Milan 0-1 Inter: Inter sit deep and counter
The starting line-ups
Diego Milito scored the only goal of the game, and Inter are back in the title race.
Max Allegri named Pato upfront rather than Robinho, and chose both Urby Emanuelson and Antonio Nocerino in the midfield diamond.
Claudio Ranieri’s line-up was as expected, with Wesley Sneijder on the bench, and Ricky Alvarez in the side.
Inter were submissive but disciplined, and were far more tactically astute.
Inter shape
The first question concerned Inter’s formation. Having played both 4-3-1-2 and 4-4-2 in recent weeks with the same midfield quartet selected here, they could have been using either system.
In truth, it was something of a hybrid. In the opening minutes it seemed a straight 4-4-2, albeit with Javier Zanetti much deeper on the right than Alvarez on the left, but the more the game went on, the more it became apparent that Alvarez was allowed to drift into his preferred central playmaking position – the formation was essentially dependent upon whether Inter had possession or not.
The paradox of the system, though, was that Alvarez could only come into the middle to give Inter creativity when they had a decent amount of possession. But they were unlikely to enjoy much possession with the 4-4-2 in the defensive phase – it meant Mark van Bommel saw plenty of the ball with no Inter player in a good position to close him down.
Formation match-up
With Milan dominating possession and Inter’s lopsided shape, the three deeper Inter midfielders broadly picked up Milan’s more attacking midfielders. That meant Zanetti on Nocerino, Thiago Motta on Emanuelson and Esteban Cambiasso on Kevin-Prince Boateng. Those three struggled for space, particularly Emanuelson who was the highest up but had to keep coming deep to get the ball.
Alvarez, high up, kept an eye on Ignazio Abate who wasn’t involved much – which meant that Gianluca Zambotta on the other flank enjoyed the most amount of space without any Inter player pressing him. He moved forward and got plenty of touches, though the knock-on effect was that Inter’s strikers took it in turns to move out to the right in behind Zambrotta to attempt to exploit that space.
Chances
There were only two serious goalscoring opportunities from open play in the first half, and both made sense considering the formation match-up – they fell two of the freer players just before half time.
First, Alvarez moved central, neither Abate nor van Bommel were permanently picking him up, and he took too long to convert a decent chance.
Second, van Bommel, who was always free, moved forward unattended to thump a pull-back against the crossbar from the edge of the box. It remained 0-0 at half-time.
Second half
There were no changes for the start of the second half – none were expected for Inter, who had frustrated Milan, but Allegri could have made a pre-emptive change to force the issue when Milan had the ball.
There weren’t many opportunities at the start of the second half. Milan continued to hit long balls towards the front two, which suited Lucio and Walter Samuel perfectly. Inter sat back and played on the break, and one of those breaks provided the only goal. Zanetti motored forward and beat van Bommel, Abate failed to cut out a pass, and Milito was free to finish.
The line-ups after both managers made their first change
Substitutes
That was the shot in the arm the tactical battle needed, with both managers suddenly scrambling to react to the situation. Allegri went for Robinho, who replaced Zambrotta with Emanuelson going to left-back. That made sense – the Milan left-back had little defensive responsibility so Allegri could afford an attacking player there, and besides, Emanuelson was doing little as a trequartista. Robinho went behind the front two, and Milan’s shape remained the same.
Alvarez began to tire in his hybrid role, and stopped tracking back against Abate, who was keen to compensate for his error. Therefore, Ranieri replaced Alvarez with Cristian Chivu, with Nagatomo going to the left of midfield and Inter moving to a standard 4-4-2 system, with two holders and two runners on the flanks. They sat even deeper and were happy to soak up pressure.
Late on
Milan were at their functional worst, lacking imagination with the ball and offering no penetration. Ibrahimovic drifted to wider zones throughout the game and attempted a few shots from the corners of the box. Behind him, Pato wasn’t involved much and Robinho struggled to find space. It was difficult to see how Milan were trying to break Inter down, and only the very late introduction of Stephan El Shaarawy provided some kind of pace and excitement.
