With Milan having played the first game of the round this past Friday, it feels like that game was forever ago. I know I haven’t enjoyed a game like that in a while and am still buzzing. My hunch is maybe you might be too. Still, the impressive 4-0 win notwithstanding, Milan played the way many of us thought they could all season and it does breathe a little bit of confidence for the stretch run. Maybe they can’t catch 4th but a strong finish and maybe a Coppa Italia trophy would help numb at least some of the pain.
The big story out of this game was the switch to a 3-man backline. Yes, the team hadn’t been able to keep a clean sheet but I feel, as mentioned many times here, that the problem rest mostly with fielding some players in the wrong positions: CAM, RW, and one of the double pivot positions (the box to box). The switch made it to where the CAM was no longer needed and the players who had been comprising the midfield were put in roles perhaps better suited to their characteristics. We’ll get to this in a second, but the other thing this change did was allow Theo Hernández more offensive opportunities to get forward and get forward he did.
With 3 designated defenders, Theo was far more involved offensively and this was necessary without that CAM out on the pitch, as creativity and building the attack had to come from somewhere. In fact, every goal Milan scored came from an outside position in the set up. Fofana won back a ball on the right side and found Leão cutting across the top of the 18 yard box for a wonderful goal. Pavlović scored from a Pulisic corner for the second and Theo’s rocket coming down the left for their third. Finally, Abraham chasing down a ball on the right during a counter, locating Leão and playing a beautiful pass across the pitch to him coming in from the left and Leão finding Reijnders centrally for a tap in for the fourth.
All of this wide play was for sure influenced by Udinese running with a 5-man midfield, crowding out the space, so things seemed to line up. I do think, however, that this overall shift combined well with what the midfielders were being asked to do, namely run and cover some ground. I was surprised and impressed that Fofana did well in a less defensive midfielder role, and Reijnders was in more of that box to box role I like him in when he’s in the double pivot. He’s creative enough but not in that CAM-like way, so this suited him quite well as he could use his vision, move along play, and make that vertical pass when needed.
It was a fantastic first-time deployment of the 3-man backline for Conceição and while there is still plenty of room for improvement, the switch seemed to fit the players well and improved their play. My preference is still the 4-2-3-1, as that’s my favorite formation (or a 4-3-1-2 with the right personnel), but as I mentioned in the matchday post, the most important thing is not crowding out Leão on the left. He needs space to thrive. If you’re not going to field a real CAM-style playmaker in the CAM role, then the creative play needs to come from somewhere (or someone) else and this change allowed that to happen with Theo mostly being that extra attacker.
Some other things I’m curious about will be how Giménez plays in this formation and what the role of the #9s will be moving forward. We saw what Tammy’s characteristics can do in this formation once he came in but I think Giménez can make his style of play work too. He wouldn’t be asked to wear down the CBs and I think he could play that moving piece in the build up like Jović did in this game, moving around, doing some link up, but also maneuvering to get on the end of the build up to finish plays.
Finally, we’ll have to see how Milan adjusts when teams try and take away the wide play and where the creativity will come from. The problem with not having CAM-esque skills out on the pitch is that you can’t attack centrally as effectively (though not impossible). But, if teams fail to stay compact because they have to stretch themselves to deal with this wide play of Milan, then in theory the middle of the pitch should be ripe for the taking and maybe we see Pulisic play more central to counter that and hope Jimenez can continue to justify at least some of the opponent’s attention out on the right. Something to watch for in the games ahead.
Now, onto the league round wrap up.
What Happened in Serie A
Inter (1st) and Napoli (2nd) both won their games, Inter beating Cagliari (15th) 3-1 and Napoli beating Empoli (19th) 3-0 today. So nothing changes at the top and these two teams pretty much have the Scudetto race to themselves at this point, separated by only 3 points. One other interesting point here, and I bring it up because it just keeps going: Empoli was at 19 points after 15 rounds and surely seemed destined to get over 30 points for the season and secure another season in the top flight. Well they’ve only earned 5 points in their last 17 MATCHES. Insane the dropoff we’re seeing here.
The battle for the top 4 was very busy this round, with Atalanta (3rd) beating Bologna (5th) 2-0 and holding their spot. Juventus (4th) on the other hand, by beating Lecce (17th) 2-1, and combined with Bologna’s loss, leapfrogged into the top 4. Lazio (6th) and Roma (7th) drew 1-1 in the Derby della Capitale while Fioretina (8th) drew 0-0 to Parma (16th). With Milan’s win, this squeezed the gap from 4th to 9th from 9 points to 8 points with 6 rounds left to play. Tighter, yes, but probably not enough time for Milan to catch up.
