Leonardo’s Milan, a further analysis.
Leonardo’s A.C. Milan have been playing in the World Football Challenge 2009, results indicate that it has not been a successful tournament having lost all three matches to Chelsea and Club America by 2-1 and to Inter Milan 2-0. However, this is not the case, there have been many positives and the defeats to Club America and Chelsea could be seen as slightly unlucky considering Milan played very well in both. Furthermore, the defeat to Inter Milan should not be taken into consideration due to the fact that Milan had played three games in five days whereas Inter had had an entire week to prepare for the clash.
When analysing the games against Club America and Chelsea there are a few aspects to highlight about Milan’s style of football. Firstly while Leonardo has often set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation, they tend to revert to a 4-3-1-2 during the game with Ronaldinho playing behind the two strikers. Nevertheless the new style of football requires an enormous amount of effort from the players.
When attacking Milan rely heavily on the support of the wingbacks as well as the support of one or two of the midfielders. This effectively means that Milan attack using seven men leaving the defence exposed to the counter. It is for this reason that the team must be in exemplary physical condition, because while the wingbacks and midfielders are expected to aid with offensive phase of play they are also expected to take part in the defensive phase.
A further key aspect of Milan’s new style of football is the constant movement of the attacking players. This was something that Borriello and Pato did very well against Chelsea. Both the strikers would often receive the ball on the wings and pull defenders out of position allowing the midfielders to insert themselves in the space created. Milan’s goal against Chelsea was an example of this, with Seedorf coming from the midfield into the space created, Seedorf also hit the crossbar prior to scoring from a similar move.
So far there are several positives, starting with Ronaldinho’s performances. Silvio Berlusconi said: “he needs to remember that he is a champion, I’m expecting a lot from him.” So far he has played well providing assists and hitting the crossbar both against Chelsea and Club America. All he needs to do now is improve his physical condition, he played three games in five days and looked good in all three, however if he able to lose a few more kilos he can still be the player that takes Milan from being a good team to excellent one.
However there are further positives for Milan, Flamini has started this pre-season the way he ended last season, perhaps even better than his form at the end of last season. His long balls to the forwards have proved dangerous on all occasions and his incredible work rate has massively helped a defence that has been slightly behind the rest of the team in terms of preparation and physical condition. Meanwhile Inzaghi has confirmed himself to be forever young as he continues to score goals on a regular basis even at 36 years of age. Finally, although the defence has been slightly behind Milan can be happy that Nesta seems to be back to full fitness after a year long injury and Thiago Silva is steadily growing. It is from Ronaldinho and these positives that Milan should look to build, although this does not mean that are not in need of at least one striker and another wingback.
