AC Milan lost their first game of the season on Saturday, as Cremonese earned a 2-1 victory at San Siro leaving plenty of room for improvement.
There was a lot of hope ahead of Saturday’s return to Serie A action. However, that also came with the weight of expectation. Milan needed a result, and a strong one at that. One that never arrived.
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During the game, they never really looked too dangerous, and failed to take their chance to gain momentum as the second half rolled around. Scoring a late equaliser in the first half was a golden opportunity, but nothing changed.
The Rossoneri conceded their nth cross in who knows how long, and the visitors walked away with three points. Frustrating, but now over and a chance to learn. Rohit Rajeev has some tactical pointers.
Mistakes and methods
I had complained about Milan not stretching the Cremonese block enough and it took Milan 38 minutes to play 5 up front.
One of Milan’s chances came from Gimenez receiving a ball square and laying it off to RLC who shot it wide.
Cremonese were defending with 4 men in the penalty box, which meant there was less space to get a shot away.
Pointers for Allegri
Pulisic’s role is something which baffled me? Playing as the second striker in a two striker formation he barely had any interplay with Gimenez which is usually how a two striker formation works. Close proximity and counter movements were never observed. In this screenshot you can see Gimenez and Pulisic taking positions between CB and WB which is normal for 2 striker formations.
But here you can see Pulisic playing so withdrawn making Fofana taking up striker role. Which makes me question. What is Pulisic’s role? What was he supposed to do?
Obviously the second was a question we all know. Why did Allegri play Ricci in the entire pre season but then bench him the entire game? Another small but significant issue. Saw player get into each others path many times. It means the players are not in synchronisation.
Plenty of learning to do, indeed.
Allegri got just about everything wrong. Not entirely his fault as there were limited options in attack with Leao out and Giminez the only CF option.
Fofana and RLC should not play together. Fofana honestly should not be starting. I’ve never seen a worse shooter of the ball in my life. Every shot is 20 rows up and 20 row wide of the goal. And it’s really too bad because he gets himself into good positions but it’s pointless. I also don’t think Modric should be playing the defensive midfielder role. He should be up furthur and put Ricci or Jashari in that deeper role.
The most urgent need is a striker. Giminez is not the answer. I never liked that signing. Good finisher, but Too slow , not good with the ball at his feet. He’s a poacher. Actually I think he’s a worse version Jovic. Jovic could create a little with his back to goal at least. Puzzling decisions to let both him and Tammy leave, Tammy having 10 goals and 7 assists last season would both be better options than Giminez.
Finally, I can’t believe I have to watch Saleamakers starting on the right side for us again. I thought that nightmare was over. WHat’s the definition of insanity? Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Let’s see some of the new signings, De Winter, Ricci , Jashari.
I agree 100%, while Pulisic was stuck outside or too deep, Fofana was crashing the box. He is both terrible at shooting and passing! Why is Pulisic being allowed to be isolated and marked out of the game, while inferior players essentially take up his role? On another note, Pavlovic can be terrible as well. He dribbles into trouble constantly, moves so far forward that he tanks the defense and allows the midfield to be over run. Milan needs three new central defenders to run the back three.
Pulisic wasn’t marked out of the game, he was positioned out of the game.
I think all team is sucks.
You can not put lumber jack midfielders like fofana and Loftus cheek in the midfield and expect to break down low block defense,both are just runners, terrible with the ball at their feet, they cannot create at all, only modric is Worthy of Milan in Milan midfielders..
lol @ lumberjack
What a load of Rubbish. Outside of Modric, no one played well. There…Analysis complete. Next match.
The only problem with this team is the defence l. We need ball playing defence and the defender ms suck at it
I don’t ever comment on this platform but this time I just want to say , every game is different, sometimes things happen like this. This second goal was really fantastic but defensive Pavlovic and Gabia should mark the player. He scored that’s it, fantastic goal. It happens. Let’s see next game and then we can judge, one game we can’t blame. This is football and everyone plays. Forzaa Milan and hope for the best !!! I think this Milan can do big things this year !!!
Our major problems is Attacking midfielders we don’t have it we sold junior messias, brahim Diaz, krunic no replacement now we abandon 4-2-3-1 formation to play 3-5-2 now what’s still happening. Acmilan management should stop deceiving their self acmilan should go and sign attacking midfielder and the young attackers which we have we retain them not to sell them they are our players sometimes. Yamal was a player from feeders team and was promoted to senior Barca team now where is him now he has helped the team isn’t it so let’s acmilan management be wise.
New season, new coach, some new players…. Analysis, analysis, analysis again….
When they’ll start to play football?
It’s a waste of time!!
Massive room for improvement which I believe will come. Just wondering what’s happening to Fofana, who cannot keep the ball down at all.
Napoli started on a losing note last season but went ahead to win the Scudeto.
After watching vs Bari and vs Cremonese, the conclusion is It’s not a 3-5-2, it’s infact a tilted 4-3-3 with the RW much deeper and the LW much higher up. Apparently to make use the defensive capabilities of our right wingers and wide right midfielders , hence allowing one CM to comfortably push forward. On the other side, it’s apparently to exploit the capabilities of the LW while compensating for less defensive duties. In other words, Allegri’s whole idea is totally built for and heavily reliant on Leao.
The positional set up also allows for formational morphing, as is inherent with 3-back formations. I have, since preseason, advocated for a straight forward consistent system (formation and tactics) , to help an already struggling squad get some clarity.
The problem with this particular match was Allegri abondening all his preseason preparation s within the game at the sign of trouble. In other words, the head coach panicked; not a great sign. Firstly,at a point in the game, you could see him signalling a 2+1 to the midfielders. After which the team’s general shape changed to a 4-2-3-1 for a while. Secondly, the question of Ricci. For me it’s not about him not starting, but why would you play a player in a certain position all preseason ( Ricci as regista), and when a sub in that position is needed you bring on a different player (Jashari) who was also played in a different position. More panic! Plus he definitely doesn’t trust Bartesaghi.
All in all, I still stand by playing a straight forward consistent system (formation and tactics) to help this struggling squad and integrate the new players.
Whatever the system was there is no interplay between the wingers(?) and outside backs. Royal 2.0 took the sideline and Pulisic was on the 18 yard line. Put Pulisic on the sidelines initially to drive the ball either down the sideline or towards the center. Then have an overlapping run by the defender or a more central run by the attacking mid. I’d perfer the overlap to have a cross with RLC running in the box to help Gimenez. This team has no pattern of play for the final third. It was pathetic coaching
It’s only the first game, no need to panic……………… …………yet
It was just so bad tactically.
I’ll admit, I’m not an Allegri fan. When he was at his best at Juve he had two of the best centerbacks in recent Italian history. He doesn’t seem to have improved the centerback play as of yet.
Fofana has the same problem as Musa. Both can advance but not shoot accurately. They should be passing to an attacker. Wounder why Modric and Pulisic never linked up. On a fast break, Pulisic finds himself too far away from the goal. The midfielders
beat Pulisic to the box and and they are poor shooters. Pulisic’s strength is in the box not at the opposite end of the field defending on a fast break.