-Barcelona contro Milan- Post Match Analysis-

I just recently came across criticism from Barca fans that we "parked the bus" and played negative football as well from Milan fans criticism of Allegri whereas his tactics here were spot on and a near masterstroke. Since I am pretty much used to members over here seemingly viewing the nuances from a 100 miles, let me explain why.

Milan, as predicted deployed a 4-3-1-2 with notable positions such as Seedorf playing as the creative brain in the Mid, KPB as AM and Cassano as Deep-lying forward. Barca played their usual 4-3-3- with only compensations with Busquets in the back as CB and JM in place of Pique.

I never expected Milan to start off with such a bang as Pato's maneuver to completely bamboozle the Barca defense was a master class. The way he quickly juked and anticipated his run was superb. As he ran with his searing pace to leave the Barca defense in his wake, I did not expect AT ALL actually that he would score as Pato had been on low confidence as of late, and Valdes is in fact the world's best GK in one-on-one. Fortunately for us, I was wrong. His pace was calculative as he glided Kaka-esque across the field as he went not to slow, but not too fast as to lose his bearing. Swooping in the box before taking on Valdes, he made 2 long strides to calibrate himself like a gazelle furiously changing pace against its prey or like a trained long jumper before he makes his jump. He locked on, and cleverly shot it between Valdes' legs and as it went into the goal, I could not believe what just happened as I believe I had a tiny heart attack. Best thing was, he made it look easy, as if he had been doing it for years. The Pato of the past month or so looked calm and composed as a professor.
This was the Pato we all know.
After the goal, I fully expected Milan to settle down and try to absorb Barca's furious pressure and focus after the euphoria of the 5th fastest goal in CL history. Barca started off with their usual game with Xavi demanding possession and taking the cockpit control.
In terms of tactics, what Barca did was play their usual game without any such difference while here is what Allegri had done.
-Everyone has seemed to complain why we did not look to attack and press. Yet, here is the thing; we all know that you cannot face Barca in their own game so possession was out of the question. Allegri deployed his midfield of Seedorf, MVB, Nocerino and KPB at times tracking back, around 2-3 meters ahead of the Barca players. Mou had been punished for his attempts to attack and press Barca with Ozil and his midfield, while countless others had made the same mistake. How do you expect a midfield as slow as MVB and Seedorf and the inexperienced (in CL) Nocerino to press and pressure Barca as you expect? That idea would be ludicrous as Barca are known to change pace in a split-second to out-manuvre on coming pressure, either from dribbling past the on-coming pressing mid, or quick 1-2s to expose them. Going back to the original point, Allegri simply deployed MVB deeper than usual while Seedorf looked to advance and Nocerino (who was peripheral in the 1st half) to almost give the illusion of by tactful movement. It’s quite strange how Allegri chose to narrow our team channel as this lack of width actually costs us and Italians in the CL, but strangely enough it worked as the clear plan was to close the gaps in the center, and leave space for Alves and Abidal. How did Milan deal with this? What I saw from them is our midfield rapidly combined into a triangle as this ranged from seedorf, Nocerino and KPB to many other combinations while MVB remained deployed as anchor. Each time this triangle was formed, what this triangle did was isolate key open for the pass Barca players inside the triangle while shifting tactfully towards the ball possessor as this was mostly Xavi. This dynamic triangle was the reason Xavi could hold possession and not make one of his incisive through balls or one 2s as Xavi could only help Barca retain possession yet not much more. Pato was roaming forward while Cassano, interestingly was staying mostly in front of Keita so Barca could not resort to passing it back to him. Back to my point, this consistently improvising triangle and interchanging positions covered the in between lines of the field and caused Barca to change their positioning to the point where a new solution had to be devised through passing back.
MVB played his deep fulcrum role in central as to overlook oncoming plays as his job was to close channels by Xavi and was absolutely vital to us and passed with flying colors with his command of the midfield.
Our backline? It played Zonal marking and was deployed deep as a high line would kill us. The problem was Abidal was left open (although Nocerino dealt with him well) and Alves was always given space yet the plan here was for Alves yet this was the sacrifice that had to be made to neutralize the Barca engine. Yet, Zambrotta, despite looking timid, slow and allowing too much time to Alves, did his homework here as Alves could not produce as single chance everytime he came against Zambrotta as Alves always looked to cut inside, yet that was blocked and when he tried the outside channel, this is where Zambrotta excelled into completely neutralize.