Ranieri brought on Sneijder with 15 minutes remaining and told him to sit on international teammate Mark van Bommel, meaning it was Alessandro Nesta who moved forward with the ball to try and prompt late attacks, but Inter held on.
Conclusion
A very interesting tactical battle – which Ranieri got right. Alvarez wasn’t hugely influential on the left, but Ranieri correctly decided he could play with three deeper midfielders picking up Milan’s three attacking midfielders, have one player breaking forward from midfield, and play on the break. The risks were leaving Zambrotta and van Bommel free – and the latter was the width of a crossbar away from giving Milan the lead – but that, a 25-yard effort, was the only time Milan seriously threatened Julio Cesar. Ranieri can consider his strategy a success.
Milan, on the other hand, played extremely poorly. The line-up looked highly functional on paper – a strike partnership which has never quite clicked, with a fairly average trequartista and two runners either side of the diamond. They lack guile, and they depend too much on power in midfield, plus individual brilliance upfront.
The strange thing about Milan is that they are the complete opposite of the side they were in the mid 2000s, which contained a midfield full of playmakers, and was more successful against Europe’s elite (three European Cup finals) than against Serie A as a whole (one league title).
Now, they have a midfield that is highly powerful and functional rather than intelligent. Demolishing bottom half clubs shouldn’t be a problem, but against top quality opponents, they need something a little cleverer. It’s summed up by their record in Serie A so far – against the top six they’re P5 W0 D2 L3, against everyone else they’re P13 W11 D2 L0. They are currently the best example imaginable of flat-track bullies.
Very interesting conclusion that. How do you rate their chances in the CL? I.e. v Arsenal and if they happen to progress…
Milan will progress. Once you play three defensive-minded mfs (as Inter did today) or two quality wingers (as man utd did in their last encounter), it’s quite easy to frustrate Milan and possibly beat them. But Arsenal cannot play neither and I do not believe that they can overpower and dominate the midfield against Milan. But Milan will be hardly competitive against any other top clubs with more quality players and tactical diversity.
Will certainly be an interesting tie. I think Arsenal having home advantage second leg will give them a sniff. If Walcott and Song play well, they have a decent chance. Would consider unleashing the Ox as well – directness will peturb the Milanese back line
really? you don’t think Song / Arteta / Wilshere, with RVP dropping deep, can outplay the Milan midfield? our midfield is more defensively secure than I remember for a long time, probably since the Vieira / Gilberto days. also, van Bommel is extremely slow and often gets outrun in Serie A games. I can’t wait to see Wilshere breeze by him at every opportunity.
also, it’s true, our wingers aren’t playing well. but you forget, that’s largely because our fullbacks for the past few weeks have been central defenders, who are largely ineffective at providing support to the wingers. when you’re constantly being marked 2v1 because nobody is scared of Djourou or Miquel getting to the byline, it’s not easy to create anything.
Wilshere’s return from injury is a fair point, I forgot about it. However, my point wasn’t about individual defending quality of the players but the structure of the Arsenal midfield. Against Milan it will be a 3 vs 4 midfield battle. To overcome this numerical disadvantage, Arsenal should have (1) a false-nine (like man utd), or (2) defensive/tireless wm (like liverpool or man utd), or (3) “better” players (like barca), or lastly (4) sit deep and counterattack (like inter today). And it’s fairly clear that Arsenal has none of the three and will hardly abandon their usual style against Milan. It’s very likely that Milan will dominate the midfield.
In addition, it’s Persie vs Nesta&Silva and Zlatan&Robinho vs Mertesacker&Vermaelen(orKoscielny) on the other side. And that should be another hardship for Arsenal.
