Ajax 1-1 Milan: neither plays their best football
The starting line-ups
An entertaining first half, a much less interesting second half, and a point apiece.
Ajax maintained the 4-3-3 shape they used in the 2-2 draw with Twente, making one change – Demy de Zeeuw replaced the ineffectual Rasmus Lindgren, with Eyong Enoh dropping into a deeper midfield position.
Max Allegri used an off-centre midfield diamond supporting Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, making a formation that was not entirely dissimilar from the one Robinho has enjoyed with Brazil in recent years. Mathieu Flamini played as a shuttler on the right, with Rino Gattuso doing a more defensive-minded job on the left, and Clarence Seedorf playing as a rightish central playmaker.
Milan’s shape gave them (in theory) an extra man in the centre of the pitch, but in practise this only happened when Milan didn’t have the ball – when they did, Flamini moved out to the right, and was then the domain of Vurnon Anita. Robinho started wide but came increasingly inside as the game went on, to the point where he was essentially playing as a second striker.
Christmas Tree?
At some points Milan’s system looked more like a Christmas Tree shape, when Flamini took up a defensive position, and Robinho came inside to join Seedorf in the middle. This caused Ajax problems as they were unable to deal with the double trequartista threat, with Seedorf being more influential than Robinho.
Ajax’s system was similar to at the weekend, although the movement upfront was much better: Mounir El Hamdaoui played something approaching a false nine role, with Suarez playing more centrally, and the Uruguyan was the main dangerman. He created the first goal after nutmegging Alessandro Nesta, and pulling back for El Hamdaoui’s clever spin and shot.
Ajax high line
Just like against Twente, Ajax played a high line and therefore looked very vulnerable to balls over the top of the defence. Robinho wasted an early one-on-one when Ibrahimovic dropped deep, Seedorf flicked a ball through through the defence, and Robinho pulled wide. That was a warning sign for Ajax, and one they would not learn from – the one positive was that they were closing down well in midfield, making it difficult for Milan to play constant balls in this fashion.
But the problem was that they were relying too much on this closing down – de Jong had started the game occupying Andrea Pirlo, but became increasingly slack in his defensive duties. Pirlo had time to loft a ball over the Ajax defence for Seedorf, who knocked the ball onto Ibrahimovic, who finished well against his former club.
Room for Ajax full-backs
As Robinho drifted inside, he increasingly became an easy marking job for Ajax’s right-sided centre-back, Toby Alderweireld. Therefore, Gregory van der Wiel was let off the leash, and he got forward to give Luca Antonini some problems towards the end of the first half.
Ajax had either of their full-backs free as Milan’s diamond shuffled from side to side – generally Anita would be the first in space when Flamini was in a central position, but then Gatusso would come to the middle of the pitch, and Robinho’s unwillingness to track back meant the ball could then be played out to van der Wiel. Like Marseille, Ajax didn’t use this out-ball frequently enough.
Second half
Both sides became more narrow after the second half, with Robinho and Suarez both playing more centrally and trying to provide a goal threat. This made for a rather stale game, however, with the midfield battle becoming increasingly scrappy and neither side getting into a good passing rhythm.
Seedorf was the one Milan player who looked like creating something, but Ibrahimovic and Robinho became increasingly static as the game went on, and Seedorf was unable to find many opportunities to play the killer pass.
Game peters out
For Ajax, the injury to Anita just before half-time meant the introduction of Miralem Sulejmani, and he provided much more of an attacking presence down the right-hand side, teaming up with Urby Emanuelson and forcing Kevin-Prince Boateng (who replaced Flamini) back into his own third.
But the second half was contested by two teams seemingly happy to take a point – Milan having won their first game, and Ajax presumably hoping to keep it level with Milan, then get six points over Auxerre in the next two games. The final half hour was a poor spectacle, only lit up by Seedorf, who got a great ovation from both sets of fans when he was replaced by Ignazio Abate.
Conclusion
This was basically as you’d expect (what basically amounted to a) 4-3-3 v 4-3-1-2 to be. Ajax found their full-backs free (but didn’t really exploit this enough) whilst Milan got the ball to Seedorf between the lines, and he caused problems. Both sides had chances to win the game, but a draw was an accurate reflection of the balance of play.
