10 hours ago
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AC Milan surrendered top spot in the Serie A table heading into the festive period, drawing 2-2 with Sassuolo in Sunday’s early kick-off.
It was a terrible start for Milan as Ismael Kone’s well-taken goal put the away side into the lead in the 13th minute, but then an unlikely hero emerged in Davide Bartesaghi. He scored just before and just after the break, and looked to have the Rossoneri heading towards securing top spot.
However, Armand Lauriente came off the bench to equalise inside the final 20 minutes and the points were shared, with the winger even hitting the post late on. It is yet another case of dropped points against a newly-promoted side at home for Milan, after losing to Cremonese and drawing with Pisa.
Set-ups and build-up
Massimiliano Allegri made one change to the starting line-up from the team that came from two goals down to beat Torino on Monday night, with Rafael Leao missing out due to the injury he picked up in the first half.
Milan started with a 3+1 build up from the back with Pavlovic and Gabbia supported by Maignan, with Modric as their pivot. Tomori and Bartesaghi stayed wide to stretch the pitch.
Sassuolo pressed high with five players looking to create high turnovers leaving gaps between the first line and the last line of defence. Nkunku and Loftus-Cheek stayed high therefore pinning the Sassuolo back line and creating space. This was also seen when Pulisic found space between the lines.
Slow to react
Sassuolo went man-to-man and blocked every option from Bartesaghi’s throw-in. They pressed Rabiot, won the ball, and Matic immediately found Pinamonti, positioned square to him. Pinamonti laid it off to Koné, who finished.
The key error? Modrić didn’t shuffle across quickly enough to close Matic’s lane. By not blocking the passing angle, he allowed a straight, uncontested ball into Pinamonti — and Sassuolo punished it.
RLC’s role
Allegri changed the role of Loftus-Cheek. He pushed him up to play like a second striker to overload Sassuolo’s four-man back line since it was missing an extra man like a 3-5-2 backline. We can see from his heat map he played further forward than usual.
The Bartesaghi brace
With RLC being pushed up it meant that there were extra players in Sassuolo’s final third and with Modric tilting towards Milan’s right side it created a 4v3 overload. Loftus-Cheek’s cross was met by Bartesaghi at the far stick.
The second goal is excellent work from Nkunku to be perpendicular to Pavlovic and receive the ball before turning and putting Bartesaghi. Receiving the ball square on and putting himself between the ball and the opposition player helped him to retain possession.
Sassuolo’s substitutions
Sassuolo made two changes which in a sense changed the game. Milan – with RLC playing further forward – were short of a man on the right side and Saelemaekers had to cover for it with extra work. Sassuolo brought on Lauriente and Doig on the left.
The Neroverdi would then overload their left wing, pulling Milan players to the right side and then switch the play catching Bartesaghi off guard, leading to a shot on target with Pinamonti.
Modric’s mistake (again)
In a repeat from the first half Sassuolo score in similar fashion with Modric once against failing to cover the path from Kone to Pinamonti who laid it off for Lauriente. Meanwhile Saelemaekers and Tomori have a lapse of communication and neither tracked back for Lauriente.
Data
Allegri dropped his defensive line by a massive 9 metres in the second half which somehow showed that Milan were intending to rather sit back and absorb the pressure.
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