Allegri’s hand in Roma win obvious with bolstering of left side – his tactical tweaks

Massimiliano Allegri’s hand in AC Milan’s win over Roma was evident, and a report has highlighted a crucial change he made.

As MilanPress recall, Milan’s win came after a very difficult start to the match, one that was resolved with a textbook tactical move. Our analysis from Sunday night’s game at San Siro also highlighted an in-game adjustment that the coach made to get his team into the game.

As mentioned, the first 30 minutes of the match were just like the start against Atalanta. The team were penned in partly due to aggressive pressing from their opponent, partly due to inaccuracy in playing out from the back, and partly because of the lack of an outlet up front.

In the 30th minute the turning point came: the Rossoneri staff decided to switch from the usual 3-5-2 to a sort of 4-4-2 with De Winter at right back and Samuele Ricci wide on the left in midfield to give a hand to Davide Bartesaghi, who was struggling a lot.

After a few minutes of settling in, the team found their feet again, scored the opening goal that came from the left side. That is the flank that had suffered the most from the Giallorossi’s aggressive start, and it should have been the one that led to the second goal (Fofana missed from Bartesaghi’s pass).

What can also be seen is that Alexis Saelemaekers actually comes in from the right side to provide added coverage in the central areas given the joy Roma were getting there. He was also a useful outlet, getting the ball and spinning to give Milan some threat in transition.