Yet, understandably, this is the only problem with the 4-3-1-2 as it leaves to much fullback space open.
So everyone wondered why KPB was taken off? Simply because he wasn't doing effective at all in attack and was caught out to many times defensively as he had a dual role and was essentially in-effective which is why Il Capitano came in. Why Ambrosini? Because he has shown to be a big game player and has marked out some of the best midfielders with his warrior performances yet the tactical reason behind this was due to Ambrosini's captain command, but more importantly, his ability to win air balls and convert them into the attack in the process of heading. Yet, Allegri receives criticism simply because Ambrosini WAS in fact off form today with his touch and looked quite tired. Yet, the conceptual idea was perfect by Max.

Continuing on with the game, the first goal simply involved Messi being Messi as Abate looked to beat him on Messi's left side run, yet Abate's mistake was his last ditch tackle as this tackle gave messi the split second window of opportunity to pass it in the box. Small mistake, yet the real culprits of this mistake were Zambrotta and Silva as this was their only mistake in the game. Zambrotta should have been on Barca's right flank to cover Pedro or to recover the ball yet was nowhere to be seen, and Silva uncharacteristically was lazy and complacent to block the incoming ball with his almost half-hearted step to block it. And Abbiati for his wonderful performances simply was to slow to move his 200+ pound frame to block Pedro. Man he was slow. Which is one reason I was not convinced by Barca today as this was a rather cheap goal and done more by the complacency of our defense. It was a routine stop that should have been done as Abbati was right to shout at the defense.
This was the point I truly was upset as I simply wanted to savor the lead in half time so that Milan's aging legs could rest and continue to take away the Barca momentum. The problem of having Barca score against you is that their confidence sky rockets and possession increases even further.
The 2nd half started off with Cassano making a challenge on Busquets whereas I am 100% in conviction Busquets made a complete meal out of this opportunity and went down unbelievably easy. The free kick? Allegri should have placed one player on the post.
After this, frankly I felt it was over as this is the point where Barca dominated possession with changes such as Fabregas and later on Puyi and Affelay. Yet, this is the point where Abate, Silva, Zambrotta and of course Nesta further convicted everyone that they were doing one heck of a job. At this point I was resigned to losing as I felt the result would be fair as I would still be proud of our defense considering Barca never really got their signature goal, nor they were playing at their best due to the tactics involved by Max. People say we parked the bus, but if the geniuses saw how Nocerino and Seedorf were positioned for the counterattack, then this wouldn't be a debate in the first place as our tactic simply was to absorb pressure and counterattack.
Notes during this time:
Seedorf was excellent throughout as I hadn't seen anyone with such composure to hold possession and be as courageous as he was to find a proper pass yet in the mid 2nd half, his legs ran out on him and he completely stopped tracking back and adding to the midfield isolation triangle as this proved costly at times with some close calls neutralized by Nesta.
Cassano, to be fair, had zero service, was playing against his preferred team method and style, and really was starved of possession but what he should have done is follow through his DLF role of servicing Pato as he did not demand enough possession and should have dropped deep far more often than he did. Lazy performance of sorts.
Soon enough near the end, I nearly fell asleep as Barca were doing nothing at all with possession and as the only notable thing was Aquilani's inclusion as he helped us well with possession. Around this mark of time, Allegri clearly wasn’t satisfied with the Barca lead as he altered his tactics and made our players push higher up, playing more proactively and forcing Barca to track back and feel pressure from Milan. But in all honesty, Milan was all too tired, and van bommels hesitance after the card was costly at times.
But in the end, Nocerino's persistence and tenacity gave us the corner. At this time, I was like: "There is no chance in hell that we will make use of this."
We did.

Thiago's header was reminiscent of his disallowed goal (for no reason) against Pellegrini's RM in the bernebeu. He completely out powered and out jumped Puyol and company as this header was so powerful, Valdes was powerless to prevent it as this point........ I thought I was dreaming, and I'll let the rest to your imagination.