You forgot option (5) which is to do what Tottenham did vs Milan and Inter last season: move the ball quickly out to the flanks where pacy wingers can go 1 v 1 against Milan’s fullbacks. Arsenal definitely have the players to do this.
Unless Milan can come up with a solution to width and pace (which they clearly lacked last season) then I can’t see them beating an English side in the Champions League.
If Gervinho, Walcott and RvP are all fit for the games, Arsenal will probably win since Milan are so weak on the wings because of their centralized midfield and because of Zambrotta´s pace (although they might opt for Taiwo if Walcott is fit, but that it doubtful seeing as how he´s hardly played).
Milan´s midfield is too… static, Kevin-Prince moves a lot, he´s got energy but he can´t unlock a defence, Nocerino is intelligent, but he can´t unlock a defence either, Seedorf, maybe, Aquilani, if he has a good day he can certainly be very creative but he´s inconsistent. They´d need Pirlo, really, even though his last seasons at Milan were pretty poor he´s still got creativity, he´s still more intelligent than all of Milan´s midfielders and he´s also got good delivery from set-pieces.
Honestly, Allegri needs to really switch formation to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 and get the right players for it. Ibra/Pato centrally, Robinho one of the wingers perhaps, maybe not if they can find someone better, and then another QUALITY winger.
Yeah, I don’t see Arsenal troubling Milan too much. Even considering their increased directness this season, I still think they’re too “slow” (in terms of how they build their attacks) to really be a threat. If they get the chance to hit Milan on the break, it’s a goal for sure, but Milan have the superiority in midfield (numbers and energy) as well as a very dangerous strike partnership. Arsenal won’t get to play their preferred game, nor can they really stop Milan’s game.
What’s the Italian for “flat track bully”?
Thought it was a mistake to play Emanuelson as the trequartista rather than Boateng; neither one is a natural at it, but KPB has at least developed a rapport with Zlatan, and this would have allowed a better ball playing midfielder.
Playing Emanuelson as a trequartista is a joke, huge mistake by alegri.
Inter will take this
I’m still amazed that he actually plays there. At Ajax he was considered barely good enough to play as a left midfielder (which was a little harsh, but still).
If you’d have said back then that he would be playing as a trequartista in a Milan derby ahead of Robinho you would have been laughed out of the room, so good for him.
Now if only he would have focused on a left back position, he might have had a shot at Euro 2012.
Agreed, Milan should have played Urby at LB from the start. Milan need another Midfielder, either a playmaker and move Boateng back, or a Defensive Left and move Boateng back up front.
Spot on about the brainless Milan midfield. Without one of Aquilani or Seedorf playing, Milan has no midfielder that understands what it take to break down a defence. Inter really did get their tactics spot on. They allowed the clueless Milan midfielders time on the ball and when they charged into the box aimlessly Inter would just knick it back and counter into the space left by the out of position midfielders. The thing about this Milan midfield is that it proves no protection for the defense and no ability on the ball whatsoever. To compensate for this the forwards have to drop deep to help advance the ball forward and the midfielders become defacto strikers. So when Milan loses the ball (which Ibra does often) the midfielders are in no position to stop the counter attacks. Galliani needs to sign a ball playing central midfielder this transfer window if Milan are to have any chance against Arsenal or the better teams in Serie A.
This game was the classic Pato paradox – you’d expect his pace to be useful against aging center backs like Samuel, but in Serie A most teams sit back against Milan and defend with a deep line. Thus, Pato’s best asset, pace, is wasted and he is not the best in possession or even dribbling at defenders.
Inter’s passing was particularly poor, but their shape, discipline, and tackling were spot on.
Spot on, however I don’t understand why Pato can’t dribble more, he should be watching Messi tapes.
The problem with 4-3-1-2 is, if you’re trying to shut it down in midfield, you need to also play a similar formation. However, that leaves you short on the wings. This game was a perfect example of that.
