AC Milan Tactics

Who should be the new Milan captain

  • Alessio Romagnoli

    Votes: 17 89.5%
  • Giacomo Bonaventura

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Cristian Zapata

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Gonzalo Higuain

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Lucas Biglia

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .

Goodfella

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Interesting to see if Milan are ahead of the trend or behind it in terms of the strong runner midfield.

I'd say Allegri does it because he doesn't have much of a choice. Aquilani is injured, Seedorf is too static and slow to be used at the same time as Aqua, we decided to wait until we can get Montolivo for free and most other above average ball-playing CMs are too expensive for us.

As for using players like Boateng and Urby at CAM, it's most likely because of Ibra, since he likes to have freedom on the pitch and act like a traditional trequartista every now and then and doesn't run much off-ball. Allegri doesn't seem to mind fielding Seedorf there, especially when Ibra isn't playing, and he's not a runner.

They are essentially now the opposite of Barcelona. Guardiola’s side is clearly a better team than Real Madrid in head-to-head matches, but look likely to lose the league based upon inferior performances against the other 18. Milan don’t have the intelligence to break down good sides, but they can easily blast past minnows. Against top clubs, Milan struggle; they haven’t beaten any of the top six in Serie A this season.

So whereas Milan’s style in the mid-2000s was good for Europe (one league title but three European Cup finals), now they’re well in the title running, but very much outsiders in the Champions League.

This guy is dropping conclusions way too early. None of Juve, Napoli, Lazio, Inter or Udinese beat us or prevented us from winning with Aquilani in his favoured position(RCM) or even a injury-free KPB at CAM(he was playing while injured against Juve) and we missed players vital for our tactics in pretty much all of them. The only time we had Aqua at RCM and Ibra up top against a Top 6 team was Roma away, and we won it with Aqua and Ibra being the two best players on the field. And it's not like we struggled against smaller teams with Aqua instead of another runner.
 

Ashish

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like hd said flat track bully machine .. collect the points and win serie a to put another star :D
 

necromancer

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Michael Cox gets most of that article right, but underplays Cassano's role - and when he was playing, we were creative and at full strength. We just dont have good replacements for him.

Although to be fair to him, he's accurate as things stand today.
 
Last edited:

FOLA

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other formation choices allegri should consider is 4-2-3-1...or 3-2-2-2-1
Especially against arsenal who attach from the middle.

3-2-2-2-1 :

-----------Nesta------------Mexes-------------
-------------T-Silva (play maker)-----------------------
Abate-----------------------------------Mesbah----------
-----------VMB------------------------------------
-----------------------Aquilani/Boateng--------------------------
---Binho/Boateng------------------------El-Shaarwy/Pato---------
------------------IBRA/Pato----------------------

Milan almost plays like this but with 1 DM and 2 CMs
if we play with 2 DMs we have more control more possession.
Since our team lack movement & players stick to their roles, then this formation fits better.

With this formation we have 2 DMs VMB & T.Silva who drops back to assist the defense.
The 2 DMs will act as play makers when milan has the ball...
With 2 DM the full back can attack more freely...Aquilani can advance more.
El Shaarawy and Binho must man mark the other teams full backs!
El Shaarawy and Binho must drop deep to help the build up play and they have more freedom in movement, they should drop into a more central role allowing fullbacks to run.
 
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I really think we should think about switching formations, well atleast while half our team is injured. The 4-3-1-2 just isnt working atm without Cassano's creativity and Boateng and Aquilani in Midfield.

I think a 4-2-3-1 would be better. Abbiati - Abate - Nesta - Mexes - Silva - Noccerino - Amborsosini - Robinho - El Shaarway - Emanlusen - Ibrahimovic.

Robinho is an extreamly talented player but in the 4-3-1-2 he just isnt in his best position up front, as his finishing is pretty poor and his movement and awareness of how to get into decent goalscoring positions is average at best. Hes far better in a wide forward role, with his skill and pace can tare appart any Defense. Ibrahimovic with his strength, touch and hold up play would give Robinho and El Shaarway the perfect person to play of of.

We could even switch is for the ECL with Ibrahimovic replacing Emanulsen in a deeper role and Inzaghi up front (we all know how good he is in the ECL).