Milan didn’t look entirely comfortable with this system, and when Pato returns it’s difficult to see it remaining their formation.
Ajax slightly disappointed in that they didn’t push forward more for the win, and the main conclusion to draw from the game is that their high line can be exploited very easily. Against both Twente and Milan they’ve conceded goals this way – it’s a natural result of heavy pressing, but in this game they didn’t press very effectively.
Ajax 1-1 Milan: neither plays their best football
Seedorf was excellent. Milan would have won if Robinho had been a bit sharper.
Milan still look very suspect defensively, though. Definitely did not look like a contender based on tonight’s performance. I think Pirlo will be man marked, the way Ji Sung Park shadowed him last season and Milan will struggle. They desperately need a fullback or two and a central midfielder with energy and intelligence.
I think they would have been better off spending the Robinho money on those positions and hoped to get by with Pato, Ronaldinho, Boateng and Seedorf in the wing/AM positions.
As for Ajax, they have a decent side. They’ll presumably battle with Auxerre for 3rd place. I think either of those teams look like good Europa League bets, so this group should be relevant until the last kick.
You’re right about their line being way too high. Whenever Seedorf or Pirlo got free they looked likely to spring Robinho or Ibra. Still, if Suarez had been a little bit sharper they might have snatched victory.
How a team decides to play a high defensive line against Pirlo and Seedorf is beyond me.Yes Pirlo is way over the hill but his long range pass accuracy hasn’t declined that much especially considering the form he’s showing this season so far.Pato was dearly missed last night on Milan’s side
It’s not a decision as such, because that word implies choice. At Ajax, the manager is not free to choose a strategy that best suits his players and opponents. The fans expect a certain ’system’, and importantly: club icon Johan Cruijff demands it. Just last week, he caused a stir with a furious column in a Dutch news paper demanding the resignation of pretty much everyone at Ajax after his old club failed to dominate (to put it mildly) in Madrid.
After 15 years, Ajax is still in denial, and parties on like it’s 1995 on a championship level budget. Outside their reality distortion field, Ajax is no longer able to win the Dutch league, which in turn is no longer one of the top 10 leagues in Europe.
Ajax conceded the 1-1 during the time that Anita was out injured, so the goal can’t be blamed entirely on their usual high line. No excuse for Robinho’s one-on-one though.
I think bringing in Sulejmani for Anita actually reduced the attacking threat. Emanuelson, like against Twente, was having a good game but became invisible when he was dropped back to left-back. Sulejmani had just one good run down the line in the second half.
Ajax were always going to run out of gas though. No way they can keep this up for 90 minutes, but I guess it’s a more satisfying way to earn a draw than to just park the bus.
Great analysis once again. I have to point out, though, that Ajax in my opinion really weren’t playing with 4-3-3 system early on. Urby Emanuelson was playing quite a defensive role dropping down when Ajax weren’t in possession to create what looked more like 4-4-2 with diamond midfield (with de Zeeuw playing the rightish role). That said, both sides were actually having four players in the centre of the pitch.
Emanuelson though did provide width on the left flank when in possession, whereas early on the width on the right flank was mainly produced by van der Wiel as Suárez was playing a pretty purely central role for the first fifteen minutes.
Ajax though did slowly slip back to thei usual 4-2-1-3ish formation after Sulejmani was introduced and played that way most of the second half.
Indeed, isn’t Emmanuelson more of a natural wing-back anyway?
Some would say that his problem, like that of Marcelo, is that he hasn’t quite got the positional discipline of a full-back nor the vision and skill of a winger.
Exactly. He has been used all over the pitch in recent years, but there isn’t one position where he has consistently excelled. Although he does tend to step up in big games.
It’s too bad really, and it’s also the reason he hasn’t managed to claim a spot in the national team.
In that sense he’s a bit like Gareth Bale; a real tornante… so if you’re gonna accomodate him in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 he will make the side assymetrical by dropping back deeper along his flank.
Maybe this was Jol’s intention all along?
Milan for me haven’t yet found a system to fit there style of play. Last season under Leonardo the favoured a 4-3-2-1 with Pato and Ronaldinho as the supporting attackers behind Borrielo. This season the have played 4-3-2-1, 4-3-3 and 4-3-1-2. Thery need to get settled on a specific formation so that the players can get comfortable with there roles within it!
