WHAT PIOLI CAN DO DIFFERENTLY: AN ANALYSIS

After the last 3 losses, the spotlight will be on Pioli on how he can turn the shiparound. The toughest spot he has been in his stint at Milan has come and the question is can he change Milan’s fortunes. 

In the last few games Milan’s biggest problem has been what used to be their strength: Good organised pressing. In the older day when Milan pressed more often that not they came out with the ball but now they failed to retrieve the ball and the spaces left behind are occupied by opposition team attackers which becomes fatal. 

Exploring different ways we look at what Tactical changes Pioli can make to combat this. 

THE MID BLOCK

A Football pitch is divided into 3 parts: Defensive third, Middle Third and Attacking Third. Whenever your team plays as a defensive unit in the Defensive third it is called as a Low block (Parking the bus), when you play in the Attacking Third it is called as the High Block or High press, something Klopp uses very effectively. The Mid Block is when a team plays their defensive unit in the middle third of the pitch. 

ROLE OFF THE BALL

When the team is not having the ball, they go into the defensive shape (mostly a 4-4-2 which Pioli likes) and form a narrow compact block. The most important part of the mid-block is that the players must be compact both horizontally and vertically. The distance between the back 4 and the front 2 must be minimum while the distance between the players must be least to avoid giving any space to the opposition.

The backline must push up and narrow any space between the defense and midfield lines. Players must be disciplined and must not break forward to press unless there is a loose touch or a mis-pass otherwise the structure can be easily compromised.

ROLE ON THE BALL 

To break down the midblock, the opposition have to push up the pitch and maintain a high line. This leaves spaces behind the defense and these spaces can be exploited through counter attacks by quick vertical through balls to prevent losing the ball quickly. 

Since midblocks require the middle area to be congested the opposition full backs may pushup to exploit wide areas. This can be exploited with quick switches.

Also since the distances between the players are short it helps to have patient passing interphase. 

ADVANTAGES OF MID-BLOCK

The mid- block helps to clog the important areas of the pitch and therefore not give any sort of space between the lines for opposition’s creative players. 

This strategy does not require teams to press aggressively and therefore it helps in saving energy.

DISADVANTAGES

When you play a mid-block it means that you are far away from the goal and you will need ball carriers and precision passers.

As midblock requires defenders to push up and maintain close gap with their midfield line, a team with a good creative player and quick striker can easily exploit it with balls over the top.

And since the mid block is more of a passive tactic it means ceding possession to the opposition team and allowing them to dominate you.

CHALLENGES FOR MILAN

As mentioned above, it will require good dribblers/ ball carriers. It is something Milan are not equipped to deal with as Milan only has Leao as the expert ball carrier and teams could easily neutralise him. Back when Milan played a mid block under Carlo he had Ricardo Kaka.

It also does not help deal with Milan’s issue of defending set pieces as the goal scored by Lecce showed Milan’s weakness in aerial duels. If you cede possession and try to pack the center teams will look to aim crosses into the center a lot and good tall CF can exploit Kalulu and Tomori.