Inter shut Milan down very well, Milan dominated possession but it was mostly the centre-backs passing the ball around, but Inter simply could not build any attacks. When they did win the ball back, Maicon was usually faced by one of Pato or Ibrahimovic, Nagatomo had the other one (or KPB) in his way, and Inter had to play the ball through the crowded centre or hoof it up the field for Pazzini to chase. Milito often dropped to the right and provided an out ball, but he was usually isolated and forced into losing possession.
Robinho coming on was just about the best thing that could happen to Inter, because it meant Milan were playing a 4-3-3ish shape and Inter could afford to play someone on the wings. Indeed, Zanetti and Nagatomo looked very threatening after Inter’s goal, had it come earlier in the game, they probably would have been more attack-minded and dangerous.
For all the criticism and “outdated” comments that the 4-3-1-2 gets, it can be a very difficult formation to play against. All it takes to discourage full-backs from attacking is to have a forward drifting around their zones, and suddenly it’s not looking so vulnerable to width.
I’ve always thought that, when facing a team playing a narrow midfield & relying on their fullbacks for width, if you play with wingbacks & match up in midfield you’ll have a decent chance of beating them, because your wingbacks are pushed up on their fullbacks & you’re not outnumbered in midfield. The best response I’ve seen to a 4-3-1-2 is either Napoli’s 3-4-2-1, or the system that Liverpool used against Chelsea last season (the 3-6-1 with the diamond in midfield). Both formations allow you to dominate the key areas of the pitch & play the game on your own terms. Unlike Dalglish last season, a lot of managers won’t be as flexible game to game, so it was unlikely that Inter would radically change their system to something like the two mentioned above, but good on them for getting the result anyway.
I thought of that just after the game, how much better would a 3-6-1 have been? Inter’s attacks were too slow and laboured, they needed a burst of pace down the wing. Nagatomo was often distracted by one of Ibra or KPB, had he been a wingback, Inter would have been much more dangerous (not to mention Alvarez probably would have been more effective). Milan’s attack came down their left, and Inter’s attacks were often built up on that side, it was too congested to really be a good route for direct attacks.
Anyway, as an Inter fan, I’m glad our defence is secure again.
Milan’s midfield shape was very strange in the 1st half. Van Bommel was the only one to stay put, whereas the other three played where ever they felt like playing, yet most often drifting to wide positions. That’s what I find very strange, since at least on paper, the way how a 4-3-1-2 gains advantage over a 4-4-2, are thing like carrileros running channels, width from FB’s, late runs from the trequartista etc. But majority of the time, Milan looked like a very orthodox flat 4-4-2 with reserved FB’s and Emmanuelson merely having a tad more freedom than in a conventional 4-4-2. It was only during Inter’s goalkicks when Milan actually looked like a team playing a 4-3-1-2 shape.
I feel Allegri was put into a tight spot with Aquilani unavailable; no creativity until Seedorf came on. It reminded me of Sacchi’s Milan but without the hard-work from those ahead of Van Bommel. Konsta K’s remarks about Milan looking like a 4-4-2 are spot on. A shift from Allegri? Or perhaps just a temporary problem until Aquilani/Cassano/new creative midfielder signing?
We where very poor, Only Nesta & Silva (to some extent MVB) deserve credit.
I don’t why he opted to play Urby in an advanced position when we could have used him as LB, & Binho could of come on from the beginning on the expense of Zambro. That way a 4-3-3 would have surely helped us to be more dangerous, with Zlatan acting as a fake 9, while Pato & Binho going in behind / between Inter’s CB & FB. Even tho we would of been deprived of creativity, but it’s as if tho we had any yesterday.
I agree, that would have been a better approach i think, they had too many midfielders playing too deep with no penetration.
What that would have done though, is give Inter an extra player to attack with. Like I said above, Inter’s attack was restricted because Ranieri wanted to match Milan’s midfield 4, so couldn’t have anyone breaking down the wings on the counter. Take off one of Milan’s midfielders and you’ve just given Inter the lisence to play someone on the wing, which would have been a lot more dangerous for Milan’s defence.
it was a boring game. a lot of individual mistakes, very slow, little imagination. i was quite disappointed.
and i say that as a fan of serie a.
