Inter Milan 1-0 AC Milan: Tactical Analysis

Balotelli & Palacios left isolated

One of the disadvantages of playing as the lone striker against a 3 man defence is that it is very easy for the defenders to mark the striker out of the game. Mario Balotelli found this out today, as the big Italian striker hardly managed to get the ball in the danger areas. There was one occasion when he did manage to run onto a pass and shoot, but every other time he was covered by the Nerazzuri defenders. This was due to the lack of support from the midfielders, who found it hard to break forward. While Saponara was virtually a spectator Kaka was constantly dropping deep to pick up the ball and try and make something happen.

This lack of support and action up front induced Super Mario to venture out of the danger zone and drop deep, and wide to collect the ball. This allowed him to have runs at defenders, but meant that often, Milan had no presence in the penalty box (possibly why they attempted 0 through balls). As seen in the illustration above, with Balotelli drifting wide, Milan had no one forward to play to.

The situation was no different with Inter Milan. With Milan crowding out the midfield, Inter were forced to retaliate. Nagatomo and Jonathan, though providing a wide threat, didn’t get forward as much as they would have liked, as they were required to assist the side in midfield to create space with some quick passes. Palacios stayed forward, and was often the only man in AC Milan’s half; he didn’t drop deep like Balotelli did, instead playing off the shoulders of the last man. It provided Inter a man to regularly play passes to, albeit, sometime in vain.

AC Milan’s pressing overpowers Inter (for a period)

AC Milan’s approach this season has lacked consistent pressure from the front, with many labeling them lazy in their play. Much of their passing has been at the back, with rarely any midfield creativity. Teams have found it easy to win possession in dangerous areas against Milan, and Mazzarri’s men were expected to do the same. But surprisingly, it was Allegri’s Milan that started the brighter, closing down Inter, closing from the front and putting pressure on the midfielders.

In the first half, Inter looked to be struggling to break out of their own half at times, with Milan bossing proceedings for long periods of time. Inter were trying to play the ball through midfield, but were failing because Milan were working very hard to stop them from doing so. Higher up the pitch, the Rossoneri tried to pressure Inter into making mistakes, and pushed their own defensive line quite high up to force the issue. Inter were going to be a bit cautious after getting picked off on the counter by Napoli last time out, and Allegri responded to this by making his boys press high up the field, to stop the Inter passing.

As seen here, Milan pressed the Inter players when they were in possession, forcing the ball back to Handanovic. Credit has to be given to young Poli and Saponara who worked hard in midfield to regain possession.

Where does that leave them?

Inter are now in a good position to challenge for Europe in the second half of the season. They are 5 points behind Napoli who occupy the final Champions League spot. With a good young side, and financial backing from new owner Erick Thohir in January, they can definitely pose a challenge.

It’s not looking good for AC Milan, while their rivals are 5 points off the Champions League spot, they themselves are just 5 points ahead of the relegation zone. We questioned Allegri’s future based on this result, it doesn’t look good for the boss. Expect a change in this holiday period.

This was a combined piece by Sami Faizullah & Vishal Patel.