Of course it all depends on how and when our injured players come back. But even when they do I would love to see a:

---------------Abbiati--------------

---Abate---Nesta---Mexes---Silva------

-------Noccerino------Aquilani---------

---Boateng-----Cassano------Pato--------

--------------Ibrahimovic-------------------
 

MilanReality

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---------------Abbiati--------------

---Abate---Nesta---Mexes---Silva------

-------Noccerino------Aquilani---------

---Boateng-----Cassano------Pato--------

--------------Ibrahimovic-------------------

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF

Who the hell is going to do your defending?

That formation would only work for us with M'Vila --- Veloso replacing nocerino and aquilani.

We'd be scored on about 10 times a game, otherwise.
And Silva at LB?
images
 

Dinar

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Our set pieces suck! Specially corners when Cassano & Silva scored at the very start of the season thought we'd worked on it in pre-season but now its back to that old shit, Dorf takes a short corner to either Binho or Urby, than Dorf loses the ball while Silva's (and off late Mexes) up ahead waiting for aerial ball but instead opposition immediately has a counter attack.

Arsenal would make us pay tomorrow if we don't exploit Szcenzy's (whatever) & their defensive line's weakness in dealing with corners & free kicks from wings.
 

fchatzig

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I would rather do my analysis of the today's match (Milan-Juventus) here as I am not intend to criticise our players because I ve done this many times in the past.
First of all, this game should have been ours. Clear goal, ridiculous decision..What I enjoyed most was the team's behaviour after this decision. They kept the high line and they were putting pressure to Juve's defence with many different ways. Unfortunately Pato had a bad game again and we couldn't be effective. What changed in the second half when we had the momentum? Did Pato's substitute affect the team performance?
Now let's talk about tactics.
Ancelloti was the first who successfully played the formation 4-3-1-2 in 2003. It was an era where there were exceptional playmakers (Zidane, Rivaldo, Valern,Seedorf) and not so good wingers except from Giggs and Figo. It was obvious that the team with the better midfield would dominate. Real Madrid had the best names, but when Ancelloti showed the Pirlo's potential this started to changed. The strategy was to put as many playmakers in the same team as he could. He introduced Pirlo as the deep lying playmaker, Seedorf as a midfielder and Rui Costa with more freedom. He put Gattuso a monster of stamina and strength and he also had ambrosini with the same characteristics. We all know what happened next.
In my opinion the game has changed since then. Space has become a rare thing in the midfield due to the athletic ability of footballers. That's why teams are paying much attention to the sides. There the coach can decide to put either a classic winger or an inside forward who can take advantage of the overlaps happed from the full back and create situations. Barca is not playing with conventional inside forwards but it is clear they use players who can get inside the box or shoot with the opposite leg.
And that is Milan's problem for me. This season I ve seen many Juve's matches. They started with a 4-2-3-1 which gave them the opportunity to use their wingers/forwards and the runs to the box from their midfielders (Marchisio, Vidal). I considered them as the fastest team in serie A. For an unknown reason, Conte changed to 3-5-2 for the last matches with no great results.
Juve started the match with 3-5-2. That gave us the opportunity to dominate as they had less players in the middle of the pitch. The key point was that Juve turned into 4-2-3-1 in the second half with the introduction of Pepe. When you don't have good full backs and more importantly good cover, you will suffer. Juve had 2 or 3 players at the sides and if our midfielders (in the middle as we don't have wide palyers) were covering there were free juve players in the middle. That way we lost possesion of the ball. I would also say that our formation is more personal-based that means we rely heavily on certain player's skills (Ibra's creativity and holding of the ball) which means if those are missing we have a problem.
In 2003 we had gattuso running for 2, younger seedorf and pirlo and BY FAR greater full backs. Now we don't have them. Is it a coincidence that Milan suffers against English teams (Arsenal, Tottenham, United)? During those matches they all killed us from the wings. And as for our last match against Arsenal please remember the current Arsenal's situation and the condition of the pitch at the sidelines. Nobody could control the ball there.
To conclude, Milan is the only Big team playing 4-3-1-2 nowadays. It is the time to rethink that. First step would be to find faster players. Otherwise we have no future against the real Big teams as we by far the most slower team.

