PARMA vs MILAN: A TACTICAL ANALYSIS

Re-viewing the game against Parma from a tactical stand point of view. Thanks in part to @KilpinChronicle for helping me with a few contributions.

So as we know Milan started out with their best 11 available after a long time while Parma after the sacking of Liverani brought back D’Aversa to save the club from relegation

Milan after a disappointing draw vs Sampdoria looked to get back to winning ways against Parma. One of the main threats for Parma was Gervinho and Gervinho’s marking assignment was given to Kalulu.

Milan looked to play out from the back once again. Donnarumma maybe a huge contract rebel but he is one of the most improved player in the team. Look at the way he moves forward acting as a 3rd CB to allow the CB’s to split and switch play to escape the press.

Not downplaying Tonali but Milan missed Bennacer a lot. You can see Bennacer directing play to Donnarumma to help Milan break the press of Parma forwards

Parma started out with a 4-3-3 formation but on the ball they shifted to a 3-4-1-2 formation with Kurtic sitting back as the 3rd CB allowing the wide full backs to push up

Gervinho then would tuck inside and play behind Pelle and Kucka.

With Milan playing a narrow defense the main tactic of Parma was to play it out wide to Conti and have him cross the ball for Pelle or Kucka to head it.

One of the main ways of breaking down a resolute defense is quick one touch passing and Theo and Zlatan did exactly the same to open up Parma’s defense for the second goal with Zlatan taking out 2 players with his quick thinking and pass.

After the break Parma shifted to a 4-4-2 with Pelle and Cornelius brought into exploit Milan’s aerial weakness with more crosses.

Milan’s pressing was also better with players having more time to rest and recover from the international break

One of the methods of breaking out of a press was to form passing triangles and Milan were playing out of the press quite easily

Once Milan got the red card and Parma had a man advantage they were overloading Milan on the back post to take advantage of the narrow defense.

Pioli then brought in Dalot and Gabbia to shift to a back 5 and spread the defense. Once Milan had 5 at the back and spread out Kjaer marked Pelle and Tomori marked Cornelius. Milan shifted to a 3-5-1 to protect their lead.

The change in approach from Milan in the first half and the second half can be seen in how far we behind the defensive line went

HERE IS A MAJOR PROBLEM WITH MILAN I OBSERVED
Hakan was pressed quite intelligently by Parma making him quite a wanderer in the side. He was forced by the parma defense to retreat to Milan’s midfield instead of playing in an advanced role

What this mean was that Zlatan Ibrahimovic had to come out of this center forward role and act as a playmaker. This meant that when Milan advanced play and had to cross the ball there was nobody to aim at in the box when Zlatan was busy playing as an attacking mid.

END OF THREAD

LIKES, FEEDBACK, RT APPRECIATED