Milan 0-1 Inter: Inter strike early, then hold on with ten men despite constant Milan pressure

The starting line-ups
Inter preserved a one-goal lead for almost the entire match after Walter Samuel’s crucial early goal.
Max Allegri played Daniele Bonera at right-back rather than Ignazio Abate, and used Urby Emanuelson on the right flank.
Andrea Stramaccioni named the same XI that defeated Fiorentina last weekend, in a 3-4-1-2 starting shape.
There was barely a tactical battle at 0-0 – Inter went ahead after 3 minutes, making it difficult to tell whether Milan’s dominance of possession was because of the formations and overall approaches, or because they needed to get back into the game and Inter were content to defend.
Pressing?
The major difference at the start of the game was the level of pressing. Inter started very energetically, trying to win the ball high up the pitch. In fact, they should have been 2-0 up early on after Christian Abbiati’s disastrous pass was played straight to Diego Milito, who wasted the opportunity.
On the other hand, Milan were very passive, sitting back and waiting to win the ball in their own half. Bojan Krkic dropped off alongside Kevin-Prince Boateng and got goalside of Esteban Cambiasso and Walter Gargano, leaving Inter’s back three to play the ball around at the back slowly. They struggled to find a forward pass, but were happy to slow the tempo of the game.
Inter offered little attacking threat, struggling to connect the defensive seven players with the attacking three. Coutinho wasn’t involved, with Nigel De Jong and Riccardo Montolivo both in his zone, although in fairness to the Brazilian, his work without the ball was impressive, trying to cut off the pass to the two central midfielders in turn.
Milan dominate possession and the flanks
The real battle was on the flanks, as the 3-4-1-2 has problems when playing against a 4-2-3-1. Inter had no immediate problem with a 3 v 1 situation at the back, especially as Bojan isn’t the most threatening of lone strikers. The issue was how to defend against Urby Emanuelson on the right, and Stephan El Shaaraway on the left. Milan understandably didn’t want to leave 3 v 3 at the back, as their backline would become stretched and dragged out of position, but the alternative was to play 5 v 3.
That’s pretty much what happened – Javier Zanetti tracked Emanuelson, who stayed wide and therefore was naturally dealt with by a wing-back. On the other side, however, El Shaaraway was playing narrower and trying to break into the box. He probably should have been dealt with by Andrea Ranocchia, but instead Yuto Nagatomo dropped back goalside of El Shaaraway, making 5 v 3 at the back.
De Sciglio freedom
Inter were fine in defence, but the problem was higher up the pitch, as they couldn’t get the ball to enjoy spells of possession and relieve the pressure. Furthermore, they had no way of dealing with Milan’s left back Mattia De Scilgio, who could charge forward completely unchecked. On the other flank, Bonera was often occupied by Antonio Cassano, while Emanuelson’s tendency to stay wide meant there wasn’t space for overlapping anyway.
De Sciglio, then, was free to get crosses into the box. It was such an obvious area of opportunity for Milan that it’s natural to question why Stramaccioni didn’t do something about it. But then, did he need to? De Sciglio was painfully right-footed whenever he got the ball in a promising position, often trying to stab it into the box with the outside of his right boot, when a whipped ball with his left would have been preferable. Besides, with 5′7 Bojan the only target, Inter’s back three was comfortable with any crosses played into the box.
Inter changes
At half-time Stramaccioni decided to replace Coutinho with Fredy Guarin, who played much deeper and in theory offered more energy to close down Montolivo and De Jong. However, Nagatomo’s dismissal, just three minutes into the second half, changed the game significantly.

The line-ups by full-time (substitutes are highlighted)
Having been under heavy pressure for most of the game already, Inter abandoned any hope of possession football and offered little counter-attacking threat. Instead, they became very defensive and concentrated on keeping a clean sheet.
