Milan 2-1 Inter: Gasperini’s 3-5-1-1 dominates first half, but needless switches see him beaten
Inter's 3-5-1-1 worked well...
Inter were 1-0 up at half time but managed to lose 2-1, after a strange tactical change from their new boss Gian Piero Gasperini.
Gasperini was widely expected to bring his favoured 3-4-3 to Inter, but for this match he started with a 3-5-1-1, with new signing Ricardo Alvarez breaking forward from the left of midfield to form a lopsided front three.
Max Allegri played the same 4-3-1-2 he favoured last season. In fact, with the exception of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in place of Pato, it was the same XI that started the previous derby.
This was, of course, a game of two halves – the only question was why Inter relinquished their dominance from the opening period.
Inter dominate
In a pleasingly competitive game, it took a while to ascertain precisely what system Inter were using. Gasperini spent much of the opening twenty minutes carefully repositioning his players into a specific system, and it’s likely that he used this modified shape to try and compete in the midfield zone – his usual 3-4-3 would have been outnumbered 2 v 4 in the centre of midfield.
As a result, he possibly overcompensated by moving Alvarez deeper, because Inter often had a surplus of players in the midfield zone, and retained possession without having too many obvious out-balls. Wesley Sneijder had to come deep to pick up possession and Samuel Eto’o had little support upfront. Milan’s full-backs stayed surprisingly conservative, which meant Eto’o couldn’t find space out on the flanks and was barely involved.
Inter on top
The plethora of central midfielders meant that Inter unquestionably dominated the ball in the first half, enjoying 58% of possession. The key man was Alvarez – when he broke from deep positions down the left, Inter were able to spread the play and Milan were having problems with the interplay between he and Sneijder. Joel Obi was also very dynamic down the left – more so than Javier Zanetti on the other side, who was a little concerned with Robinho’s movement – and Inter’s best moves came down their left.
Rino Gattuso had too much to deal with, and was fortunate not to be red carded. His side were punished for his recklessness, however, as Sneijder curled a free-kick (conceded by Gatusso) into the top corner to give Inter a deserved lead. The problems, again, were caused by Alvarez’s forward movement.
Milan offered very little in the first half – they couldn’t keep hold of the ball, partly because they were too narrow, and their main strategy early on was physicality – they constantly fouled Thiago Motta, possibly to try and break up Inter’s moves from deep. They appeared slow in the centre of the pitch, with the only energy coming from Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Second half
...but the switch to 4-4-1-1 was a poor decision
No changes at half time seemed to signal more of the same, but it quickly became apparent that Inter had moved to a 4-4-1-1 system. Alvarez was moved to the right (a move difficult to understand considering his impact in the first half), with Zanetti deeper, Cristian Chivu across to left-back, and Obi slightly higher up.
The logic of the move was, presumably, that Gasperini wanted a more defensively-solid shape. His 3-4-3 at Genoa was frequently criticized for its lack of defensive assurance, and if the simple need for more of a presence at the back was the main reason for his switch, it indicates a recognition that the 3-4-3 might be easy to expose.
Milan take charge
It had the opposite effect, however, in two separate ways. First, the defence simply seemed uncomfortable with the change – Chivu had been very good in the opening period, but then resorted to diving into tackles unnecessarily and made Inter nervous at the back. Second, Gasperini actually managed to divert his players away from the zone they needed to defend. They’d been comfortable in the first half with 3 v 2 at the back – Milan played very narrow, and there was little threat down the flanks. It didn’t make sense, therefore, to use two orthodox full-backs, nor to protect them both with a wide midfielder. Milan’s threat was through the middle, not down the wings, and Inter had lost their spare man in defence.
Another problem was, of course, that they became overrun in the centre of the midfield with one fewer player in that zone. Gattuso had move time on the ball, and Clarence Seedorf also became more of a presence. Having enjoyed 58% of possession before half time, Inter now found themselves being dominated.
Milan’s goals, naturally, came through the middle. Some great combination play between Robinho, Seedorf and Ibrahimovic got the first, and then Robinho’s replacement Pato helped create the second, after his shot rebounded to Boateng. It may well have not occurred if Inter still had their spare man at the back.
Gasperini’s system had changed yet again with young right-back Marco Faraoni on for Alvarez down the right, and after Milan went behind, Giampaolo Pazzini replaced Dejan Stankovic in a move to something like a 3-4-1-2. It was all too confused, and a serious fightback was unlikely.
