Leonardo’s Milan, a tactical nightmare?
A.C. Milan are starting a new season with a new coach for the first time in eight years. It is widely agreed that it was time for change at Milan, and Leonardo is a brave choice from the directors given his lack of experience. For this reason, he will need as much help as possible in order to refresh what has been an ageing team for too long now. However, will this be possible given the players he has at his disposal?
Leonardo explained in his first press conference as Milan manager that he will most likely play a 4-3-3 formation with two midfielders playing a holding role, while the third will be given a license to attack the spaces created by the movement of the forwards. Furthermore, this system would lead one to believe that the three front players will consist of Ronaldinho playing in his preferred role on the left, Pato playing on the right wing and Boriello, Inzaghi or Luis Fabiano (providing Milan manage to sign him) in the central position. However, this formation seems to provide more problem than solutions.
Taking into consideration the midfield, it is evident that Milan will play with Ambrosini (the new Captain) and Gattuso or Flamini in the two holding positions. The dilemma comes when analysing the midfielder entitled to attack the spaces created mainly by the central striker (i.e.: Boriello/Fabiano) up front. When looking at the players available, there is only one person that can adapt to this role effectively: Clarence Seedorf. This is due to the fact that Pirlo does not have the characteristics to take advantage of space created, nor does he have the best goal scoring record at Milan. This effectively means that Pirlo no longer has a place in this Milan team, as he will not be able to play in one of the holding roles, as they will require an enormous amount of sacrifice given the 4-3-3 formation.
The second and perhaps more worrying problem is up front. Pato is a very anarchic player; it is very difficult to ask him to remain in a certain area of the pitch. Ideally, Pato should be given a free role to wonder all over the pitch taking advantage of the spaces created by a striker. However, due to the fact that Ronaldinho will be playing on the left wing, this means that Pato will be restricted to the right, perhaps the position in which he is least effective.
The above issues lead me to believe that in actual fact the 4-3-3 formation is not the best option for this new Milan team. My feeling is that Leonardo would get more from his players by using the conventional 4-3-1-2, where Pirlo is part of the three midfielders, and Pato is aloud to roam up front alongside a tall powerful striker. Furthermore, the movement of the two front men would provide better spaces for the central midfielder to insert himself into. Finally, that single midfielder would have more freedom given the fact that he has three holding players behind him.
