How midfield changes made the difference: Tactical analysis of AC Milan 2-1 Como | OneFootball

AC Milan signed off for the March international break with a 2-1 win over Como, and there was a bit of deja vu about it compared to the victory in the reverse game.

Como certainly has some spells where they were on top in the game and took the lead in the first half with a nice finish from Luca Da Cunha, a lead which they managed to establish after Milan missed some big chances and they held it until the interval.

However, just like in the game in Como, the Rossoneri roared back against Cesc Fabregas’ side. Firstly they levelled through Christian Pulisic’s shot from a narrow angle, then won it inside the last 15 minutes through yet another goal from Tijjani Reijnders.

Milan remain ninth in the table but they did take advantage of the fact that Bologna beat Lazio and Fiorentina beat Juventus, meaning the gap to the top four stands at six points as opposed to double digits as it was a few weeks ago.

Sergio Conceicao made two changes to the starting line-up from the team that came from two goals down to beat Lecce, with Mike Maignan coming back in after serving his suspension, then Rafael Leao taking back his spot on the left wing. Rohit Rajeev has the tactical analysis.

Como pressed Milan high up the field using man-oriented pressing, trying to go man-to-man and match the numbers committed to build-up.

Now Milan had to break the press, and Santiago Gimenez would come out of the front line and combine as the third man like he did prior to Yunus Musah’s big missed chance.

Unlike what we usually see from Conceicao’s Milan, the team did not press Como high up the pitch even after going 1-0 down.

Instead, they decided it was better to soak up the pressure, such Como into playing through the mid block, to then win the ball back and counter.

That idea however did not work for two reasons. Firstly, when Theo Hernandez burst forward he had no passing option vertically and had to settle for an audacious shot.

Secondly, Milan’s players do not release the ball on time during transitions, as we can see below with Rafael Leao waiting too long to feed Christian Pulisic.

Conceicao recognised that things were not working and he changed things, especially in midfield. He brought on Youssouf Fofana for Warren Bondo at half-time, then Joao Felix for Musah early in the second half. This shifted Milan from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1.

Felix is a natural attacking midfielder, unlike Musah who is more of a box-to-box player. He occupied spaces higher up the pitch and this allowed Reijnders to sit deeper and pull the strings from a deeper role.

As we can see just before the Pulisic goal, the Portuguese playmaker is occupying the penalty box and engaging a marker, which allows Pulisic to make an unnoticed run and score.

Naturally this allowed Milan to get more men over on the left side and the numbers became even.

One thing which maybe went unnoticed was how Alex Jimenez – who is a naturally right-footed player – switched play much faster than Theo did/could, given different angles to exploit moving forward.

Verticality in terms of passing is important. Felix and Fofana with their movement were catalyst to the second goal and Milan’s match-winner, thanks to creating passing lanes to and from Tammy Abraham.