Conclusion
Inter’s players were well aware of the difference in performance between halves. “I feel very angry at losing this match after what we did in the first half,” Stankovic said. “We hardly allowed Milan anything except when they hit the post, while in the second half we fell away and were pegged back.”
Gasperini admitted that Inter were poor after the break. “We played less well after the break in defence, especially compared to what we had done in the first half,” he agreed. “It’s a real shame, as we had the game in hand and deserved to be in that position. If only we had known how to control the tempo better at the start of the second half.”
He must take the blame for the performance. He mentions both the defensive problems and the inability to get the ball and control the tempo, both of which might not have been such a problem had he kept his first half shape, which offered more protection at the back and an extra man in the centre of midfield.
Milan 2-1 Inter: Gasperini’s 3-5-1-1 dominates first half, but needless switches see him beaten
Though it is undeniable that Inter dominated the first half in terms of possession it didn’t seem like they created many chances as a result. Indeed they needed a free kick to get on the score sheet because their moves from open play where not too effective past the 3/4 line.
Although it is impossible to answer this question it would have been interesting to see how Milan would have fared against the same look inter in the 2nd half. Allegri would not have been pleased with what he saw in the first 45 and presumably gave his team a good shouting.
Alvarez is a joy to watch, but still far from the finished product. its a tough job to fit him & Sneijder together, as their playmaking styles clash rather than accomodate/comlpiment each other. the 3-5-1-1 was interesting, but still a long way from being fully understood by the Inter players. I would have thught Chivu would thrive in a flexible back 3 system, but he seems to have lost a bit of that “something” that made him stand-out.
Allegri is a good coach, but his system could have been put to the test had Inter used Obi more & taken the initiative in attack. the lack of width is not a new issue, neither is the lack of creativity from midfield to attack unless Seedorf feels like playing. maybe its because of the way Inter played, but Milan seemed to lack dynamism & ideas.
unfortunately, I only got to see the 1st half. nonetheless, this isn’t more than a glamourous pre-season friendly. Milan have work to do, Inter need to settle with regards to personnel & basic shape. Sneijder could leave, Eto’o seems to have already left!!
I think that we should cut Gasperini some slack, as the Super Cup was his first “competitive” game in charge.
I agree with Mati that Alvarez is a joy to watch, and it will be interesting (assuming Sneijder stays) to see how Gasp fits his two creators into the same line-up.
Lastly, a question for ZM, if Eto’o’s move to Russian football goes through, then who do you think Inter should sign as a replacement? If, as is rumored, Tevez arrives, where would he fit in to the formation?
You could argue that Tevez fits the 3-5-1-1 shape better than Eto’o does.
I’m not ZM, but to answer your Eto’o question, they have a ton of possibilities. Coutinho could play on the left, as he frequently did last season to good effect, his dribbling and passing are very good. Also in the current squad are Alvarez and Obi, as demonstrated by the game, both can do well on the left, not to mention the talented Castaignos and Alibec. If they’re to sign a replacement, Lavezzi could do the job very well (he was one of Serie A’s best players last season supplying Cavani). Other options include Hazard (though he’s very similar to Coutinho) and Nasri.
As for Tevez, he’s probably the only player who can cover all the same roles as Eto’o. Hard worker, scorer, provider, dribbler, all the others I listed only do 2 or 3 of those things.
I agree with you on the point about Lavezzi. He ran the Napoli offense last season, and he really works his ass off. I do not think Tevez will arrive due to his astronomical salary (12m/yr?) and his well documented off-field problems. Also of note, Lavezzi apparently has had a falling-out with De Laurentis and is up for sale at a cut-price. Moratti has 3 weeks left to pull something out of his magic hat.
Agree.
How if inter Sign Tevez and Lavezzi…hahahaaa..
With Eto’o, Tevez, and lavezzi we can make another Treble. Just sell Milito and make Pazzini a back up player.
Eto’o could come back to his favourite position as striker and also Tevez can play in the left side.
Suggestion only.
the problem here is fitting sneijder into any three defender system over an entire season. no wonder gasperini switched to a 4 defender system in the second half. even though it back fired, it better to experiment early in the season. great prose here; http://theirtactics.com/gasperini-and-the-3-4-3-brave-or-insane/
What does Boateng actually do?
He runs. A lot.
Allegri started using boateng behind the strikers last season because he adds more muscle to that position and works harder in defending when Milan don’t have the ball. He tried Ronaldinho(in a few games)/Seedorf/Robinho and then tried out Boateng (who originally played in midfield as a sub). Basically except for robinho none of the others used gave the team any balance and Milan were constantly outrun in midfield. Also Seedorf doesn’t have the pace anymore to play as the CAM.
