AC Milan provided the response that head coach Stefano Pioli demanded of them as they beat Juventus 2-0 in a convincing display at San Siro on Saturday.
With depth depleted by injuries and after a disappointing result against Chelsea meant, Milan needed a win against their fierce historic rivals Juventus, who were in turn hoping for a statement victory to get Masimilliano Allegri out of the line of fire.
Both teams were in dire need of a win not only for the three points but for the psychological lift needed to take their squads forward to the winter break. Rohit has analysed the game below…
The system
A big talking both before, during and after the entire game was the formation used by Pioli. There was a lot of confusion as to how the team would line-up in shape given Tommaso Pobega came in for Rade Krunic, and the official website showed a 4-2-3-1.
However, Milan morphed into different shapes on the pitch as they have done in the past depending on the opponents.
Why did Pioli choose to start Pobega? The main reason was that the coach wanted a player who wanted to stay close to Locatelli at all times and not give him a free rein like how Brozovic got in the derby against Inter. Pobega’s position on the pitch therefore was dictated by Locatelli especially when Milan didn’t have the ball.
Juve’s approach
Juventus when they were on the ball tried to create overloads between the lines. They tried to do so with a simple manoeuvre. Whenever Juventus had the ball, they would settle into a three at the back with Danilo pushing up as a wide man and Cuadrado tucking in.
Danilo himself would tuck in as a third midfielder and cause an overload with Milik or Vlahovic dropping in between the lines along with Cuadrado or Danilo.
Pioli’s rebuttal
Pioli countered this using two mechanisms:
- A free role for Bennacer
2. Moving Theo Hernandez more infield
This also meant the Rossoneri would morph into a 3-2-3-2 formation or even into a 4-1-3-2 system with Bennacer not given a strict man marking assignment.
Since Saelemaekers and Messias were injured it meant Pioli had to come up with an innovative approach as Diaz does not have the work rate to track back and help in defence.
Pioli had Milan play in an asymmetric three-man defence with Kalulu-Gabbia-Tomori forming a back three and Kalulu not given the freedom to overlap/underlap Diaz. Instead this role was passed on to Tonali who would pull wide.
Playing into Milan’s hands
Allegri also played into Milan’s hands with his conservative tactics by not challenging Kalulu, so for those arguing that Brahim Diaz as a right winger is a concrete possibility for the future, it is instead more wise to consider it on a game by game basis.
If the full-back was someone say like Parisi or Spinazzola with a more liberal coach, then Diaz would not be able to play on the right flank.
To have more numbers in midfield, Allegri subbed in McKennie for Cuadrado where the American had the double task of pulling wide but also move inwards.
However, Allegri was cautious in his methods. He focused more on keeping defensive shape (four at the back) and preventing the counter-attacks. But this meant McKennie was isolated and Milan were easily outnumbering him.
What was even stranger was how Allegri pressed Milan aggressively for a good 10 minutes using man marking and at one point allowed players to stream forward on transitions.
After 15 minutes (as we can see below) and just before Milik’s shot on target, Juventus had only two people in the box when Cuadrado was ready to cross, at a time when coaches generally have midfielders make runs into the box going unmarked and causing chaos.
Milan’s second goal came as a result of excellent ball-oriented pressing, pushing Vlahovic to play a risky pass to Milik and he ended up assisting Diaz.
Man marking
Here is how Pioli assigned markers to his players.
Conclusion
After the game against Chelsea in which Pioli’s side were quite comprehensively outplayed in all facets of the game, it was important that a response came that showed an ability to adapt to certain opponents and also forced selections, which came.
Perhaps the takeaway for many will be how poor Juventus were and just how much they made things simple for Milan – especially in the second half – but the team deserve credit for their work rate and sticking to the assignments that Pioli gave them.
Such dominant performances rarely come about by chance, and but for some late misses from Theo Hernandez and Origi, it really could have been a very damaging scoreline for Allegri’s men against his old club.