As for the rest of the table, Torino (10th) dropped their game against Como (13th) by the score of 1-0. The win by Como takes them to 36 points on the season and almost certainly assures their spot in the top flight for next season. Being down 4 points to the 10th spot in the table, still very possible for them to finish in the top half of the season. Genoa (12th) drew 0-0 with Hellas Verona (14th), keeping both teams in the same spots in the table from last week.
Finally, the basement battle between Venezia (18th) and Monza (20th) saw the Venice side come out on top 1-0. The win, combined with only 1 loss in their last 7 (the others being draws), have seen their chances grow to survive relegation. Not only have they moved up a spot but now are just 2 points behind Lecce for 17th and just 4 points behind Parma for 16th. For those not paying attention, this could be just as exciting to watch as the battle for the top 4 is at the moment. Hopefully we get a fantastic finish here as well.
That wraps up the league review, now ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7 – Was doing great until the collusion with Jimenez. I thought initially Maignan’s chest bore the brunt of it but both players managed to partially turn at the last moment and hit mostly shoulder to shoulder. Probably saved the ribs and heads of both players. Thankfully both appear to have avoided major injuries.
Goal Keeping Overall 7
Defense
TOMORI 7 – Back to back starts and solid performances each time. Assuming Conceição sticks with the 3-man backline, Tomori is almost certain to start for the remainder of games (or at least receive a bulk of the playing time).
GABBIA 7 – Low-key solid all game.
PAVLOVIĆ 8 – As solid defensively as the other CBs but was the best of the lot at getting forward. Plus, had the quality header for the second goal off the corner. Fun player.
Defense Overall 7.5
Midfield
JIMENEZ 6.5 – Solid as a mezzala/wingback hybrid. As mentioned above, glad he and Maignan avoided major injury in that collusion.
REIJNDERS 8 – I didn’t know what to expect from him in this formation but it was a nice fit. He was more the box to box and made nice timely runs. With Milan working mostly out-to-in, the creativity piece was spread out and he got to read the game and get himself into advantageous positions.
FOFANA 7.5 – Nice work winning back the ball and finding Leão for the first goal.
HERNÁNDEZ 8 – Best game of the season? Maybe? Probably? What I do know is an ultra attacking Theo is the best Theo and while that has obviously come from the 4-2-3-1 formation before this game, this formation could prove to be fruitful as well.
Midfield Overall 7.5
Forwards
PULISIC 7.5 – He’s back on corners! Woo-hoo! Was also solid throughout the match.
JOVIĆ 6.5 – With not a lot of creativity coming central, in part with Udinese overloading the midfield, Jović played a key role working back to the midfield to help. Didn’t get on the stat sheet after 2 straight games but was impactful nonetheless.
LEÃO 8.5 MOTM – Saw the full package today. The finish on the goal was sublime, ran at defenders and caused havoc all game, and the nice chip over the keeper to find Reijnders for the 4th goal.
Forwards Overall 7.5
Subs
SPORTIELLO 6.5 – Was fine coming on in relief of Mike. Nice having a solid backup.
SOTTIL 6 – Uneventful but fine.
ABRAHAM 7 – CAN YOU DIG IT?!
BARTESAGHI NA – Always enjoy seeing the kid play. I think he deserves minutes especially if Theo is out the door. Solid player.
TERRACCIANO NA – Didn’t play long enough to rate but if I did rate him it would be like a 5. Just didn’t do anything and then got carded on top of it.
Subs Overall 6.5
Coaching
CONCEIÇÃO 8 – Bold. I know I didn’t have the formation switch on my bingo card but Conceição said they had been practicing it for the last few weeks in practice (another advertisement for how important full weeks of practice time are???). The goals were nice but so was the clean sheet as those have been hard to come by. Clearly the time paid off AND they will have to continue to get better in it as teams will gradually learn their strengths and weaknesses of this formation and plan accordingly.
As for how this shapes Conceição’s Milan tenure, well that’s still too early to say although I think everyone who was already packing his bags for him have paused and maybe some are even starting to unpack them. I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times: I like him and hope he stays. He’s definitely my choice especially when considering the rumored alternatives. But he needs to give management some cover and he can do that with a strong finish and maybe even with winning another (mostly worthless) trophy.
Final Thoughts
Yes, it was one game and we all know too well not to carry over expectations from one Milan performance to the next. Milan have 6 more games to carve some hope out for next season, and at least one more game against Inter in 9 days to maybe get to a final and try to win some hardware. But I urge you to enjoy this win. I think everyone needed it.
Forza Milan.
gillis
