Totally ineffective in-possession structure: Tactical analysis of AC Milan 1-2 Lazio | OneFootball

AC Milan’s top four hopes were probably already over going into the Lazio game, but they were given the final guillotine chop in the most brutal of ways.

Lazio took a deserved lead in the first half when Mattia Zaccagni was on hand to fire home a rebound from Adam Murisic’s shot. When Strahinja Pavlovic got a questionable straight red card midway through the second half, it looked like job done for Marco Baroni’s men.

And yet, with six minutes left, Rafael Leao stood up a cross for Samuel Chukwueze to head in an equaliser. There was still time for a bitter sting though as Mike Maignan was adjudged to have fouled Gustav Isaksen inside the box, with the penalty converted by Pedro in the 97th minute.

The result means that the Rossoneri are now ninth in the league table and not only are the top four hopes definitely over, but any hopes of European football at all are starting to look slim.

Familiar defensive shortcomings

When Milan drew 2-2 away against Lazio earlier in the season, one of the goals came from Milan not executing their zonal press accurately.

On Sunday we could see Milan making the same mistake again with Tavares finding space between Milan’s line unmarked, due to Matteo Gabbia and Alex Jimenez not picking up a man or any space.

One way of beating a mid block is to find a through ball since there is a significant gap between the keeper and last line of defence.

There needs to be synchronised movements for this with the striker who should be ready to make the run and midfielder needing to spot the run and time his pass. Dia in this sequence is played onside by Gabbia.

Lazio tried to make decoy runs but Milan stuck to their zonal marking and cleared the corner.

Ineffective build-up structure

Now here is an interesting observation: Milan under Conceicao use a 2+2 while building out from the back. It is an unusual base to build from, as managers tend to prefer a 3+2 or a 2+3.

Now look at how Lazio suffocate Milan with their pressing, but more evident than that is how the Rossoneri’s structure in possession is not conducive to building up through the central areas.

Milan’s high line got exposed again as Marusic out paced Theo Hernandez to get into space to shoot, before Zaccagni got to the rebound from Maignan to tap in.

Milan’s central progression was limited with Fofana being outnumbered by Lazio’s two forward players. This prompted Conceicao to bring Joao Felix in and push Tijjani Reijnders back, and the immediate change can be noticed.

No help on the counter

When Milan counter, the positioning of the players is worrying. There are zero signs of intelligent runs to either stretch the defence or create passing options for the ball-carrier.

Credit to Lazio for the defending too, which Milan could learn about, but the forwards simply have to execute better for an effective contain-and-counter style.

At 1-0 down Milan shifted their formation on the ball to a 2-4-4, yet once again we must go back to issues in possession.

Fofana has no passing option and the structure to build out remains limited, so he has to switch it via long ball to Pulisic. His mis-hit pass gave Tavares a chance to counter attack leading to a shot on target for Lazio.

Finally ,with Pavlovic sent off it pushed Conceicao to take off Fofana for an extra defender. This created a huge gap between the second and third line of defence.

Thus, it became a basketball match, and Milan were ultimately downed by a buzzer-beater.