flank, then Adrien Rabiot and Alexis Saelemaekers were picked as the attacking midfielders.
Juventus pressed extremely high and aggressively, going man-to-man against Milan’s three centre-backs. Their key pressing trigger was the wide pass into Moreira.
As soon as the ball reached him, 3–4 Juventus players would immediately converge on the flank, cutting off his options and forcing a turnover. It was a clear and deliberate mechanism to trap Milan wide and win the ball high up the pitch.
The Modric dilemma
However, Milan’s pressing was far more disorganised. As highlighted by @alali_talal and @sleeperACMilan, Modrić’s reluctance to push up often left Juventus with an extra man in midfield, allowing them to bypass Milan’s high press.
Another example came when Rabiot failed to track the free man left by Musah, giving Juventus an easy outlet and allowing him to operate with far too much freedom.
Milan’s disorganised pressing also allowed Juventus to consistently find pockets of space between the lines. Douglas Luiz repeatedly found himself in dangerous positions, with Juventus deliberately overloading the central areas to create numerical superiority.
Milan struggled to close these gaps, giving Juve a reliable route to progress the ball through the middle.
Milan’s pressing scheme was built around an inside-to-out approach. The idea was to keep short distances between the players, stay compact centrally and deny Juventus access to the middle.
By closing the central lanes first, Milan aimed to force Juventus towards the wide areas, where they could then press and trap the ball.
Modrić dropping into the back line gave Milan greater control during the build-up. It also allowed Milan to create ball-side overloads, although Juventus often responded by outnumbering them 4v7. Milan used KdW to switch play towards the wide areas and stretch the Juventus block.
Modrić’s deeper positioning also freed Gila to push forward, giving Milan an additional player higher up the pitch and another option to progress the ball.
How Cisse’s goal came about
For Milan’s goal, the move began with Koopmeiners winning the ball back and finding Kolo Muani. Koni De Winter then read the danger proactively and won possession back for Milan.
Modrić immediately verticalised the play into RLC, who recognised the Juventus defenders converging centrally and switched the ball wide.
Meanwhile, Cissé intelligently occupied the space to create separation. Chukwueze’s cross found him, and Cissé’s excellent first touch gave him complete control before the finish.
For Juventus’ equaliser, the short free kick was crucial. It allowed Koopmeiners to create a better angle for the delivery and attack Milan’s defensive setup.
Gatti then made a clever run across Loftus-Cheek, getting in front of him, but RLC failed to impede his movement, allowing Gatti a free run to attack the ball and snatch the equaliser.
A return to conservatism
Compared to the Venezia game, Milan defended much deeper against Juventus, as the comparison clearly shows. The difference in their defensive height points towards a much more cautious approach from Amorim.
Rather than constantly looking to press high and disrupt Juventus, Milan were more conservative with their positioning, prioritising compactness and defensive security.
Again compared to last weekend, Milan’s defensive line was noticeably deeper, as the comparison shows. This was another indication of a more cautious approach against Juventus.
Amorim opted for greater defensive security and a deeper block rather than taking the same aggressive positioning Milan had used against Venezia.
Ramos isolated
Perhaps the most worrying stat for Milan was Gonçalo Ramos managing just one touch inside Juventus’ penalty area across the entire game.
He frequently had to drop deep and come short in an attempt to break Juventus’ man-to-man marking structure, but that also meant Milan lacked a consistent presence in the box.
His movement helped connect play, but it ultimately took him away from the area where Milan needed him most.
We simply lack skilled players. Is there really no one on this team that can complete a through pass? Ball control, change direction and just a pass? It hurts me watching this team and their awkward passes sideways or backwards.
Modric can’t do it alone. And certainly not for 90 minutes.
You buy a $75M striker, then you need to feed him the ball. Or it’s a flop.
Fair analysis
1. Good point on squeezing Moreira. I imagine that was probably Spalletti’s plan for dealing with Chukwuese and put Moreira in a rough spot, whereas Amorim pictured him having more space further up the pitch
2. The deeper average line is to be expected against Juventus, where we have to be more cautious. As you say though, they often had an extra man in midfield compared to us, which made our press ineffective. Here’s where Modric’s years of playing in a 3 man midfield really shows. Luiz and Locatelli ran the midfield and that gave the game its direction. I do wonder if it makes more sense to be starting Jashari as a standard and bringing Modric in when the opposition tires out more would make more sense, but that’s an experiment for another game.
3. Ramos’ touches in the area is in no way a reflection on his personal game, but just a reflection on the team’s overall inability to get to those positions. We ended up needing to play on the counter more than the first two games and just didn’t have the setup to be able to do so. I keep seeing people moaning about Ramos already but I’ve honestly no idea why, his contribution to each game has been above par.
4. The changes that Amorim is making have positively affected the game in each of the three rounds so far. The goal came from RLC, Chukwueze and Cissé (and a massive slice of fortune) and we made more chances with these guys on the pitch, but in general he seems to be doing a good job of bringing on fresh legs right when we need them and we’re seeing the benefit of an actual system they drop into instead of putting on more attacking players and hoping they come up with something.