Nagatomo’s dismissal caused a problem for Inter at the back, although the versatility of Javier Zanetti was very helpful – he went to right-back in a back four. Stramaccioni then removed Cassano in favour of Alvaro Pereira down the left – this initially seemed to signal a return to a back three, with Pereira and Zanetti both natural wing-backs, but actually Inter stayed in more of a back four, with Pereira higher up the pitch and Zanetti tucked in much deeper. It was roughly 4-4-1 – there was little support for Diego Milito, who was replaced by Rodrigo Palacio 20 minutes from time.
Milan changes
Milan didn’t equalise, but all three of Allegri’s changes were logical. His first move, straight after the red card, was to replace Bonera with Abate, a more attack-minded player. This allowed Milan an overlapping threat down both flanks, and prompted Stamaccioni to introduce Pereira to track his runs, so it was a good substitution as it further nullified Inter’s attacking threat and pushed them back.
The next man to enter was Robinho, which meant Emanuelson going to an advanced left-back position, where he’s a natural. This broadly worked well – Robinho didn’t do anything special, but Emanuelson was a much better option at left-back than Di Sciglio and forced Walter Gargano over to that side, as Inter didn’t have a proper right-sided midfielder.
The third change was Giampaolo Pazzini, who replaced El Shaarawy and provided an aerial target for crosses. Pazzini might not have scored, but he offered significantly more of an attacking threat inside the penalty box from wide deliveries (which was still the real area Milan had control in), and also held the ball up effectively. It was a surprise Pazzini didn’t enter earlier – he was introduced on 71 minutes, when Milan had already enjoyed a one-man advantage for over 20 minutes, and the lack of a penalty box presence was clear.
Yet Milan never broke through Inter’s defence, and probably their best chance of a goal was from Montolivo’s long-range shots – he had seven in total, and while some were wayward, four caused Samir Handanovic significant problems.
Conclusion
Allegri has hardly been convincing so far this season, even taking into account Milan’s summer departures. This derby defeat is likely to fuel further questions about his future at the club, but it’s difficult to question him in a tactical sense here. His side started with a disappointingly tame approach without the ball, but they did dominate possession for the entire game, and each one of Allegri’s substitutions was logical.
More than ever, the simple lack of individual quality from Milan was apparent – especially considering their star of the last two seasons was busy scoring two brilliant goals over in France.
For Inter, it was more about defensive organisation rather than tactics. They allowed Milan space on the flanks, confident their centre-backs would defend any high balls into the box – this was a no-brainer against Bojan, but Pazzini gave them more problems.
Ultimately, the victory was about finishing – Samuel’s chance was no better than a few of Milan’s opportunities.
Great analysis as usual, thanks!
I just wondered :
1. What do you think about Boateng in this game? I think he’s wasting too much chance by not playing the game efficiently. Trying to shot from long distance even it’s not possible. What do you think, what makes Boateng underperformed this season? It’s just him or Allegri wants to try something new in him?
2. What do you think about El Sharaawy and DeSciglio?
Thanks!
How the mighty have fallen.
As a closet Milan fan it was very sad to watch this team. They’re absolutely unrecognizable from the rampant 2011 champions that won the Milanese derby 3-0.
Balancing the books is one thing, but ruining your team is quite another. I’d say their best attacking player in terms of ability is Pato, but he’s always injured. When your best attacking player is Kevin Prince Boateng, whom is known more for his strength and power, the team is headed in a very dark direction. Bojan and Pazzini? Seriously?
The defense is even worse off. Yepes and Bonera should not be starting for a club like Milan. Period.
Allegri can’t be blamed, he built a title winning squad which then got ripped apart. They look like a Europa league team right now.
Absolutely agree if Allegri is fired things will turn even worse. The only bright spots for Milan are their young stars such as El Sharrawy and De Sciglio.
Pazzini is not as bad as you make him out to be. onera’s what’ he’s always been for Milan – cover at CB and R. I think he’s better than Yepes personally, but obviously they’re not ideal. Why Zapata didn’t start with Mexes I have no idea.
“They look like a Europa league team right now.”
Oh, the horrible horrors of being a top 6 team instead of a top-3 team. Seriously, dozens of teams across Italy would love to be in that position.
