AC Milan obtained again to successful methods in Serie A on Saturday night as they comfortably beat Empoli 3-0 within the fog at San Siro.
The pinnacle coach Paulo Fonseca selected to make with three of the again 4 altering. Emerson Royal, Malick Thiaw and Matteo Gabbia got here in, whereas Yunus Musah began on the suitable, with Rafael Leao on the left and Alvaro Morata main the assault.
The scoring was opened by Alvaro Morata who broke his run of two months within the league with out a aim, firing in after a blocked shot fell into his path contained in the penalty space.
A second got here simply earlier than the break, with Tijjani Reijnders additionally pouncing on a free ball within the space to spin and drill residence. Within the second half he doubled his tally, utilizing Rafael Leao’s run properly and rolling it in from 18 yards.
It was a job properly executed for Fonseca’s facet given the strain they have been beneath coming into the sport to not solely win, however to be a bit extra convincing at each ends. Under is a tactical evaluation of the sport courtesy of our author .
The two-5-3
Milan knew that this sport relied on them breaking down an Empoli facet that play with three centre-backs, subsequently a five-man defence when not in possession.
Due to this fact, Fonseca determined to embrace a a high-risk high-reward sport, with a relaxation defence of simply two gamers again. This allowed extra gamers to get ahead and to attempt break down the low block.
Urgent traps
Milan’s opener got here courtesy of a swiftly and effectively executed urgent transfer. As you’ll be able to see under, the Rossoneri used a man-marking scheme larger up the pitch leaving Mattia Viti alone.
Whereas Empoli have been passing out from the again, Pulisic left his man and pressed Viti instantly. This meant that Pezzella was left open momentarily.
This was a urgent entice and as soon as Milan executed the press and gained the ball again and shortly moved it vertically, all that was lacking was the end.
Third-man mixtures
Underneath Fonseca, Milan have used third-man mixtures far more than beneath Stefano Pioli up to now. What’s it? Because the identify implies, it’s one-touch passing between three gamers to open up the defence, given the benefit of additional passing angles.
Set-piece evaluation
Milan’s corners have been very disappointing to say the least. There was a sample with Pulisic focusing on the far submit and Theo focusing on the close to submit.
We stay unaware as to if this was resulting from some weak point noticed by Milan’s analysts however to see Theo making an attempt to do the identical factor and anticipating completely different outcomes was difficult to observe.
What has given Milan success this season is definitely the other: Pulisic whipping them in in direction of the close to submit together with his proper foot to focus on a crowd of our bodies.
Empoli’s construction
The away facet performed a 5-2-3 formation out of possession and tried to overload the huge areas with their wing-back, close to facet centre-back and the close to facet mezzala.
When Milan would attempt to play out from the again then they might use a man-oriented urgent like most groups in Italy and attempt to block Milan’s passing lane from again to entrance.
Defensive points
It doesn’t take a world class head coach to grasp that Milan’s points on the again this season have been largely resulting from being caught in transition, i.e. dropping the ball and affected by counter-attacks.
Within the scenario under you’ll be able to see Matteo Gabbia has pushed ahead to catch Pellegri or Colombo off guard and to attempt a restoration very excessive up the pitch, however he misses and the striker turns him.
There’s a important hole between Gabbia and Malick Thiaw right here and this provides Empoli an opportunity to counter with numbers and in full pace.
Now, the query is: ought to Gabbia push up aggressively and with that ought to Thiaw keep the excessive line? Or ought to Gabbia have maintained the zonal marking and stayed again?
Both manner, the reply is that Milan all the time appear to play high-risk, even in very manageable sport conditions. The Rossoneri have been 1-0 up and will afford to make Empoli ask questions of them, and but – like towards Slovan Bratislava – the opponent discovered house to gallop into.