MN: From Zaccheroni to Conceicao – three-man defence resurfaces at Milan | OneFootball

Sergio Conceicao decided to use a three-man defence against Udinese one week ago, and the 4-0 win showed it is certainly worth sticking with.

As MilanNews reports, the same system first emerged for Udinese 28 years ago. It was born to counter the 4-4-2 of Sacchian origin that everyone, or almost, used at that time. Module that was also successfully used at Milan in 1998-99 by the person who launched it, Alberto Zaccheroni.

It all started with a league match between Juventus and Udinese, at the Delle Alpi in Turin. The Bianconeri were on their way to the title and the Friulians were floating in the bottom half of the table, just above the relegation zone.

That Udinese played with a 4-4-2. After three minutes, Regis Genaux was sent off. Zaccheroni’s intuition came at that moment. The coach chose not to give up the four midfielders or even the two strikers. He played with three at the back, and remarkable they won 3-0.

When Zaccheroni arrived at Milan in 1998, the team had finished 11th and 10th in the seasons prior. He brought Thomas Helveg and Oliver Bierhoff with him from Udinese and also also wanted Marcio Amoroso – who scored in that win over Juve – but Udinese said no.

He applied the same principles seen in Udine, using a 3-4-3 with Ganz and Weah on either side of Bierhoff. Leonardo then took Ganz’s place on the right, although the real turning point came when he switched to a 3-4-1-2 with Boban behind the two strikers.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

In Italy at the end of the 90s it was not uncommon to see teams lined up with 3-4-3. Alberto Malesani had made Chievo Verona’s fortune in Serie B playing like this and successfully exported it to Fiorentina.

Louis van Gaal applied 3-4-3 to his Ajax, Gian Piero Gasperini fell in love with it and decided to apply it to the Juventus youth team and later in his career with the results we have all season. His students, like Ivan Juric, used it too.

Ottmar Hitzfeld won a Champions League at Bayern Munich in 2001 with a 3-4-3, Thomas Tuchel would do the same 20 years later at Chelsea and before him, Antonio Conte would win a Premier League with the Blues using that same system, could Conceicao save his fate with it?