This is not ‘dozens of teams in Italy’. This is AC Milan, the nine-time European champions.
To begin with, I think they need to cash in on Pato while he still has value. Hopefully, bring him back a month or two before the window, let him score some goals, and hope another team is fooled enough to think he won’t get injured again.
With that money, address the defense first and foremost. Abate is a good right-back, and Emmanuelson is good going forward but absolutely putrid defensively. Mexes is serviceable at one CB, but a defensive leader at the other CB is absolutely crucial. Milan can’t pinch pennies here, they need a player whom they can depend on not to make mistakes in defense. I don’t know who, maybe someone like Badstuber or Agger. Pay whatever is necessary, because this is a crucial buy.
The midfield, well, what can be said. De Jong will hold down the fort in front of the back four as he usually does. Nocerino provides constant running, and Montolivo is another runner, but he can play some passes. But they still need a Pirlo replacement, someone who can dictate the pace of the game and find players whenever necessary.
It’s a hard position to fill. Maybe Sahin, if when he returns from loan from Liverpool Madrid decide to sell him. Or if not, then maybe someone like Tiote or Jeremy Toulolan.
KPB seems to continue to be a good presence at the no. 10. For the strikers, Pazzini seems to be off to a bright start, but will it continue? The guy below me hit the nail on the head. They need someone in Ibrahimovic’s mould, someone who can hold the ball up and create.
A short gap solution until money becomes available: Didider Drogba. If they are able to reinvest the Pato money, I’d then go after someone like Tevez instead, fits the team perfectly.
Abbiati
Abate-Mexes-Agger-Mesbah
Sahin/Montolivo-De Jong-Nocerino
KPB
Robinho/Pazzini-Drogba/Tevez
That 3-0 win, to me, was more about Inter’s completely dysfunctional team than it was about Milan’s strength.
As for the current Milan team, I think they have some good quality that they can put together, they just need to get out of the “Ibra hangover”. The first season after he left Inter, while it is remembered as the legendary treble-winning season, actually had a less than perfect start. Much of the team was used to Zlatan’s style of play, hoof the ball up for him, then sit back and watch, maybe give him a runner or two to get a closer view. Eto’o was receiving the ball in a really similar way, and it wasn’t until a few months later that Inter finally figured out how to best exploit the attacking talents available. Milan just need to adjust their style.
To start with, a key to Milan’s system with Ibra was KPB’s role as a trequartista. It worked because he didn’t have to provide creativity (that was Ibra’s job), he just needed to bring power, functionality, and directness. Now, Milan lack the main creator in attack, so they’re looking more and more to the trequartista for the killer pass. Boateng doesn’t do that, he just charges at the other team onto someone else’s pass.
Now, while I don’t think that Montolivo is necessarily the ideal creative talent to built your squad around, he does have a telling pass or two per game in him, de Jong can help keep the midfield secure while KPB runs from deep (he was way too high up this game, none of his qualities were of any use) to attack the other team.
In attack, Pato’s supposed to be the main man, but I’ll ignore him as he’s never fit. I think Pazzini can be the key. Admittedly, I haven’t really watched him since he left Inter, but he seems to be doing a lot better in terms of confidence. He retains something of Ibra’s physical presence, he’s an easy out-ball and gives the option for an aerial game. What he needs is service from the wings, constant crosses and angled through-balls. I saw a lot of good service from Robinho, and El Shaarawy takes defenders’ attention away. What Milan needed in this game was a presence in the box, at times all 3 of Inter’s CBs were completely free of a player to mark, Milan were just trying to play in front of the defence with no penetration.
Against teams with little threat on the wings, Emmanuelson and Abate can take the fullback roles, otherwise Milan have more conservative options that they can play.
Of course, they’re also missing the security of Thiago Silva, but they have decent (not great) CBs that can support a stable team until the next chance to bolster the defensive ranks presents itself.
Congratulations, it takes gut to analize an awful match like this one.