I still feel this is the best system for them to use with Ibrahimovic now being the main striker. What confuses me is the purcahse of Robinho, with 2 full backs who are so obviously not at the level required, why not spend the same amount on 2 players who would add quality to the defence? Zambrotta is clearly not at the level he once was (Barcelona sold him) and Antonini looks like an accident waiting to happen. in the middle i think the 3 players should be Flamini on the right, Pirlo central and Boateng/Ambrosini on the left.
What are your guys thoughts on the system Milan should play??
Sam, I’d say last years system was more of a 4-3-3 since Pato and Ronaldinho played incredibly high up the pitch as forwards. At times, with the addition of Seedorf, it became a 4-2-1-3 which almost led to it becoming a ‘broken’ team.
Whatever one’s preferences, any system Milan opt to play is conditioned by Pirlo’s presence as the deepest-lying midfielder; most teams simply don’t set up that way. In most 4-3-3s, the deepest midfielder is usually the most defensive and liberates the others to go forward – the opposite in Milan’s case, where the more combative players tend to screen in front of Pirlo.
YOu could even argue that this is also true of Milan’s diamond system, since it features a relatively tight midfield trio.
Interestingly, Allegri said midweek after the Genoa game that Milan’s lines were too distant from each other and that this made it harder for the team to find fluidity, that is, to string passes among each other over such gaping distances (you can understand why the long-ball to Ibra is becoming a measure of the midfielders’ desperation then).
With this in mind, maybe last night’s system vs Ajax (a 4-3-1-2) was designed to place the ball-players (Pirlo, Seedorf + Robinho) closer to one another.
This Milan appears to rely on masticating the ball before looking for the telling pass,and since they don’t really have ‘llegada’ or box-to-box runs from midfield (especially when Boateng is absent), it is their only way to arrive at the opponents’ area (ideally, a team should have elements of both).
It is still worrying, however, that Milan are resorting to long-balls to Ibra – usually telling sign of teams who are suffering an absence of creativity in midfield (Cappello’s Juve and Mancini’s Inter sides)who just feed him the ball and hope either he produces some magic by himself or lays it off for a fellow attacker in his vicinity.
Wait!
Only thing differing between the three formations you mentioned above are the roles of the 3 players playing upfront.( Am I right??)
So, it could be especially good to have the basis 7 players playing regularly in the same shape, and a front 3, which you can place on the ground depending on your oponents style of play. So this would be kind of good, especially if the season goes on and your players get more and more settled, and you won’t have problems changing your shape fluidly within the game.
Not exactly,
because you still have to configure the other two (deeper-lying) defensive bands. What is the composition of your midfield, defensive mids, box-to-boxs, no8s, etc? All variables.
Ideally, you want your most creative and attacking players defending further up the pitch. Little point in having someone like Robinho or Ronaldinho defending just one band in front of the back 4. It knackers them and distances them from goal.
Serdar, I think I might have misunderstood your question.
When you refer to “the roles of the three players in the three formations”, which specific formations do you mean?
THanks
well, in terms of formation I’d like to see a 4-2-1-3, which ZM and Wilson have discussed as the next phase in formation evolution from 4231, featuring the wingers pushing up higher. It’s clear that Milan do not have people for the outside of a 3-band in the 4231 because ‘Binho and ‘Dinho won’t track back.
As such, they should not ask them to track back but rather to press from the front. In the 4213 the high wingers can easily pressure the ball in the opponents’ defense and make sure to pin back their fullbacks, without getting sucked back too far towards their own defense.
In the “1″ position Seedorf and Pirlo could rotate (I know, as Roberticus points out, that usually Pirlo is the furthest-back midfielder, but he’s played further up before and has the chops to do so). In the other two midfield positions I’d always have one of Flamini and KPB, and one of Gattuso and Ambrosini. For the attackers you’d have either Pato or Ibra up top, and wide you could choose from ‘Binho and ‘Dinho, Pato, Abate (if he’s not playing fullback) even Seedorf or KPB I suppose.
Josef,
they could do that but the rest of the team would also have to push up to avoid too many gaps between the lines. They’d be playing a very high line for most of the match – do the likes of Bonera, Sokratis and Nesta have the legs for that?