Milan – Were strong defensively, but poor attacking wise. Silva and Nesta largely dealt with the two Inter strikers, and it was a error from midfield and RB that lead to the goal. Zambrotta had a great game, using the time and space afforded to him well to get up and down the left flank. Unfortunately, Maicon had Zanetti helping him out and wasnt caught out. Abate could have done a lot better, his mistake can be forgiven (hes only human) but he didnt get forward enough at all and let the game pass him by until the second half, when he finally seemed motivated to have an impact. If he had pushed forward more, i couldnt have seen Alvarez having a good game.
In midfield, Van Bommel was the free player, and should have scored (unlucky), but didnt really take control of the game. His passing lacked imagination and I think Seedorf could have done a better job trying to get Milan playing. He also was caught out for the goal, where he should have done much better. The rest of the midfield wasnt much better. Nocerino failed to deal with Zanetti breaking forward, he should have been tracking him better and Zanetti was one of Inter most threatening players on the break. Boateng played too deep, nowhere near the goal, while his passing was poor, again lacking the creativity to break down Inter. Emanuelson was a poor choice at the tip of the midfield, didnt get into the game at all, and looked much better when he was moved to LB.
Up front, Milan lacked any cohesion. Ibra was the best bet of scoring, as he could at least hold up the ball well, and had a couple of good shots at goal which he should have done better with. But most of the time Milan were sending it long to him, where he usually lost out too when up against Lucio in the air. Pato was poor, as his pace was useless up against a deep defense with no clever passer in midfield. But I would have liked to have seen better movement from him, he stayed static most of the game, when he could have dropped deeper to get on the ball.
Overall, Milan were solid defensively, where one mistake lead to a goal and this could have easily been a 0-0. But they lacked any sort of creativity in midfield, and as ZM mentioned, need a playmaker. Van Bommel’s passing lacked any sort of imagination but he isnt that sort of player, Boateng lacked the killer pass, but he isnt that sort of player either. Milan should have much better players in these positions if they want to start beating the better teams. While i have no idea what Emanuelson was doing, what they really need is a player that can cause penetration.
Milan didnt change much either after going down, Robinho came on, but he played too far away from goal, where he is useless, and Milan generally kept the same shape, when they should have changed it.
Inter – Werent much better than Milan, and were lucky to win. Lucio did a good job up against Ibra in the air, while Samuel wasnt really tested. The change to a deep lined defense has certainly helped those two, who have looked solid again. But Inter didnt really use there fullbacks, they have two very capable attacking fullbacks, but they stayed deep. This was a waste as they werent really up against anyone, so could have pushed forward, exploiting a well known weakness of Milan.
The midfield did a good job defensively, but lacked creativity just like Milan, it was just more of a case of counterattacking for them though. Motta took care of Emanuelson easily enough, while Cambiasso and Boateng cancelled eachover out. Zannetti had a great game, keeping an eye on Nocerino and helping Maicon with Zambrotta. While he countered brilliantly, making excellent runs when Nocerino shut off and forgot to track him, and it was he who started the attack that lead to the goal. He is still proving what a great player he is, with the engine of a 20 year old.
Alveraz played a good game and was the only player that had any positional freedom. He drifted into good positions and should have scored, but still needs time to learn the game in Italy. He was also restricted by a defensive performance from the rest of the team and a lack of movement from the two forwards.
Up front, the two strikers were too similar. They both like to feed on crosses, so Inter didnt really play to there strengths. Inter could have done with a different sort of player up there, more of a creative player that could dribble at the Milan defense.