Conclusion: Yes, this was a slightly defensive performance but you have to understand, with our old midfield, and having to face Pep's Barca for the first time, a relatively cautious approach was to be taken as Allegri experimented here well enough. Keep in mind we were without Inzaghi, a potential x-factor of El-Sharaway, Taiwo, Robinho and the one who was truly missed in this game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He would have been perfect for today.
I don't count Barca's shot on goal ratio as most of them were routine saves by Abbiati as the stats are misleading. Possession? It’s amazing we scored two goals with less than 30% as Barca with above 70% did not as only one was through open play. All done so in Allegri's first official match against Pep's Barca at Camp Nou.
I have so much more to comment on as how Silva was near perfect; Abate proved his credentials as he was SUPERB and Nesta showed his place amongst the pretender CBs of today. Demi-god. Positive points such as Aquilani looking good when coming on and Nocerino able to cope with the world’s best team, Pato's confidence restored, Seedorf proving he still has it along with Zambrotta and of course, the confidence Allegri and our team in general will receive from this valiant effort. Yes, it was a draw, but it was done so in the most feared Stadio today where Madrid, and countless other teams have failed and we did this with so much character, class and showed our pedigree as well as Allegri's potential as did anyone expect this result? If you cannot see the tactical adeptness behind this game from Max then I'm afraid you need glasses.
All done by a team only finishing their first week of Serie A and who actually prepare more in the winter then summer.
Everything looks better from here.
Yes, there are some niggling weaknesses but these things take time.
The San Siro will be on fire.
Allegri: "We are Milan"
Forza Milan

Arquitecto wrote:
I just recently came across criticism from Barca fans that we "parked the bus" and played negative football as well from Milan fans criticism of Allegri whereas his tactics here were spot on and a near masterstroke. Since I am pretty much used to members over here seemingly viewing the nuances from a 100 miles, let me explain why.

Milan, as predicted deployed a 4-3-1-2 with notable positions such as Seedorf playing as the creative brain in the Mid, KPB as AM and Cassano as Deep-lying forward. Barca played their usual 4-3-3- with only compensations with Busquets in the back as CB and JM in place of Pique.

I never expected Milan to start off with such a bang as Pato's maneuver to completely bamboozle the Barca defense was a master class. The way he quickly juked and anticipated his run was superb. As he ran with his searing pace to leave the Barca defense in his wake, I did not expect AT ALL actually that he would score as Pato had been on low confidence as of late, and Valdes is in fact the world's best GK in one-on-one. Fortunately for us, I was wrong. His pace was calculative as he glided Kaka-esque across the field as he went not to slow, but not too fast as to lose his bearing. Swooping in the box before taking on Valdes, he made 2 long strides to calibrate himself like a gazelle furiously changing pace against its prey or like a trained long jumper before he makes his jump. He locked on, and cleverly shot it between Valdes' legs and as it went into the goal, I could not believe what just happened as I believe I had a tiny heart attack. Best thing was, he made it look easy, as if he had been doing it for years. The Pato of the past month or so looked calm and composed as a professor.
This was the Pato we all know.
After the goal, I fully expected Milan to settle down and try to absorb Barca's furious pressure and focus after the euphoria of the 5th fastest goal in CL history. Barca started off with their usual game with Xavi demanding possession and taking the cockpit control.
In terms of tactics, what Barca did was play their usual game without any such difference while here is what Allegri had done.
-Everyone has seemed to complain why we did not look to attack and press. Yet, here is the thing; we all know that you cannot face Barca in their own game so possession was out of the question. Allegri deployed his midfield of Seedorf, MVB, Nocerino and KPB at times tracking back, around 2-3 meters ahead of the Barca players. Mou had been punished for his attempts to attack and press Barca with Ozil and his midfield, while countless others had made the same mistake. How do you expect a midfield as slow as MVB and Seedorf and the inexperienced (in CL) Nocerino to press and pressure Barca as you expect? That idea would be ludicrous as Barca are known to change pace in a split-second to out-manuvre on coming pressure, either from dribbling past the on-coming pressing mid, or quick 1-2s to expose them. Going back to the original point, Allegri simply deployed MVB deeper than usual while Seedorf looked to advance and Nocerino (who was peripheral in the 1st half) to almost give the illusion of by tactful movement. It’s quite strange how Allegri chose to narrow our team channel as this lack of width actually costs us and Italians in the CL, but strangely enough it worked as the clear plan was to close the gaps in the center, and leave space for Alves and Abidal. How did Milan deal with this? What I saw from them is our midfield rapidly combined into a triangle as this ranged from seedorf, Nocerino and KPB to many other combinations while MVB remained deployed as anchor. Each time this triangle was formed, what this triangle did was isolate key open for the pass Barca players inside the triangle while shifting tactfully towards the ball possessor as this was mostly Xavi. This dynamic triangle was the reason Xavi could hold possession and not make one of his incisive through balls or one 2s as Xavi could only help Barca retain possession yet not much more. Pato was roaming forward while Cassano, interestingly was staying mostly in front of Keita so Barca could not resort to passing it back to him. Back to my point, this consistently improvising triangle and interchanging positions covered the in between lines of the field and caused Barca to change their positioning to the point where a new solution had to be devised through passing back.
MVB played his deep fulcrum role in central as to overlook oncoming plays as his job was to close channels by Xavi and was absolutely vital to us and passed with flying colors with his command of the midfield.
Our backline? It played Zonal marking and was deployed deep as a high line would kill us. The problem was Abidal was left open (although Nocerino dealt with him well) and Alves was always given space yet the plan here was for Alves yet this was the sacrifice that had to be made to neutralize the Barca engine. Yet, Zambrotta, despite looking timid, slow and allowing too much time to Alves, did his homework here as Alves could not produce as single chance everytime he came against Zambrotta as Alves always looked to cut inside, yet that was blocked and when he tried the outside channel, this is where Zambrotta excelled into completely neutralize.