You could argue that not since Sacchi have Milan played a high-defensive line with intensive pressing.
Don’t get me wrong; you could go about doing this, but I think to make the 4-2-1-3 effective you’d need to induce culture shock in the club.
Furthermore, the 4-2-1-3 is not exactly as new formation. If anything, its use today is a throwback to a different, less athletic era in football. Cruyff’s Barcelona team played it in the early 90s. But teams back then could afford to be more spread out over the pitch
Roberticus, I bow to your superior historical knowledge of football regarding the formation not being new. I based my claim on the recent pieces discussing the formation’s emergence (like http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2010/aug/04/the-question-is-4-2-1-3-the-future).
As for whether Milan have the legs for it, well, Silva’s young and not slow, neither are Antonini and Abate, and even Zambrotta looked pretty quick still last season (haven’t watched much this season – has he lost another step?). Nesta and Bonera (and Onyewu – if he’s even still on the radar) aren’t the fastest, I know, and I have no idea how much ground Yepes or Sokratis can cover (at Yepes’ age I imagine not much). Nevertheless, I feel like
(1) Milan have looked malaise-y since they won the Champions league, with too lethargic of a pace.
(2) Everything they’ve tried so far with these defensive players has leaked goals, so it seems like they couldn’t get much worse.
I’d just say that to avoid getting caught out by a high line they’d have to only advance one fullback at a time and make sure that the other one was prepared for an all-out sprint towards goal to cover his CBs…
Josef, I read that Jonatha Wilson article but I´m just not convinced that 4-2-1-3 will go on to become standard template for most teams.
Rather, it can be better employed by those teams (whom it is better suited to) whose gameplan presents contrasting interpretations of said formation…
Scenario A: The back four plus two central midfielders play very tight to one another and barely venture forward, leaving the attack to the front 4 (the “1 + 2″ ), a strategy more suited to counter-attacking since the front four must retreat closer to the back six or else remain disconnected miles away. Mourinho did this with Inter at times, and he appears to be experimenting with it during Madrid´d opening fixtures.
Scenario B: The Barcelona-Arsenal style (or even Ajax from last night if they had played Suleijmani from the beginning) whereby the entire team sets-up in the opponents half, also in order to stay compact.
Anything less than these two extremes, any halfway house, could result in the side being stretched and, hence ‘broken’.
ZM,
you mention that at times Robinho dropped in alongside Seedorf to make it a 4-3-2-1.
I’m not surprised, and reckon he was under instruction to do so. In modern football, with all top sides placing some configuration of nine men (4-3-2-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1) behind the ball in defensive stage, the diamond is no exception to this.
Even back in 2003 and the Champions League Final, we saw one of Inzaghi (who worked hard) and Shevchenko (who was poor that day) take turns to become the fifth midfielder alongside Rui Costa whenever Juve progressed with the ball into Milan’s half.
As you say, the problem is that these two players alone(the trequartista + one of the strikers)defending in the advanced band are not enough to block all exits of the opponent (both full-backs plus deep CM) and so they have to persuade the opponent to escape through the most (in)convenient route where they might smother them later in their own half.
I get confused by where the borders between different “formation” goes. For me, Ajax looked like playing a 4231-formation, although Suarez often ventured inwards at the front. For me De Jong was more a part of a band with Emmanuelson (and later Sulejmani) and Suarez, than a part of a three-man midfield. I found him to very often being more forward than their left winger. Could you say why Ajax still was considered to play a 433?
Could you also possibly say something about how you viewed Flamini’s role?
Just look at the graph with the starting line ups. There you have the formations.
Describing them with numbers is less accurate. The only thing to be solved is that we don’t have the proper language yet to speak (type) a graphic language. Er, well, you know what I mean.
Siem de Jong is a shadow striker. He doesn’t really build up the play but likes more to be at the end of it. Suarez comes from the right wing but doesn’t have the patience to stay there. Which suits Ajax well because he can score goals. And Van der Wiel can fill the gap. On the left wing, nothing much is happening. The central defenders both are superb in playing balls back to the goal keeper, and the central midfielders aren’t creative enough.
