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MILAN VS CROTONE
Milan enjoyed their biggest win of the season against 20th placed Crotone thanks to braces’ from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ante Rebic. Here is a thread of a tactical analysis. Likes, RT and Feedback appreciated
Milan enjoyed their biggest win of the season against 20th placed Crotone thanks to braces’ from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ante Rebic. Here is a thread of a tactical analysis. Likes, RT and Feedback appreciated
Milan started in their usual 4-2-3-1 formation while Crotone played a 3-5-2 formation which otherwise is feared to be Milan’s Krytonite.
MILAN 4-4-1-1
Milan played a make-shift 4-4-1-1 formation with Rebic and Leao exchanging positions behind Ibrahimovic. You can see Leao on the left wing and Rebic playing central in this screenshot
Milan played a make-shift 4-4-1-1 formation with Rebic and Leao exchanging positions behind Ibrahimovic. You can see Leao on the left wing and Rebic playing central in this screenshot
CROTONE TACTICS
Crotone played a fluid 3-5-2 formation. The back 3 meant that they had a man advantage when crosses were put in and when they lose the ball they can play a 5-3-2 formation and prevent Milan playing wide
Crotone played a fluid 3-5-2 formation. The back 3 meant that they had a man advantage when crosses were put in and when they lose the ball they can play a 5-3-2 formation and prevent Milan playing wide
When in possession they looked to build through the right side with fluid passing combination with Zanelatto acting as the regista and Vulic creating overlapping situations with Wingbacks Pedro. To break Milans press they often used passing triangles
Often one of Benali and Lulic would drop deep and collect the ball to escape Kessie or Meite’s press and then would find Adam Ounas who would drop between the lines and work Milan’s left hand side.
Maybe with Crotone not playing their abnormally tall striker Simy was the reason why they didn’t use much of their width (as indicated in their heatmap) as both Ounas and De Carmine are not tall
Crotone also played a very high line unlike traditional Italian teams to try and press Milan to force mistakes but playing a high line in a 3-5-2 makes you vulnerable to counter attacks
MILAN COUNTER-MEASURES
To negate Crotone’s 3 man midfield in the center, Pioli had Saelemaekers and Rebic push infield and create a numerical equilibrium and force crotone to adopt different measures.
To negate Crotone’s 3 man midfield in the center, Pioli had Saelemaekers and Rebic push infield and create a numerical equilibrium and force crotone to adopt different measures.
Crotone tried pressing Milan when playing the ball out of the back. In this instance Theo Hernandez move infield and Donnarumma spots a pass to Theo who cooly collects the ball
After this incident Crotone pressed more aggressively and closed down all passing options. This created a big gap between midfield and defense for Crotone and it led to this counter attack
MEITE-KESSIE DOUBLE PIVOT
Meite and Kessie played a very complimentary game with Both of them playing very horizontal to each other to maintain a narrow line and not give space when Crotone have the ball
Meite and Kessie played a very complimentary game with Both of them playing very horizontal to each other to maintain a narrow line and not give space when Crotone have the ball
PRESSING
Milan’s Man oriented pressing was very lethal and was responsible for the 4th goal of the game thanks to Meite being pro-active after Crotone’s kickoff
Milan’s Man oriented pressing was very lethal and was responsible for the 4th goal of the game thanks to Meite being pro-active after Crotone’s kickoff
In this instance you can see how Milan have blocked off all passing lane finally forcing Cordaz into a wild kick out of the back and Milan almost scoring after winning the ball back
Here Milan lay a trap for Crotone and Cordaz took the bait. Milan lay open a passing lane to Crotone’s LWB and Cordaz passed to him before Saelemaekers closed him down and Crotone had to kick it out for a throw in the end
LEFT HALF SPACE
A main threat for Milan in defence is their left hand side. With Theo naturally attack minded it leaves a gap between Theo, Alessio and Kessie. Chiesa’s first goal, Atalant’s Illicic and Napoli’s Lozano all recognized this as Milan’s weak point
A main threat for Milan in defence is their left hand side. With Theo naturally attack minded it leaves a gap between Theo, Alessio and Kessie. Chiesa’s first goal, Atalant’s Illicic and Napoli’s Lozano all recognized this as Milan’s weak point
In this instance Ounas had a one-two with Rispoli and beat Theo Hernandez and ran into space, but instead of coming forward and covering the space Alessio backed off and Ounas got his shot away albeit harmlessly
In a repeat of the same, the half space becomes almost lethal with Ounas running into space and crossing for Di Carmine who heads it wide
It is clear that this was a planned move from Crotone as we can see that most number of their touches in the final third have come in this left half space.
MILAN’S PASSING COMBINATIONS
Passing combinations are Milan’s chief chance creation tactic. For Zlatan’s goal notice how the ball started off in the right wing, switched wings. Theo combined with Zlatan, Zlatan with Leao and Zlatan finished the one-two
Passing combinations are Milan’s chief chance creation tactic. For Zlatan’s goal notice how the ball started off in the right wing, switched wings. Theo combined with Zlatan, Zlatan with Leao and Zlatan finished the one-two
In this disallowed goal a similar passing move can be seen (notice Alexis run to make space for Calabria) and Leao drawing the defender to put Calabria clean through
INDIVIDUAL ANALYSIS
Leao may not be a proper attacking midfielder but his movemebts between Crotone’s lines to find space was excellent
Leao may not be a proper attacking midfielder but his movemebts between Crotone’s lines to find space was excellent
However he does not offer the workrate and ball winning ability offered by Hakan. With Hakan there is more ball retention and ability to play out of tight spaces
I really do not know what runs in the mind of Samu Castillejo. Although the score was at a comfortable time, he unnecessary holds on to the ball and although Calabria makes an outside run he tries to play a shot between 3 big defenders and wastes the opportunity
Props to Meite for getting adjusted to Milans style of play. Previous to him dispossessing a player for the 4th goal his crucial intervention and quick vertical pass in a classic gegenpress move almost had leao on the scoresheet
END OF THE THREAD
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