Talking tactics: Defensive frailties, clinical finishing as Milan fall to Liverpool

   September 16, 2021

AC Milan boss Stefano Pioli will have plenty to assess after the Rossoneri’s 3-2 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League.

Milan were second best throughout the showdown at Anfield, perhaps barring a 10-minute period before half-time where we scored twice to turn the game on its head.

READ MORE: Tomori shows his class for Milan in difficult test vs Liverpool

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However, it wasn’t enough to come away from Merseyside with points on the board, but it was a hugely important learning experience for the players in our first major European game at this level for seven years.

Milan not at their best defensively

The opening 30 minutes was difficult to watch at times from a Milan perspective. Liverpool’s pressure came in wave after wave, while we simply couldn’t hold on to the ball for any extended period of time.

That in turn led to a busy half hour for Mike Maignan who made key saves, while both Fikayo Tomori and Simon Kjaer were called into action with some last-ditch blocks.

Eventually, Milan started to settle and pose an attacking threat of our own, and ultimately Anfield was left stunned that we’d gone in at the break ahead despite being penned in our own half for much of the opening 45 minutes.

From Rafael Leao losing Trent Alexander Arnold’s run into the box for the opener, to three defenders surrounding Mohamed Salah but failing to track his run in behind and Alessandro Florenzi switching off and failing to get out to Jordan Henderson quick enough, there were a catalogue of errors that led to the goals.

Given Milan’s inability to get on the ball, control the tempo and possession, it was always putting us under pressure and mistakes can then happen. Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer were nowhere near good enough as they struggled to get up to the pace of the game, and that definitely cost us.

Clinical play in final third promising

On a more positive note, our attacking play just before half-time was excellent.

As seen in the images below, Leao’s through-ball to Ante Rebic was brilliant and the finish was even better, while we got forward in numbers for our second and eventually saw the ball cross the line.

Milan have been exceptional away from home for some time now, and with players like Rebic, Leao, Theo Hernandez and others able to break quickly from our own half, we’re absolutely capable of causing any team problems.

However, our undoing was the nervousness with which we played for most of the game. That is something that the players have to learn from and settle quicker on big European nights to avoid being put under the cosh immediately and then struggling to get out and relieve the pressure.

We have the quality in the final third to make teams pay, and that’s without Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading the line. In turn, it’s the defensive phase and the midfield that needs to improve in order to match the class shown in front of goal to open up one of the best teams in Europe and get two goals away from home at one of the more difficult places to go.