Palermo 3-1 Milan: the home side more comfortable in their formation
Milan’s Scudetto hopes are officially over, whilst Palermo move up into a Champions League position. The scoreline was a fair reflection of the game, as Palermo’s front three terrorized Milan’s makeshift back four.
Palermo lined up in their customary 4-3-1-2 shape, with a traditional Italian front three – a central striker (Abel Hernandez), a seconda punta (Fabrizio Miccoli) and a trequartista (Javier Pastore). Fabio Liverani was the deepest of the three midfielders, with width coming from full-back.
Milan were suffering from an injury crisis, with seven players unavailable. Their starting XI featured four players who generally play at full-back – when the game started, it emerged that Massimo Oddo was to play at centre-back, and Marek Jankulovski was on the left of a midfield three. The system was a hybrid of a 4-3-1-2 and a 4-3-2-1 (Christmas Tree) formation, with Ronaldinho floating between the striker, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and the attacking midfielder, Clarence Seedorf.
The first thing to note was the obvious lack of width in attacking zones from either side, with two narrow formations resulting in a congested midfield. Palermo are used to this, but Milan have become accustomed to using the wide players in their 4-3-3 for creativity, and they had problems readjusting to the narrow system in operation for this game.
Another difference between the sides was the work rate of the forwards, and the intensity of the pressing. Huntelaar and Ronaldinho did no work defensively whatsoever, whereas Palermo’s front three were excellent at closing down across the pitch – Miccoli working the right side of Milan’s defence, and Abel the left side, with Pastore getting in Andrea Pirlo’s face and not letting him have time on the ball.
It was no coincidence that Palermo’s opening two goals both came after Milan’s defenders making mistakes under pressure. First Miccoli won the ball from Gianluca Zambrotta and forced a corner which resulted in Cesare Bovo heading in, then Abel Hernandez robbed Oddo on the edge of his own area, swapped passes with Miccoli and then scored. The mistakes came partly because Milan’s backline was so makeshift, of course – but they wouldn’t have happened at the other end because Huntelaar and Ronaldinho never put the Palermo defenders under pressure.
Milan picked up their game, and they generally played down the left. Jankulovski was playing as a central midfielder but naturally drifted to the left flank where he has spent most of his career, whilst Ronaldinho also moved to the left to receive the ball. Milan generally built up play on that side, with those two combining with Luca Antonini, before switching the ball across to Zambrotta on the right, who was always unmarked. Milan started to pass the ball better as Palermo pressed from the halfway line rather than all over the pitch (as in the opening twenty minutes) and Milan began to get dangerous crosses into the box.
A Christmas Tree formation can be very difficult for a four-man defence to cope with, but Palermo defended excellently. Their left-sided centre-back, Cesare Bovo – stuck to Huntelaar throughout, whilst Clarence Seedorf was tracked by Fabio Liverani. The tricky player to mark was Ronaldinho, but Simon Kjaer was happy to come high up the pitch to mark him, safe in the knowledge that Milan’s lack of wingers meant that the full-backs could play extremely narrow and cover for him.
Pirlo was having problems as the deepest midfield player, with Rino Gatusso charging up the pitch – and Javier Pastore constantly looked to run at Pirlo with the ball. Leonardo seemed to shift Gatusso into a slightly more defensive role to help Pirlo cope.
Milan got back into the game with a well-worked goal finished by Clarence Seedorf. Notice how Milan negate Palermo’s marking responsibilities that worked so well in the first half. Rather than placing himself up against Bovo, the left-sided centre-back, Huntelaar instead stands next to Kjaer, the right centre-back, meaning Ronaldinho is left free in front of the defence. Bovo is then the free man and has to come to meet Ronaldinho – which leaves space in the centre of the defence that Seedorf exploits, turning sharper than Liverani and finishing nearly. The only bright spot of a terrible Milan performance, but it demonstrates how the Christmas Tree can unlock opposition defences by playing two players ‘in the hole’.
Palermo sealed the victory with a brilliant Fabrizio Miccoli goal. Take nothing away from the quality of the finish, but look how much time the Palermo players have on the ball in the build-up to the goal. Liverani – an excellent passer – is given all the time he wants to pick a pass, and Thiago Silva lets Miccoli turn in a couple of yards’ space, where he can easily get a shot away. A tremendous goal from Miccoli, but awful, lazy defending from Milan that sums up their problems so well.
In all, this game came down to who was more comfortable in their playing system. Palermo were well-drilled and positionally-aware, Milan were slow and uncomfortable both offensively and defensively.
Palermo 3-1 Milan: the home side more comfortable in their formation
didn’t watch the game, but do find the christmas tree formation interesting. its just so narrow. what are the benefits from playing a formation like this? i guess 4-3-1-2 is very similar
The Christmas Tree is a good solution if you have two creative attacking midfielders and you want to play both with offensive duties, like Milan during the Ancelotti era (Seedorf and Kaka), but you need also two strong full backs (like Milan had when Cafu and Maldini played) to be able to attack effectively on the flanks and avoid being too predictable.