Yet, understandably, this is the only problem with the 4-3-1-2 as it leaves to much fullback space open.
So everyone wondered why KPB was taken off? Simply because he wasn't doing effective at all in attack and was caught out to many times defensively as he had a dual role and was essentially in-effective which is why Il Capitano came in. Why Ambrosini? Because he has shown to be a big game player and has marked out some of the best midfielders with his warrior performances yet the tactical reason behind this was due to Ambrosini's captain command, but more importantly, his ability to win air balls and convert them into the attack in the process of heading. Yet, Allegri receives criticism simply because Ambrosini WAS in fact off form today with his touch and looked quite tired. Yet, the conceptual idea was perfect by Max.

Continuing on with the game, the first goal simply involved Messi being Messi as Abate looked to beat him on Messi's left side run, yet Abate's mistake was his last ditch tackle as this tackle gave messi the split second window of opportunity to pass it in the box. Small mistake, yet the real culprits of this mistake were Zambrotta and Silva as this was their only mistake in the game. Zambrotta should have been on Barca's right flank to cover Pedro or to recover the ball yet was nowhere to be seen, and Silva uncharacteristically was lazy and complacent to block the incoming ball with his almost half-hearted step to block it. And Abbiati for his wonderful performances simply was to slow to move his 200+ pound frame to block Pedro. Man he was slow. Which is one reason I was not convinced by Barca today as this was a rather cheap goal and done more by the complacency of our defense. It was a routine stop that should have been done as Abbati was right to shout at the defense.
This was the point I truly was upset as I simply wanted to savor the lead in half time so that Milan's aging legs could rest and continue to take away the Barca momentum. The problem of having Barca score against you is that their confidence sky rockets and possession increases even further.
The 2nd half started off with Cassano making a challenge on Busquets whereas I am 100% in conviction Busquets made a complete meal out of this opportunity and went down unbelievably easy. The free kick? Allegri should have placed one player on the post.
After this, frankly I felt it was over as this is the point where Barca dominated possession with changes such as Fabregas and later on Puyi and Affelay. Yet, this is the point where Abate, Silva, Zambrotta and of course Nesta further convicted everyone that they were doing one heck of a job. At this point I was resigned to losing as I felt the result would be fair as I would still be proud of our defense considering Barca never really got their signature goal, nor they were playing at their best due to the tactics involved by Max. People say we parked the bus, but if the geniuses saw how Nocerino and Seedorf were positioned for the counterattack, then this wouldn't be a debate in the first place as our tactic simply was to absorb pressure and counterattack.
Notes during this time:
Seedorf was excellent throughout as I hadn't seen anyone with such composure to hold possession and be as courageous as he was to find a proper pass yet in the mid 2nd half, his legs ran out on him and he completely stopped tracking back and adding to the midfield isolation triangle as this proved costly at times with some close calls neutralized by Nesta.
Cassano, to be fair, had zero service, was playing against his preferred team method and style, and really was starved of possession but what he should have done is follow through his DLF role of servicing Pato as he did not demand enough possession and should have dropped deep far more often than he did. Lazy performance of sorts.
Soon enough near the end, I nearly fell asleep as Barca were doing nothing at all with possession and as the only notable thing was Aquilani's inclusion as he helped us well with possession. Around this mark of time, Allegri clearly wasn’t satisfied with the Barca lead as he altered his tactics and made our players push higher up, playing more proactively and forcing Barca to track back and feel pressure from Milan. But in all honesty, Milan was all too tired, and van bommels hesitance after the card was costly at times.
But in the end, Nocerino's persistence and tenacity gave us the corner. At this time, I was like: "There is no chance in hell that we will make use of this."
We did.