“Also Seedorf doesn’t have the pace anymore to play as the CAM.”
but he does have the vision, which Boateng cannot match as yet. As Mati points out, when KPB is at the tip of the diamond and Seedorf is in midfield, the latter seems to handle more of the distribution and playmaking despite the former’s nominal position as a trequartista.
without the ball, he has the presence of a Gattusso playing in the position of a 10. he hassles the opposition early. Allegri has done this before with Cossu in Cagliari. when in possession, he doesn’t dictate play, as Seedorf advances forward
like perotta’s role during spaletti era? de rossi + pizarro as double pivot, perotta as trequatretista n totti as false 9?
I felt that the switch to a back 4 came later on in the second half. What I saw was Inter playing a back 3 for the first 15 or so minutes of the second half, then Milan started pushing midfielders up (generally Boateng) to look more like a 4-3-3, therefore Gasperini switched to a back 4.
The whole time I watched (only the second half), I kept thinking how effective Maicon would be in tandem with Alvarez. The latter looked lost on the right because he wanted to retain width but cut inside at the same time, I’m really curious to see what he does with an attack-minded fullback.
Finally, I’m interested in seeing where Zanetti will play. Zanetti-Cambiasso is about as solid a double pivot as one can come up with, but Gasperini seems to prefer more attack-minded players in central midfield. Perhaps in the back 3? None of Lucio/Samuel/Ranocchia/Chivu possess too much pace, so it’s risky to play a high line with them, maybe a back 3 of Zanetti-Lucio-Samuel could work.
Mati touched upon this, but can someone explain what Alvarez and Obi’s specific skills are and what they bring to the team? Thanks
Both are very versatile. Obi can play on the side as he did in this game, he can play as a DM, CM, or AM. His passing is very good (both to keep possession and create chances), his defensive positioning is good, and he works very hard. Plus, he’s a quick guy.
Alvarez can play in CM, AM, and either wing. He’s a good dribbler, a good distance shooter, and he can play dangerous passes well.
With Eto’o as a lone striker Inter doesn’t have a chance. He can’t hold the ball up and can’t fight with two central defenders like Nesta and Thiago Silva. Starting from the centre, he waits for the ball and has to turn and beat too many man to get to the goal. Inter didn’t make a shot in the whole game except from the free kick Snejider scored.
To play at his best, Eto’o needs a partner like Milito or Pazzini, and make runs from the left to the centre.
Interesting match and i think Gasperini tried to do too much in one single match. I like coaches making changes in the game but making radical changes rarely work. For Inter, they were comfortable in first half and did not need to change their style too much. Was impressed with Milan though and their come back.
inter needs to start concentrating on changing the generations . chivu , zanetti , samuel , cesar , stankovic , eto aren’t getting any younger and all inter ’s done so far was obi , ranocchia and alvarez.
most likely sneijder will eventually leave this team and inter will become nothing more than mediocre.
A team that has more than half 30 years old players can’t survive two entire halfs… hence the final outcome
Paul, I seem to recall a lot of people saying the same thing about Milan’s age holding them back – Seedorf, Van Bommel, Gattuso, Nesta and Zambrotta are all over 30 too.
Viviano, Bardi
Ranocchia, Caldirola, Santon, Faraoni, Natalino
Crisetig, Obi, Coutinho, Mariga
Castaignos, Alibec, Alvarez
Hardly a retirement home
Eto’o still a world class player. He maybe can play like this for 3 years, i don’t want him to replace with some youngster.
I agree with Josef, but Milan players like Ibrahimovic, Cassano, Robinho, Boateng, and Thiago Silva are having their best time at football now. Their Age are between 25 to 29.
And don’t forget Pato, he’s have a good prospect for the future.
I still regret that Inter don’t buy Ibrahimovic back when he failed in barca. blunder from Moratti.
I disagree that the tactical switch was “needless”. Gasperini obviously wanted to experiment, see how his alternative set up would work in a semi- competitive game like this. He has learned something about his team and about Milan without losing anything (its just the supercopa). This is what pre-season is for.
The only thing I took from this game is that Inter look comfortable playing with 3 at the back. All the defenders seem to know what to do and where to be. I think they will be fine.
semi-competitive match? maybe, but now milan will have a psychological edge over inder
I don’t think Milan gained any psychological edge on Inter. If anything they were brought back down to earth. Last season’s derbies were failures for Inter, and Milan outclassed them at every turn. This derby showed that Inter will not be that same team as last season; Gasperini has the tactical ideas to make sure Milan will not cut up the defense like last year. If anything Inter will have the psychological edge due to the fact that it took a few lucky breaks for Milan to win.
chivu started his career in national team as left cb (euro 2000?), samuel won scudetto with capello’s roma in 3-5-1-1 formation (zago, aldair, samuel). i don’t know much about ranocchia.