Jol doesn’t have alternatives. So the formation pictured above is the only option. Now if we can find a proper name for it, we don’t have to puzzle with numbers anymore but can refer to Jol’s Ajax.
Don’t call it a 4-3-3 because at Ajax, they have a completely different view of that.
Oyz: if you think that’s confusing, try checking out a gioco all’italiana formation from the late 70s/80s and describing it in number form; assymetry to the nth degree!
ZM, I’m curious. You say, “when Pato returns it’s difficult to see it remaining their formation.”
1. What formation do you anticipate them employing upon Pato’s return?
2. What formation do you think would maximize their talents, if it’s not the same as in (1)?
Well, I assume a 4-3-3, with three of Pato, Ronaldinho, Pato and Robinho. I can’t see them regularly leaving out two of those players.
Their optimum formation, I really dont knwo…
I was actually quite pleased with Milan’s performance. We should have been braver and tried to win the game more than we did, but at least I’m glad Allegri moved away from our rigid 4-3-3. Whether that will change as soon as Pato and Dinho are back I don’t know, but still, it was nice to see.
I think 4-3-1-2 is best suited to the way Milan play. I’d love to see Ibra and Pato up front, sounds like a deadly pairing who can play central, go wider when needed, and give both height, strength and speed.
I feel 4-3-1-2 gives Pirlo more protection, because the ‘1′ does provide more cover than the wide men up front when we play 4-3-3.
As for lack of width that comes with 4-3-1-2, it would undoubtedly be a problem. Our full backs are not very strong, although Abate would find more room to make runs from fullback than he currently does.
Also, with Boateng in midfield instead of Gattuso or Flamini, we would possibly have a bit more width when needed.
This whole Milan formation/potential 1st team is a disaster! Beyond the team being top heavy on offence, there is no on-field chemistry and no defensive tactical discipline. I watched the Genoa game and they’re all on different pages – to be expected – but I cannot foresee them when they clearly have long-running flaws.
Flamini – whether he is good enough or not – needs to be starting every game. He has the energy, positioning and is a natural centre midfielder, something they are clearly lacking on the defensive end. Pirlo can re-claim his role while Gattuso/Boateng and Seedorf can alternate. Boateng had a fantastic World Cup but his skill is best when he makes runs and that only creates a larger gap between the defense and the attack. They need to get Rodney Strasser, the only true DM beside Gattuso, some PT.
If I were Milan, I would stick with this:
———-Ibrahimovic——
———————————Pato
Ronaldihno———–
——Seedorf/Boateng—-
–Gattuso/Flamini —–Pirlo
Antonini-Silva-Nesta-Abate
Did you see Seedorf play this game? he was sick/nasty/ill/nuts! You want him to sit?
“As Robinho drifted inside, he increasingly became an easy marking job for Ajax’s right-sided centre-back, Toby Alderweireld.”
hardly an easy marking job infact the opposite, as alderweireld would be silly to mark robinho tightly if he were to drop into the trequarista role, as he would isolate his other centre back leaving a massive gap
I want Milan to play 4-3-1-2. 4-3-3 suits no one but Ronaldinho. If Ronaldinho can’t adapt as a trequartista, we’ll just have to do with Seedorf.
I disagree with you conclusion on Milan, I think they will continue playing this formation and having been following almost all Milan games I think this formation is the most suitable one given the nature of our players who are not very static.
I think that with Pato this formation could become more effective, in reality it would be at its best when Pato plays instead of Robinho, Ambrosini (or Boateng) plays instead of Flamini and if Ronaldinho is able to play in Seedorfs central position which I doubt, and that is why I think Ronaldinho should be sold.
With this formation, Milan will not concede silly goals on the counter, they will also look more organized going forward and with time, once the players understand each others movements and timing, we can see some beautiful buildup to goals.
Our weak link remains the full back position. Antonini is a headless chicken going forward and if faced with the likes of Maicon or Sergio Ramos he will get pounded to the ground. Zambrotta doesnt seem as serious as he is for the Azzuri, he loses the ball too easily and doesnt offer much going forward. I would like to see Abate given more chances out of the 3 he seems the most reliable for me. The other problem is Ronaldinho, if he cannot play more centrally, then he is just a flaw in the team set up no matter how entertaining his football can be.
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