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AC Milan were defeated in a cagey affair against Lazio on Thursday evening, with Massimiliano Allegri losing the ‘chess game’ against Maurizio Sarri.
Like many other games before this season, the Rossoneri lacked in a lot of spects in the first half of the game. Or rather, you could definitely say that the two teams cancelled each other out, as Lazio didn’t exactly create much either.
The individual mistakes didn’t help, with several players disappointing, and so a late goal was all it took for the Biancocelesti to advance to the next round of the Coppa Italia. Milan, meanwhile, will have to focus on the league instead.
As highlighted by our columnist Rohit Rajeev below, the tactical battle between the two managers was pretty much a chess game, and unfortunately Sarri came out on top.
Milan’s double pivot in the build-up
Milan found a clever solution to Lazio’s 3-2 press. Using a double pivot to build out, they created control, and Ricci’s smart drop made it a 6v5 overload.
Fruitless exploiting tactics
One big flaw in a 4-4-2 is the gap between the lines. When Lazio dropped into their 4-4-2 block, Milan tried to lure Castellanos and Isaksen/Zaccagni forward, opening pockets for runners like Rabiot to exploit.
Even with two up top, both Lazio forwards often dropped deep to receive, allowing Rabiot to push higher and operate as a quasi-striker.
One issue for Milan was Leao dropping deep to receive because it left the other striker, Loftus-Cheek in this case, completely isolated up top.
Milan frequently leaned on the Escadinha principle, which is a relationist pattern that helped them play through Lazio’s horizontal press with fluid, layered passing.
In the second half, Allegri pushed Estupinan higher to maximise his crossing threat, which meant sacrificing some defensive stability in pursuit of the opening goal.
Lazio found the winner from a corner, and it exposed a flaw I highlighted before. Allegri kept a deep defensive line, but the gap between that line and the players outside the box was huge. An inswinger to the near post exploited that space perfectly, and Zaccagni pounced.
How Sarri outsmarted Allegri
Sarri adjusted brilliantly. He dropped the defensive line, let Milan keep the ball, and avoided the high-possession approach used at San Siro. At the Olimpico, Milan dominated possession simply because Lazio were happy to sit back and wait their turn.
With Milan forced into a slow, possession-heavy game, their counter-attacking threat more or less disappeared. And with players like Jashari and De Winter who haven’t played much together, their combination play lacked rhythm, leaving them without answers against Lazio’s compact block.
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