Thiago's header was reminiscent of his disallowed goal (for no reason) against Pellegrini's RM in the bernebeu. He completely out powered and out jumped Puyol and company as this header was so powerful, Valdes was powerless to prevent it as this point........ I thought I was dreaming, and I'll let the rest to your imagination.

Conclusion: Yes, this was a slightly defensive performance but you have to understand, with our old midfield, and having to face Pep's Barca for the first time, a relatively cautious approach was to be taken as Allegri experimented here well enough. Keep in mind we were without Inzaghi, a potential x-factor of El-Sharaway, Taiwo, Robinho and the one who was truly missed in this game, Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He would have been perfect for today.
I don't count Barca's shot on goal ratio as most of them were routine saves by Abbiati as the stats are misleading. Possession? It’s amazing we scored two goals with less than 30% as Barca with above 70% did not as only one was through open play. All done so in Allegri's first official match against Pep's Barca at Camp Nou.
I have so much more to comment on as how Silva was near perfect; Abate proved his credentials as he was SUPERB and Nesta showed his place amongst the pretender CBs of today. Demi-god. Positive points such as Aquilani looking good when coming on and Nocerino able to cope with the world’s best team, Pato's confidence restored, Seedorf proving he still has it along with Zambrotta and of course, the confidence Allegri and our team in general will receive from this valiant effort. Yes, it was a draw, but it was done so in the most feared Stadio today where Madrid, and countless other teams have failed and we did this with so much character, class and showed our pedigree as well as Allegri's potential as did anyone expect this result? If you cannot see the tactical adeptness behind this game from Max then I'm afraid you need glasses.
All done by a team only finishing their first week of Serie A and who actually prepare more in the winter then summer.
Everything looks better from here.
Yes, there are some niggling weaknesses but these things take time.
The San Siro will be on fire.
Allegri: "We are Milan"
Forza Milan

And what did they expect? Open game,an easy stroll and 5-0 aka Barca-Real

Good read ...

I beliebe players should start placing themselves near the post like I do in FIFA so there's no way the opponent can score from a free-kick , lol

pUsHa wrote:Good read ...

I beliebe players should start placing themselves near the post like I do in FIFA so there's no way the opponent can score from a free-kick , lol

But then you would be severely hindering the GK in saving an easy shots, or unnecessarily stretch your offside line so any rebounded attempts are very dangerous.

and it was a good read btw =O

and one thing I dont quite understand was, why Alves (or anyone from Barca) is so reluctant to have a run at Zambrotta? I'm pretty sure if they did that, they'll probably find themselves with more 1v1 chances with Abbiati. Not that I mind though =X

Expert Analysis,

Would reply in detail, but cannot be bothered at this point in time. Sleep deprived and behind in my studies but ehh, might post something when I get my thoughts together. Tomorrow or so...

good stuff

I'd usually reply here with something about the game, but I've already written my analysis is on "Re: Forum Milan Channel: LIVE!" about half-way down the page.

https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t337p864-forum-milan-channel-live

good on milan. well done , would take a draw against barca at nou camp anyday!! would love to see you guys win it or even go far enough so that italy gets that 4th place in UCL back

@Izzy: Thank you my friend as I appreciate your words.

