Tactical analysis of AC Milan 3-0 Lecce

AC Milan secured a spot within the final 16 of the Coppa Italia with relative ease, beating Lecce 3-0 at San Siro on Tuesday night time.

Many will level to the truth that the competition successfully ended contained in the opening half an hour when Jamil Siebert was despatched off after a VAR evaluation for a last-man problem. It was only a case of when and never if Milan would rating, and Santiago Gimenez fired in a Davide Bartesaghi cross not lengthy after.

Christopher Nkunku obtained his first objective for the Rossoneri with a scissor kick early within the second half, then Christian Pulisic made positive of the victory as he netted minutes after coming off the bench with a pleasant flick.

Massimiliano Allegri was not current within the dug-out as he served the second of a two-match touchline ban within the Coppa Italia, however the crew he picked options six modifications from the Udinese win. Lazio now await within the subsequent spherical, and Rohit Rajeev has some tactical observations.

Form and motion

Lecce used a 3-5-2 off the ball with Camarda and N’dri doubling up on Ricci, blockading all passing lanes. The Lecce broad gamers had been prepared to leap incase Milan’s wing-backs got here into play.

Milan used passes across the nook to bypass this press. Right here we will see Tomori passing to Saelemaekers who stays broad together with his again to objective. The essential half is how Loftus-Cheek stays sq. of Saelemaekers to recieve the move thereby bypassing Lecce’s press.

Milan used the Relationist precept of ‘escadinhas‘ – successfully a diagonal place – to play by means of Lecce’s strains.

Milan additionally shaped overloads on the left with Nkunku pulling broad permitting Bartesaghi to make overlapping runs.

The Rossoneri used a 4-4-2 defensive setup greater up the pitch or of their mid-block. They outnumbered Lecce’s gamers 5v4 on this sequence resulting in Rabiot hitting the publish.

The important thing second

The purple card got here with Milan as soon as once more utilizing passes across the nook. On this state of affairs Gimenez strikes up the pitch and vacates house within the half areas for Nkunku to occupy. Utilizing his capability Nkunku covers the house and Siebert was compelled to foul him.

The impression was instantaneous: Lecce had been decreased to 4 on the again as an alternative of 5. Bartesaghi obtained into the areas behind N’dri who failed to trace again (may be why he was subbed off) and put Bartesaghi put the cross in for Santi who scored.

Second half success

Milan’s second objective got here from a nook. With Bartesaghi pulling his man away it created house for Saelemaekers to cross the ball in. Lecce used a zonal marking system, with emphasis on the central areas, so Nkunku was simply in a position to snuck in on the again publish for an acrobatic end.

The third objective was one other passing manoeuvre. Athekame notices Loftus-CHeek within the half house and as soon as he acquired the ball Fofana’s marker goes to double crew him and the Englishman feeds it to Fofana to cross.

In the meantime on the opposite facet Pulisic stops and modifications his route like a correct goal man striker and occupies the house between the centre-back – who’s busy marking Gimenez – and the full-back who thinks he has Pulisic behind him.

Numbers of curiosity

The Serie An internet site offers some information of their post-match report. From the important thing numbers, we will select some fairly apparent tendencies that maintain true whatever the recreation circumstances.

To start with, there’s the place the service got here from. Bartesaghi supplied probably the most passes into the ultimate third of any participant with 26, whereas he put in seven crosses and had three key passes.

On the opposite flank, Saelemaekers had 21 passes into the ultimate third, 5 crosses and 4 key passes. It exhibits the reliance on the broad gamers to be the additional man into the assault and to feed the entrance two plus the midfield runners.

The highest three for passes accomplished had been the centre-back trio of De Winter, Tomori and Pavlovic. It exhibits how Milan aimed to construct out from the again, both passing into midfield or to one of many wing-backs.

Then there’s Rabiot, who continues to be as concerned as any participant. He had probably the most makes an attempt (6), probably the most makes an attempt on the right track (2), the third-most passes into the ultimate third (22) and the second-most scoring probabilities (4).

The Frenchman additionally had the third-most crosses (3), the fourth-most passes accomplished (82) and the third-most key passes (2). Discuss being an all-action midfielder.