PS Sorry for the size of the message. I wanted to write them down once and never speak again for this matter.
 

acerвιc wιт

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I would rather do my analysis of the today's match (Milan-Juventus) here as I am not intend to criticise our players because I ve done this many times in the past.
First of all, this game should have been ours. Clear goal, ridiculous decision..What I enjoyed most was the team's behaviour after this decision. They kept the high line and they were putting pressure to Juve's defence with many different ways. Unfortunately Pato had a bad game again and we couldn't be effective. What changed in the second half when we had the momentum? Did Pato's substitute affect the team performance?
Now let's talk about tactics.
Ancelloti was the first who successfully played the formation 4-3-1-2 in 2003. It was an era where there were exceptional playmakers (Zidane, Rivaldo, Valern,Seedorf) and not so good wingers except from Giggs and Figo. It was obvious that the team with the better midfield would dominate. Real Madrid had the best names, but when Ancelloti showed the Pirlo's potential this started to changed. The strategy was to put as many playmakers in the same team as he could. He introduced Pirlo as the deep lying playmaker, Seedorf as a midfielder and Rui Costa with more freedom. He put Gattuso a monster of stamina and strength and he also had ambrosini with the same characteristics. We all know what happened next.
In my opinion the game has changed since then. Space has become a rare thing in the midfield due to the athletic ability of footballers. That's why teams are paying much attention to the sides. There the coach can decide to put either a classic winger or an inside forward who can take advantage of the overlaps happed from the full back and create situations. Barca is not playing with conventional inside forwards but it is clear they use players who can get inside the box or shoot with the opposite leg.
And that is Milan's problem for me. This season I ve seen many Juve's matches. They started with a 4-2-3-1 which gave them the opportunity to use their wingers/forwards and the runs to the box from their midfielders (Marchisio, Vidal). I considered them as the fastest team in serie A. For an unknown reason, Conte changed to 3-5-2 for the last matches with no great results.
Juve started the match with 3-5-2. That gave us the opportunity to dominate as they had less players in the middle of the pitch. The key point was that Juve turned into 4-2-3-1 in the second half with the introduction of Pepe. When you don't have good full backs and more importantly good cover, you will suffer. Juve had 2 or 3 players at the sides and if our midfielders (in the middle as we don't have wide palyers) were covering there were free juve players in the middle. That way we lost possesion of the ball. I would also say that our formation is more personal-based that means we rely heavily on certain player's skills (Ibra's creativity and holding of the ball) which means if those are missing we have a problem.
In 2003 we had gattuso running for 2, younger seedorf and pirlo and BY FAR greater full backs. Now we don't have them. Is it a coincidence that Milan suffers against English teams (Arsenal, Tottenham, United)? During those matches they all killed us from the wings. And as for our last match against Arsenal please remember the current Arsenal's situation and the condition of the pitch at the sidelines. Nobody could control the ball there.
To conclude, Milan is the only Big team playing 4-3-1-2 nowadays. It is the time to rethink that. First step would be to find faster players. Otherwise we have no future against the real Big teams as we by far the most slower team.

PS Sorry for the size of the message. I wanted to write them down once and never speak again for this matter.

Conte has been tinkering with Juventus' formation all season. The beginning of it was probably against Udniese, when he decided to replicate their 3-5-2 to evenly match them in the midfield.

Milan made too many mistakes and poor decisions. We saw Thiago Silva make mistakes clearling the ball, which is an rarity. We dominated the match for a good hour, and it was only inevitable that we would struggle at the back-end of the match. The hectic schedule in February and significant injury toll, required a lot of our players to backup every three days hence tiredness would creep into their legs in the later stages.

Allegri clearly wanted Milan to defend in the second half and hit Juventus on the break; however, Milan wasted far too many good counter-attacking opportunities. A simple ball into the area wasn't dealt with by Thiago Silva and that's where Juventus' goal eventuated from, not to mention a poor clearance from Thiago Silva seconds before.

Allegri likes to play a 4-3-3 formation; though, with the players at his disposal he has opted to go with the 4-3-1-2. Without Ibrahimovic, and with Nocerino and Muntari occupying the mezz'ala positions, it allows Milan to play more of a 4-3-3.
 