Allegri can’t be blamed? With ibra in the team it was impossible to lose the title
Allegri has to be blamed.He started the seaon with 4-3-1-2 then 4-3-3 and now 4-2-3-1 and neither is working.Yes Ibrahimovic and Silva are gone,but they have quality players that can do much better and they don’t deserve so little points in Seria A.
i dont have a digital recorder because either you watch the el classico or watch this match i watched the first since it happened when there was half time in the el classico and i will take your observation for the first half because i just watched the second half . and as you said nagamoto got his second yellow for both the player and the referee was stupid .
but the main thinking point was as you had said in the first half the same pattern continued in the second half and there was no ingenuity in milan’s attack emauelson would be wide on left and would swing the ball and it will be dealt by inter’s defense or if possible montolivo would take a shot from distance although there was one on target on whose rebound bojan ( i will talk about him later on ) should had scored but he fumbled . other than that there was no creativity in milan’s attack . emmanuelson’s cross were all high no low crosses as we had talked as to how effective they can be . nor did he wanted to come inside and take on the fullback although i think he was dealt successfully by zanetti once so he chose to swing .
now let me asses the situation after nagamoto’s dismissal he brought guarin who quite decent but milan’s attack as i had talked earlier were just monotonus even after nagamoto’s dismissal he continued to play de jong and montolivo either of them could had been removed and a pure attacking midfielder could had been brought on but he did not or else he could had asked montolivo to move up but he was way too deep with de jong . now montolivo is suppose to be the creative person in this milan but other than those long range efforts i didnt saw any creativity in him nor in any milan player . what i would had wanted is to dominate that central zone and then use that width provided by emanuelson and abate to full effect but allegeri did not . even at times guarin and perreria used to move high up the pitch and it was not inter were playing too narrow so there were gaps if they had shown little imagination .
now i know most of the english players are the most overvalued ,overestimated and what not . but i think that bojan is the numero uno he has got nothing he cannot dribble . he cannot pass , shoot , head the ball , his positioning is questionable and most importantly he has got very little desire a total hopeless. he was at barca but couldnt make the grade then went to roma where he was a flop and not at milan where he will be a headache and because of him allegeri might just loose his job .
since now we have got a lot of time because of the int week .i think we can atleast talk about the chelsea vs spurs which suppose will be interesting and i have a gut feeling that chelsea will have a beating .
Mr. Cox – thanks so much for doing all these games this week, I was delighted to come here and see you had the Milan Derby and the PSG-OM game as well. A really informative write-up as usual.
Milan’s approach this season has baffled me. If we dismiss Pato for the moment as being injured, it seems to me that their best hope would be to play a 4.2.1.3 with Pazzini in the middle, Robinho and Shaarawy wide, KBP as the CAM, two of Montolivo, Nocerino, Ambrosini, Flamini and De Jong behind him, Abate and Emmanuelson as the fullbacks, with Zapata and Mexes at CB.
That’s not a lineup for the faint-of-heart, but Milan are certainly not going to get anywhere playing 3 defensive midfielders and hoping for a forward to bail them out, because they lost Ibra. Plus they have fan trouble, so it seems to me that they ought to try and be as entertaining as possible. If Pato is ever healthy they can play him as the striker or a wide forward – I’d go with striker to have a fast front 3, plus he prefers the middle.
3-4-1-2 is such an inherently flawed system.
In the modern game, using 8 men for defense is something of a standard, as in 4-4 block. It is not uncommon for teams to utilize 9 men, like 5-4-1 defensive shape that Napoli uses, or 4-2-3-1’s wingers tracking back.
By comparison, defending with 7 people is simply not enough. As said by ZM, Inter assigned WBs to look after Milan’s wide attackers. That means they went 5-2-1-2 when defending, and Cambiasso and Gargano had to cover entire width of the field. This, simply is illogical.
Why Stramaccioni feels necessary to relieve Coutinho (or Sneijder when fit)a defensive duty is beyond me. We have seen van Marwijk’s inability to force ego laden attackers to share defensive burden cost his job in Euro 12. Likewise, having 3 idle players when defending is a luxury that Inter can not afford.