@FZ: Read it as I agree 100%. Thanks.

@M-1899: Understandable my friend. I have a slight feeling that you will have different views to mine yet I look forward to it nonetheless as your posts are much valued. Catch up on your sleep buddy.

Arquitecto wrote:

So everyone wondered why KPB was taken off? Simply because he wasn't doing effective at all in attack and was caught out to many times defensively as he had a dual role and was essentially in-effective which is why Il Capitano came in. Why Ambrosini? Because he has shown to be a big game player and has marked out some of the best midfielders with his warrior performances yet the tactical reason behind this was due to Ambrosini's captain command, but more importantly, his ability to win air balls and convert them into the attack in the process of heading. Yet, Allegri receives criticism simply because Ambrosini WAS in fact off form today with his touch and looked quite tired. Yet, the conceptual idea was perfect by Max.

A.C. Milan communicate that Kevin Prince Boateng under went an x-ray to examine the extent of the damage to his ribs. The results showed no broken bones. Boateng will under go further tests tomorrow to understand the full extent of the muscular damage to his side which is causing most pain.

Allegri subed Boateng beacuase he could not continue as he picked up a knock during the game. As for replacing him with Ambrosini i believe that Allegri should have inserted Emmanuelson instead. This would have kept the same idea and look too our team on the night, seedorf would have moved up to attacking mid and Urby would have been more affective than Ambro since his touch and pace would have allowed for more fluidity and passess being made.

Great read, I certaintly enjoyed it.

I think that Milan did the exact right thing tactically.

They got an early goal, they already done more then enough in just that 1 minute of play. I think Milan would of been happy with a draw away from home, and it would have to take not 1 but 2 Barca goals to prevent that target.

So, they had no reason whatsoever to press the ball, they didnt need to take us out of flow because they already had more then what they wanted.

From then I can only respect the defensive organsiation and individual and collective quality of the Milan team. The goals werent the usual Barca way, especially the 2nd one.

Milan defensively did a great job and I commend them for it.

I think Cassano wasnt right for the game because he suffers without consistent touches, but the coach knew this beforehand and had no choice but to play him anyway.

I look forward to the game at the San Siro which I believe Iniesta, Pique and Sanchez will all make barring new injury and hopefully Ibra, Taiwo and Gattuso can be there too.

Excellent post.

When's the game at the San Siro then? must be pretty far away for Sanchez to be able to make it?

it will be the 5th game

Not sure Mole, but Khaled posted something on the Barca section about it and you know he is usually right now these things.

The Franchise wrote:Great read, I certaintly enjoyed it.

I think that Milan did the exact right thing tactically.

They got an early goal, they already done more then enough in just that 1 minute of play. I think Milan would of been happy with a draw away from home, and it would have to take not 1 but 2 Barca goals to prevent that target.

So, they had no reason whatsoever to press the ball, they didnt need to take us out of flow because they already had more then what they wanted.

From then I can only respect the defensive organsiation and individual and collective quality of the Milan team. The goals werent the usual Barca way, especially the 2nd one.

Milan defensively did a great job and I commend them for it.

I think Cassano wasnt right for the game because he suffers without consistent touches, but the coach knew this beforehand and had no choice but to play him anyway.

I look forward to the game at the San Siro which I believe Iniesta, Pique and Sanchez will all make barring new injury and hopefully Ibra, Taiwo and Gattuso can be there too.

Well said.

Milan did plan on pressing but it would be a risk considering Barca can handle pressing teams by outmaneuvering oncoming challengers by one-twos. Allegri obviously knew that the midfield would be to slow which is why he conjured the triangle isolation method which wouldn't require pace but discipline and movement. Brilliant move.
Cassano? He can play against Possession sides as demonstrated by his motm performances against Spain yet needs a midfield with service and who will provide passes as it was clear we didn't have that in the game.

Sanchez will be IMO the one who will actually trouble Milan as we have problems with wide and pacy wingers whereas I feel we did a good job to mark Iniesta. Pique will be crucial yes.
Cassano? He can play against Possession sides as demonstrated by his motm performances against Spain yet needs a midfield with service and who will provide passes as it was clear we didn't have that in the game.