Casualista

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http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/02/26/milan-1-1-juventus-tactics/
Emanuelson v Pirlo

But Milan were the better side, and the main reason was the battle between Urby Emanuelson and Andrea Pirlo. Pirlo has been enjoying a superb season for Juve in the deep-lying role, and having released him last summer, no club knows that better than Milan. Therefore, they instructed Emanuelson to pick up Pirlo when Juve had the ball, and he struggled to dictate the play. Usually he plays 81 passes per game with 85.4% completion ratio, here he played 73 with 82% accuracy – not a huge difference, but his influence was less obvious.

But crucially, Emanuelson charged past Pirlo when Milan won the ball, which meant that Juve’s spare man at the back (the reason Conte had chosen a three-man backline) was no longer evident. Milan could get the ball forward quickly, drag the back three across the pitch out of position (particularly with Robinho’s movement into deep and wide positions), and power through the gaps.

The Juve back three were stranded against the movement of the Milan front three, receiving little protection from Pirlo ahead of them, while Stephane Lichsteiner and Marcelo Estigarribia moved forward as Juve’s third and fourth highest players up the pitch in attacking moves, meaning they were in no position to defend quick breaks.

(The midfield duos of Sulley Muntari-Antonio Nocerino and Claudio Marchisio-Arturo Vidal battled in the centre, with the Milan partnership stronger in the tackle – particularly Muntari, who made nine tackles in the game. By losing the battle in this zone, Juve struggled to connect the midfield and the attack.)

So where was Conte’s mistake? The forward duo probably wasn’t right, certainly. But Juve weren’t really getting the ball forward in the first place for that to be an issue. The problem was in a deeper zone, and the interesting thing is that while a back three logically makes sense against a front two, it probably wasn’t right considering the personnel involved here. Milan’s trequartista, whether Boateng or Emanuelson, is tasked with connecting the midfield and the attack with constant running, and therefore Milan effectively play more than a front two – a front 2.5, perhaps.
 

ELMAGO99

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Everyone is very interested in the 3-4-3 now that Napoli plays it so well. Also Udinese has had success with it, even with their players not being WC.

I think Napoli's back (3) are not very good, but still this system works well for them. With our CB's, I think we would be unreal at this system. The problem is that it would be a big change for Allegri. Also, we would not be able to rotate our CB's as much as we do now. Anyhow:

---------------------------Ibrahimovic--------------------------------------
---------------Cassano--------------------Robinho-------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Urby (Armero)-----Boateng-----Van Bommel-----------Abate-----------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------T.Silva--------Nesta-----------Mexes-----------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------Abbiati-----------------------------------------


El Shaaraway
Pato/Tevez/Another Striker
Mesbah
Gattuso
Ambrosini
Montolivo
Flamini
Merkel
Strasser
Aquilani
Nocerino
Astori
Yepes
Bonera
Antonini
Vila
Amelia
Donnarumma
 

Jasper

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Our set pieces suck! Specially corners when Cassano & Silva scored at the very start of the season thought we'd worked on it in pre-season but now its back to that old shit, Dorf takes a short corner to either Binho or Urby, than Dorf loses the ball while Silva's (and off late Mexes) up ahead waiting for aerial ball but instead opposition immediately has a counter attack.

Arsenal would make us pay tomorrow if we don't exploit Szcenzy's (whatever) & their defensive line's weakness in dealing with corners & free kicks from wings.
Just behind Osasuna in the rankings are Serie A leaders AC Milan, with a rate of 26.6%. What is even more impressive about Milan’s statistics, though, is that they have only set up goalscoring opportunities from set pieces on 30 occasions this season – the second fewest in Serie A – and yet they have scored 8 goals as a result – the most in the league. Alberto Aquilani has picked up 3 assists from 6 key passes at set piece situations this season, with Cassano and Ibrahimovic scoring headers from Aquilani’s corners, and Kevin Prince Boateng scoring a screamer from the edge of the area after a corner in the memorable 4-3 comeback against Lecce.

http://www.whoscored.com/Blog/x1zvoofyguw7n-txng7ana/Show/
 

kapten

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I was thinking of the problem we have to find the right man at the right defender spot.. Then it hit me, didnt Urby use to play as right full back in Ajax? Have we even tried that solution?
 