Overall, Inter looked solid defensively against a poor Milan attack really. There midfield defended well, while Zanetti broke well and Alvarez played a creative role well though lacked support. The two Strikers were ineffective and too similar, and strangely Inter had simlar problems to Milan with little creativity or cohesion to there attack, its just they played deeper and broke well against Milan.
Milan did create chances, they had 10 corners and 16 shots, they just didn’t finish. Inter have some the best defenders on the planet and Inter strategy to sit back on defense worked.
Zanetti play a huge game and shut down Milan almost every time they tried to get pass him.
Milan need not worry, very few teams could match Inter’s defense, when they do Milan will just have to finish better. I think everyone is over complicating the analysis.
Good read. The point about the difference in the type of midfielders Milan has now, in comparison with who they had 5 years ago is spot on. Such a shame. They used to be the dominant possession team in Europe before this current Barca team took shape.
I think they still are a dominant possession team, just not creative enough to make all that possession count for something.
http://opitacoboleiristico.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/camaroes/
A little bit about brazilian football: what does Palmeiras have to offer for the 2012 season?
Inter are not back in the title race. They have to chase down four teams not one. One bad week and their ‘title’ chances are in tatters. They are back in the race for a Champions League place. Ranieri is a very good at playing spoiler however he is not a championship winning coach.
Milan are flat track bullies THIS season not last season and circumstances are to blame i.e. injuries to Cassano and Aquilani, Seedorf unfit, Robinho off form and Pato his usual, wretched, selfish self. Allegri’s shift to a more powerful, athletic team is a sound strategy and yielded the title in what was expected to be a transitional year. That midfield also gave Barcelona more problems in two games than Real Madrid have in the 306 or so ‘classicos’ that have been played over the past 18 months.
i wonder why Allegri didnt start Prince as the no.10, Nocerino where Prince did start, Seedorf where Nocerino did start, and Emanuelson at, left back or even Taiwo?? Is Taiwo injured? Was Seedorf unable to play 90 mins? Even put Seedorf on for the 2nd half? And Prince defo should have been the no 10, links well to Zlatan. El Shaarawy may have been able to provide more guile than Pato from the start.
Fair to say Milan wont play that formation with those players again, heh
Inter sat deep to bring Nesta out and take away space for Pato. Pretty simple how that one worked out both on both accounts for them.
Some irony that in sophisticated Italy, it’s a 4-4-2 that has reenergized Inter’s season, although they will need to figure out how to fit sneijder and forlan in. Probably 4-3-2-1? Thoughts everyone?
Inter might want to try playing Sneijder as the 2nd striker. Rotate Milto and Pazzani who are both more scorer than ball possessor.
Instead of giving Sneijder all the responsibility of setting up the attack, share some of that with Alarvez and let Sneijder get into scoring position. Sneijder is one of the best shooters in the world, let him shot more.
Neither of the teams was particularly impressive. Ranieri’s tactics were astute but the result was slightly lucky – apart from Motta and Alvarez in the first half, Inter didn’t create anything apart from Milito’s goal. Milan were toothless and anemic. Improvement is needed on both sides of Milan.
Ranieri really is something.
For years I’ve defended him as one of the great managers in the world- one who never got a fair chance to show just how smart he is.
He built the Valencia team that was so strong under Benitez and developed the likes of Terry and Lampard at Chelsea to lay the groundwork for Jose. He also did well with a mercurial Roma and is now revitalizing an Inter that were in the doldrums.
He is tactically intelligent (some of his tactical “mistakes” that he has been accused of in the past were largely the result of his trying to deal with some player problem or another) and he works well with players to develop them.
And he is now rolling with Inter. Kudos to him. Maybe he’ll finally find a permanent home and win some trophies at Inter.
Does anyone know what’s happened to Pato? I understand that he’s suffered with injuries; but these last two years should’ve been his breakout seasons but…..
http://opitacoboleiristico.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/os-aspectos-da-vitoria-do-mgladbach-contra-o-bayern-de-munique/
The victory of M’Gladbach against Bayern Munchen.