Finally, a breakdown of a Palermo match! Just one comment, really. On the Miccoli goal, Oddo was the man defending Miccoli, not Thiago Silva. As you can see, Thiago Silva is locked up on Pastore in the box. However, this is a product of the makeshift defensive 4 of Milan. In this case, Oddo, who to my knowledge has never started in a central defensive position in his career, allows Miccoli the time to shift the ball to his favored right foot, and score a spectacular goal. In my opinion, a more natural CB in that position would not allow Miccoli the time to make that turn, nor would he allow Miccoli the space to get off that shot. Strangely enough, Miccoli’s goal in the away leg of this matchup back in December, was extremely similar to this goal. Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18NCuITczPw
In this instance, however, Miccoli faces Zambrotta, who was playing RB at the time. Miccoli is afforded this matchup due to the quick shift of play from the right to the left. Because of this, Zambrotta and Miccoli are both more central, leaving Miccoli in a position to take a shot from a better position.
Gaspare – exactly. Those two Miccoli goals were very similar and I would go as far as saying that he has scored THREE goals nearly the same way against Milan. I put up a post about it here:
http://palermo.theoffside.com/team-news/milan-miccoli-part-three.html
Which, by the way, for any die-hard Palermo fans, is a great site to go to with a strong, core group of Palermo tifosi.
Great article, btw.
Good article. It’s not Thiago Silva who let’s Miccoli turn though, but Oddo. Oddo had a horror game at CB generally and I’d be surprised if Leonardo would let him play there again.
At the first goal it’s his man who scores the goal, at the second goal he loses the ball at the edge of the area and at the third goal he let’s Miccoli turn.
What most impresses me about Palermo’s interpretation of 4-3-1-2 is just how high tempo they can execute it. Traditionally, it has been a formation which coaxes a laconically pleasurable type of football (as per Argentine league), but Palermo’s more agressive and dynamic set-up seems fully equiped for the rigours of European football next year; let’s hope they clinch fourth spot, because they would be a credit to Italian football and should acquit themselves well.
I suppose you could include Ancelotti’s Chelsea during the earlier half of this season as well under teams who play the diamond with greater urgency and cohesion. Juventus, on the other hand, look positively pedestrian when playing this way.
@Roberticus, Palermo arent much away from home,
and that would be a problem in Europe I think.
what do you think they need to help with that?
It’s seemingly strange that Palermo aren’t as good away from home as they are often dominated in possession both at home and away and they tend to struggle more against teams that let them have possession and invite Palermo onto them (this game was 40-60% in favour of Milan for example) So it all points to them being perfectly set-up for away days
I think it boils down to the fact that this is still a formation that is work in progress, despite the fact that are showing signs of knowing it well – as the article gets at. In reality they just know it better than Milan who only played anything similar to this back in October.
Delio Rossi is still relatively new to the job (he’s only had a half a season) and only recently has he found a settled team. DR has made them very well-drilled defensively and they usually defend as a tightly packed 7 that looks to intercept on the edge of their box [Btw, Zonal marking Migliaccio operates from the right when Liverani plays and did so against Milan] and to play in Pastore – who is instructed to find space when they don’t have the ball and look to play him into the gaps by a teammate, usually Liverani, who is, as it was said, is an excellent mid-range passer. The sheer depth of their back line allows them to create space in the middle for Pastore to exploit as well.
Zenga had them set-up similarly but with different personnel. Pastore was often left on the bench or utilised incorrectly (and i’m sure it would have been one of the reasons why Zamperini got rid of him) and they looked to dominate possession and force themselves onto the opposition more. The current tatics have a clearer, more defined feel and certainly get the best out of the attacking 3.
So with time this formation can get Palermo doing well on the road it just perhaps I think that, as Cavani was doing when he came on, they need to give Cassani more protection way from home. So when they don’t have the ball whoever is playing the prima punta drops round to cover at RM. Leaving them with a 4-4-1-1 shape and Pastore still free.
Another reason as to why they don’t do as well away from home is not to underestimate the tactical knowledge of opposing coaches in Serie A. Mourinho often says that it is much harder to beat the smaller teams – especially away from home.
The full backs can be got at and teams know this, as they are often Palermo’s attacking outlet and don’t receive adequate cover on either flank and when cover is offered it is usually at the sake of the midfielders on either side of Liverani or Migliaccio which leaves gaps in the middle that can then be exploited
3rd to last para should read * So with time this formation can get Palermo doing well on the road but they perhaps could do with being more conservative – especially with regards to giving Cassani more protection, as Cavani was doing when he came on. So when they don’t have the ball whoever is playing the prima punta drops round to cover at RM. Leaving them with a 4-4-1-1 shape and Pastore still free.*
Thanks Panenka..
Hola,
Todo dinбmica y muy positiva!
Miato