Pedro

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I was thinking of the problem we have to find the right man at the right defender spot.. Then it hit me, didnt Urby use to play as right full back in Ajax? Have we even tried that solution?

No, never.
 

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No, never.

Googled it, he used to play as left back, but since Allegri plays him in nearly every position possible, why dont try him as a right back as well? Think he could do good.
 

Pedro

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Googled it, he used to play as left back, but since Allegri plays him in nearly every position possible, why dont try him as a right back as well? Think he could do good.

Abate is usually our best fullback, he is a rightback. This season Antonini has been our best fullback, he can play rightback. Zambrotta and I think Mesbah too can play rightback, but no thank you to playing them. Who do you want to play leftback that you want Emanuelson as rightback? I think all our fullbacks have played rightback. If we are sick of Abate, then try Emanuelson leftback with Antonini rightback.
 

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Im sorry Pedro, messing everything up in my own head right now :D i meant left back from the beggining .. I like Abate at the right spot. Its the left im talking about..
 

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Then my question is, have we tried Urby as left back?

During games very sometimes. He hasn't been really tested that times, because we were the attack team. At Ajax he usually was a disappointment as leftback, therefore later during his Ajax time he became the starting left winger instead of left back that was given to Anita then. During his Milan days Emanuelson has grown as a player though, so hard to say what to expect from him at left back now.
 

R&B Milan

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during games very sometimes. He hasn't been really tested that times, because we were the attack team. at ajax he usually was a disappointment as leftback, therefore later during his ajax time he became the starting left winger instead of left back that was given to anita then. During his milan days emanuelson has grown as a player though, so hard to say what to expect from him at left back now.

what?!
 

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don't know where else to post so:

2012%2f4%2fMistake-Makers.jpg


it appears as tho we have made the most amount of individual mistakes in comparison to goals allowed from all top leagues this season.

full article.
 

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I think with the current players, a change of shape to a 4-3-3 could be a smart idea. Robinho and Shaarawy prefer to play on the left and cut inside anyway, and I personally reckon that Boateng's best position would be a hybrid of a winger and a withdrawn forward on the right. Emanuelson did very well in that role against Chelsea as well.

--------------------Pato/Pazzo
Rob/Shaarawy--------------------Boateng/Emanuelson

Generally in a 3 man midfield, there needs to be a playmaker, a ball winner, and a transitional player i.e. a guy that moves the ball forward from midfield to the final third but could also win the ball back on a couple of occasions.

I think it's pretty logical that Montolivo is used as the anchor as he's the most intelligent midfielder on the roster, and the one most comfortable on the ball. Thus he should be the organizer in midfield and the one picking up forward runs with long passes or setting the tempo.

Now we had a potential world class ball winner in Flamini, if his brain absorbed the tactical implications of his role. 4 years passed by and he still didn't fully learn the trade, but he's still the best ball winner we have, and a pretty good one too. He's aggressive and isn't afraid of making tackles, and he runs his heart out. I think he should get a starting nod.

The most uncertain position for us would be the transitional player. Who to use there? It has to be someone relatively quick, an adept dribbler that could win one on ones, and with a decent eye for a pass. In my opinion, our best bets would be Emanuelson and Constant. If there's an extra midfielder Milan will sign, I can only hope he'd have the characteristics suitable for this role.

Emanuelson/Constant-----------------Flamini/Muntari
---------------------------Monty

The implications to this is: Where does that leave Nocerino? He has gained a lot of political power now. He's a national team player, he scored 11 goals last season and was one of the most used players, and the fans really love him. So he's an important figure that can not be benched. The problem is, he's not an adequate ball winner, he's by no means a playmaker, and as a transitional player he'd get to the box but to finish off chances not to lay them off.

Another big problem would be the full-backs. A 4-3-3 depends a lot on the crossing. The wide forwards we have all aren't pure wingers, thus crossing isn't one of their strengths. If we're stuck with Abate, he really has to evolve his crossing and I can only pray that they trust Didac this season. The guy will be exposed at the back, but so does Antonini, at least Didac could dribble forward consistently and has a decent cross, he could be a good attacking outlet.