Did Nagatamo really start on the right, and Zanetti on the left?
It seems surprising to play with two wrong-footed full-backs…
Nagatomo is actually right-footed, only Zanetti was playing on his “weak” side.
Having said that, I do agree that it hurt Inter, and I don’t necessarily see the reasoning behind such a move. Typically, if a coach moves Zanetti from his usual position (RWB this season), it’s to pit him against the opposing team’s biggest attacking threat as he is a tremendous defender. In Milan’s case, their main attacking threat is arguably El-Shaarawy, so it can’t be a defensive move.
It also hurt Inter’s attack in 2 ways, first is that Zanetti’s runs down the flank get severely limited when he plays on the left, on the right side he opens up the opposition a number of times per game (and he even did it once this game for Palacio’s late chance), but he’s a lot less inclined to dribble down the left.
Second, Nagatomo’s goal threat gets significantly reduced when he plays on the right. It’s hard to say why as he is a two-footed player, but when he plays on the left, he constantly sneaks into the other team’s penalty area. In fact, I consider him Inter’s second or third biggest goal threat, especially in this system where he has Cassano on his flank ready to release him all day long. On the right, however, he hugs the touchline all game without accomplishing much.
Perhaps Stramaccioni wanted to have Nagatomo attacking Milan’s less defensively gifted flank, but I think this move really limited Inter’s ability to hit Milan on the break.
Actually Nagatomo is quite good at man marking. When people criticize his defending, it’s usually about the positioning. However he is pretty good at one be one defending, like when he completely snuffed Destro.
I want to look at Inter’s system, because it’s really fascinating to me. It’s a somewhat direct attacking system, yet there’s a lot of ball-retention between the defenders. Really, it’s a matter of stalling until Cassano is open, then he finds one of Milito or Nagatomo to finish. So the system is designed to get him open.
The back 4 players (Handanovic and back 3) play relatively simple roles. The Back 3 closes up when out of posession, then spreads out to cover the width of the field when in possession. Cambiasso’s role is crucial, the way he drops really deep to keep the ball circulating brings an air of calmness to Inter’s play that we haven’t seen in a long time. Gargano tends to stay higher up in a more traditional midfield zone where he likes to spray passes around the field.
Then there’s Coutinho’s role. Defensively he presses the opposing DMs, in attack he breaks past them, dribbles, then lays the ball off to Cassano/Nagatomo. After that, he runs off the ball toward goal and hopes for the return ball.
Zanetti’s job is usually more defensive, especially since none of his teammates really attack down his flank, but he does like breaking forward to square for Milito every now and again. Nagatomo’s role is usually the big one in attack, he hugs the touchline until he overlaps Cassano/Coutinho, after which he bolts toward goal, it’s a unique style for a wingback, but it makes him a very important player.
One interesting thing I’ve noticed, especially with Handanovic, is that the team is programmed to clear the ball toward the left wing, and it often works. Neither of Nagatomo or Cassano are good aerially, yet they always seem to receive the ball. Just highlights Inter’s dependence on the left flank. It’s a system that seems like it can work very well over the course of a full season, hard to break down and difficult to contain for an entire match, but it still needs work. My main worry is what to do when Sneijder gets back, Coutinho’s work rate is a big part of why it’s working right now, Sneijder is a lot more casual with his pressing, which leaves a lazy front 3 (and that’s mainly why Inter’s home form was so bad until Sneijder got injured, the team was just too lazy).
simply enthralling!
Superb analysis like always, Michael.
Do you think Guarín would do a better job tracking Emanuelson, rather than having Gargano on that zone?
Gargano is more disciplined positionally than Guarin, he’s the better player if you want to defend. Guarin isn’t scared of leaving his position to join the attack or press, but that’s not a good thing when you’re hanging on to a lead.
Well 3-5-2 copes admirably when the name of the game is getting bodies back behing the ball regardless of what system its up against (as by the way does 4-4-2).
New Zealand showed that at the World Cup (OK they were 3-4-3) and Inter are the latest side to confirm it.
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