Relationism on show and more defensive solidity: Tactical analysis of Udinese 0-3 AC Milan

AC Milan scored three goals to make it three wins and three clean sheets in a row against Udinese on Saturday night.

Milan took the lead a few minutes before the break when Pervis Estupinan’s cut-back took a ricochet and fell to Christian Pulisic, who fired in his first. Then, Pulisic created the second goal, stealing the ball from Karlstrom before Youssouf Fofana thumped a low shot in.

The USA international got his second goal and third contribution of the night when he lashed home a feed from Adrien Rabiot from the right side of the box. It wrapped up another valuable three points, while the defence remained firm yet again.

The Rossoneri are now third in the table and have some nice momentum going into Sunday’s game against Napoli, which will see Massimiliano Allegri do battle with Antonio Conte again. Rohit Rajeev provides a tactical breakdown of the game below.

Systems and patterns

Milan’s formation off the ball switched between a four and five-man defence with Saelemaekers acting as a RB/RWB. Here we can see Milan playing 4-4-2 and 5-2-3.

Milan’s pressing pattern was different. The Rossoneri stayed narrow and forced Udinese wide, but Rabiot and Fofana stayed more central as we can see here. Udinese had an extra man in the centre unlike Bologna, which makes Fofana to push forward.

While the forwards look to cut out the passing lanes into the pivot, the central midfielders (in this case Fofana) came out to press the centre-backs on the ball.

Interchanges

Positional interchanges were often conducted. Below are two examples with Pavlovic and Estupinan interchanging while Rabiot and Pulisic were also seen interchanging positions.

Milan’s first shot on target came from a move right out of the Relationism handbook. A give-and-go – also called the ‘toco y me voy’ – by Gabbia saw Milan break Udinese’s defence ultimately ending with Pulisic testing keeper Sava.

The goals follow

Milan’s first goal came from a long ball. With Rabiot making the run behind the defence, it clears space between the lines for Pulisic to occupy before the American is able to slot it home after a mistake in the penalty box.

Milan’s second goal was an individual effort from Pulisic, but Rabiot made a smart run dragging his defender with him and Pulisic clear to take on Karlstrom forcing him into an error.

In the build-up to the third goal there was a clever move by Saelemaekers. With his marker Zemura using cover shadows to cut off the passing lane to Alexis, Saelemaekers positions himself in a way that clears a passing lane to Fofana who can clearly be seen asking for the ball.

The pass breaks Udinese’s press and situation moves into a state of transition. With Rabiot playing wide and Santi playing inside it clears a half space for Pulisic to occupy and shoot.

Milan also used third-man combinations to progress the ball in the wide areas. These three-player passing sequences are used to create space, draw opponents out of position and enable players to receive the ball in a position to spring forward.

Solid as a rock

In a recent analysis after the win over Bologna, we wrote about how Milan have made an encouraging start to the campaign with regards to fixing what has been their biggest defect over the past three seasons.

There were some worries about what the introduction of Pietro Terracciano might do to the rearguard, but Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic ensured the goalkeeper again had a very quiet night.

The cumulative total from Milan’s first four league games for Expected Goals Against (xGA) is 1.0, so 0.25 per game. It is by far the best in Europe, and Napoli in second place have more than double that amount (2.4).

Having an established and settled three/five-man defence is helping Allegri build what he wants above all else: stability. Firstly, Max wants his team to be solid and that might mean some unspectacular wins like the Bologna game.

The hope is that some flair follows, and we got some promising signs in Udine. There is a much bigger test lurking on the horizon though as Napoli come to San Siro on Sunday: that will be when this rearguard gets a proper examination.