So a 4-3-3 is by no means a no brainer for us, but it could be a very good option to consider.

You know how I'd line-up the team (at this very time of writing, based on the current squad)?

-----------------------------Abbiati
Abate---------Zapata-------------------Bonera---------Didac
----------------------------Monty
---------------Flams
----------------------------------Ema
----Boateng-------------------------------Robinho/El Shaarawy
---------------------Pato/Pazzo

And make no mistake, they'll lose and draw many games thus dropping lots of points on the way. And they're very likely to get schooled by top sides. But they'll play decent football and they'll grow together as a team. At least there will be a system in place and a real "project" that could be built upon. Like juve did last season, they built a system without eying a title and just focused on growing together as a team, and this season their market moves are to strengthen their weak spots. Milan should do that, that's proper re-building.
 

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^I like your last paragraph - that's exactly what I think too. But is Allegri as good as Conte in developing a team so efficiently and swiftly? We'll see that.

As for the tactics, I have a feeling we're gonna go 2-striker in the beginning at least. With Pato and Pazzini starting together ahead of Boateng, and a midfield of Montolivo, New Guy and Nocerino/Emanuelson/Constant (depending on who the New Guy is)..

But your version makes as much sense, if the former doesn't work out, and Allegri may modify to that.

Pazzini's signing actually makes our team more versatile. He can play lone poacher, and he can play in a 2-striker system.
 

Danilo JBG

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In a 4-3-3, I think Boateng would be a good option for the midfield trio, more specifically as this "transitional player" you mentioned. I think he'd do a better job there than Emanuelson. One might say we'd waste him there, but I think midfield would be key in that setup and we couldn't afford to have a weak midfield in a 4-3-3. Playing Boateng deeper would be a necessary sacrifice IMO.

As for the wingers, we've got plenty of options who can play both flanks. It would be nice to see two from Robinho, El Shaarawy, Emanuelson and even Boateng playing as wingers and changing sides often during games.

However, judging Allegri's system these past two years, a 4-3-3, 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-2-1 might be pretty much the same, as the three most advanced players always roam a lot and we see a little bit from each formation each game. Maybe an important change there would be to pick up an attacker not to roam, most likely Pazzini or Pato. Inzaghi played like that when he got decent opportunities with the first team.

Anyway, being able to see a good 4-3-3 with our squad is important, even if we don't really stick with a strick formation on the pitch. Last season, for example, I really couldn't see a good 4-3-3, as Ibrahimovic didn't seem to suit it at all. But all that roaming in attack sometimes put Milan in that shape during games. Now we have a much more flexible squad. We can change shapes and roles without losing that much quality from any of our players, which is important.
 

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As for the tactics, I have a feeling we're gonna go 2-striker in the beginning at least. With Pato and Pazzini starting together ahead of Boateng, and a midfield of Montolivo, New Guy and Nocerino/Emanuelson/Constant (depending on who the New Guy is)..

I really and truly hope so.

I don't know man, I just think the current system is outdated and got figured out. Knowing Allegri, we'll likely to start the season with it though. Even though I think we should go 4-3-3 from the beginning. I just hope he doesn't remain too inflexible and changes the shape if/when the team struggles.

Didn't quote the rest of your post because I 100% agree with it and have nothing to add. :)

In a 4-3-3, I think Boateng would be a good option for the midfield trio, more specifically as this "transitional player" you mentioned. I think he'd do a better job there than Emanuelson. One might say we'd waste him there, but I think midfield would be key in that setup and we couldn't afford to have a weak midfield in a 4-3-3. Playing Boateng deeper would be a necessary sacrifice IMO.

Interesting. I haven't really thought of that, but do you really want to trust Boateng as the guy to supply the last pass to the forwards? If no other players are signed for this position, then definitely Boateng could be considered based on how Emanuelson and Constant occupy that role.

If we do end up signing Kaka though, I'd use him there. That would be one more reason to use the 4-3-3 IMO.
 

necromancer

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Yes, exactly. "Knowing Allegri".. He will stick to 4-3-1-2 for some time at least, is my hunch.
 
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