Thanks for the article, I was interested in seeing your take on this match.
Even with Inter’s poor second half display, the first goal came from a weird set of almost-but-not-really fouls, and the second goal came from Chivu not being able to control a ball played over the top. Had JC parried the ball a little bit harder, the ball would have skidded away from Boateng instead of right at him. This derby match is a far cry from the ones we witnessed last year; the matchup was much more even.
It should be a good season for Italian football with 3 of the top teams all going through personal revolutions. Although Eto’o leaving might not sound like a good piece of mercato, the same thing was said about Ibra leaving for Barca. The truth of the matter is that Inter were too reliant on Eto’o’s brilliance last season, (see the games against Bayern at home and Juventus in Turin) and maybe bringing in Lavezzi, Casemiro, and Kucka is just what the side needs to bring a more balanced approach to breaking down the opposition.
Same with Peter, I want to thank Zonalmarking.net for analyzed this match.
I can’t watched this match because my TV station doesn’t broadcast this match, they only broadcast it at last 20 minutes because of an error or something. So i just wondering what 3-5-1-1 are, and how can milan make the score to 2-1 in second half.
Now i know that was the Gasperini mistake to change his formation.
And i also surprise with Obi appereance, is he give a good performance in this match?? Why not inter add more striker in the front and move Alvarez to left side.
I hope Eto’o move doesn’t happen. If that happen at least i want Carlos Tevez. Why don’t we buy Tevez and Lavezzi both, with Pazzini in the middle, that would be trio killer. Casemiro and Kucka are too young, maybe inter can buy and loan Casemiro and kucka to other club for two seasons.
Obviously, milan had less man in the midfield and was outplayed. But Inter backed too much when Sneijder netted 1-0, milan could not get through the middle, they used the oldest way of football of attacking: 45 degree diagonal cross from flank, the results were good: Boateng almost touched the left cross and Ibra headed the post from the right flank cross.
I believe this is the main reason why Gasp changed his tactic from 3-5-1-1 to 4-4-1-1 from the start of the second half, to push milan’s full back and cut their cross. The tactic worked and milan had to attack through middle again. The first goal to milan was a serie of small mistakes of Inter have made outside the box and Chivu seemed confused of his position as he stepped inside and lose his mark of Seedorf. The second goal to milan was a joke to me, how could professional players argued that long and did not come back to their positions.
Milan had luck and Inter had Gasp, who is much better tactically than Leo.
First time I’d watched Alvarez properly and he looks like a real talent. Anyone know anything more about him?
Also, I was surprised to see that Pato is still only 21! It seems like he’s been around forever. Sensational player.
Alvarez was a good player, he can play at attacking midfielder and sometimes plays wide. He ussually cut inside the defender from the side. He’s tall too, that’s make his balance good.
But i don’t think he’s as a Wonderkid, maybe just a good player. Inter need a superstar like tevez or Aguero(unfortunately this player is taken by M.City).
Yes Pato still 21 age, if you see he plays at milan and brazil, That’s what i call Wonderkid. He could become a legend. But i hope he doesn’t shinning with Milan..heheheee
Seeing Alvarez and Coutinho in the same team regularly will be something to watch out for!
Hi folks. I am very new to soccer. I love zonalmarking and trying to read every post I can. But I don’t understand what is behind categorizing footballers to numbers like 3-5-1-1. I mean I get that for instance 4-3-3 is based on 4 defence men 2 center-backs and right and left backs with three midfielders and three forwards. In the midfield right inside + center midfield + left inside men. The up front 3 men consist of right forward + center forward + left forward. But what is the difference between a winger and left or right forward? And some kind of players playing up front lets say right never go deep to line and cross but drive inside through penalty area and shoot. Mostly players playing up right with strong left feet or vice versa do it. I mean what is the difference between winger and players who do what I just tried to describe? And returning to my first question, I get 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 or 4-5-1 but what the heck is 3-5-1-1- for gods sake?
Forgive me I am a newbie. How people categorize like 3-5-1-1 or 4-2-2-2. Whats the key point. Is it players’ duties (what kinds of?) or their abilities? And one more additional question what is the difference between center forward and striker? They seem pretty smilar. Please enlightmen me I’d be appriciated. Thanks in advance