Juventus – AC Milan: Allegri’s Return Tells A Sombre Script (0-0)
It was only right that Massimiliano Allegri’s return to Turin was going to be fruitless around the penalty boxes, yet the game painted a new picture for AC Milan. After an eighth-place finish, this team can compete against the big Serie A contenders again.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.
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Eighteen months after Allegri’s Fiat 500 stormed out of Vinovo, his return to Turin was inevitable, but was Juve expecting in such strength?
His playbook has some limitations, most notably in high-pressure and limited possession rotations. However, Allegri has the pieces to make a very successful return to AC Milan. So far, their low block has remained compact, successfully screened by the timeless Luka Modrić, whilst the Croatian’s passing gives an optimal solution when they encounter man-to-man operations. After another window of heavy spending, Milan’s depth is better than fellow competitors (even previous Scudetto winners), and no European commitments is the ideal formula for success.
Juve also possesses similar ambitions, but without the coach who has as many decorations. Igor Tudor has his team performing as you would expect. Their strengths are out of possession, with one of the more aggressive pressing units in Serie A, and they concede few high-quality chances. However, the buildup arrangement relies on a few conductors and struggles to generate quality attacks from the possession they keep. Juve has transitioned through multiple projects at a fast pace, but it is clear that they have the quality to frustrate fellow contenders in the European spots.
Tudor made three changes to the team that drew away to Villarreal. Mattia Perin was out of the goalkeeper position, so Michele Di Gregorio returned. Juan Cabal went off with an injury during that game, so Daniele Rugani got his first Serie A minutes in the back line. The final switch saw Teun Koopmeiners replaced by Francisco Conceição in the attack.
Allegri’s only rotation, to the team that beat the champions Napoli, came in the left wing-back position. Pervis Estupiñán was suspended after being sent off, so the academy graduate, Davide Bartesaghi, made just his second start for Milan.
Similar constructions, different buildings
In both attacking plans, Juve and Milan turned to their experienced distributors to map out their constructions in possession. Modrić spent over a decade in the Real Madrid engine room. Although Manuel Locatelli is thirteen years younger, he is experienced in providing a similar service in the Juve buildup. Throughout the first half, both midfielders would have high activity on the ball, as neither out-of-possession structure aggressively stepped towards one another. Space was available to pick the ball up in the defensive lines, so the balance of play was even as either team exchanged.
Off the ball, Juve left Bartesaghi free in the deep buildup to provide extra coverage around the Modrić zone. Weston McKennie was selected to jump on the Croatian, Conceição sat in the space between the Croatian and Strahinja Pavlović. In the first minute, Pierre Kalulu pressed towards the left wing-back, which left Adrien Rabiot free to make a one-two back with Bartesaghi. After this exchange led to a Youssof Fofana attempt inside the box (albeit not a clean connection), Juve were not willing to leave the Frenchman so free on the connection and Kalulu man-marked Rabiot. Bartesaghi was free to carry, but McKennie had the legs to travel from covering Modrić to jumping onto the Italian wing-back.
3rd minute: Milan’s deep buildup versus the Juve passive high block. In the pivot position, Matteo Gabbia has space to receive on the turn and play laterally towards Bartesaghi, who is free to carry into the opposition half. Juve left this inferiority out wide so that they had double coverage on both Modrić and the direct ball to Santiago Giménez. Pulisic did drop towards the ball but was man-marked by Federico Gatti, and McKennie had the stamina to drop and engage with Bartesaghi further down the field.
As Modrić received, with his shoulders facing inwards, play was often directed back towards the right, where Alexis Saelemaekers looked to shift the ball back towards the center from his left foot. In this regard, Milan has arranged themselves in trademark Allegri fashion. The midfielders filter out of the center as Fofana and Rabiot made runs around Lloyd Kelly and Kalulu. As Giménez pins the center-backs, emphasis is on Christian Pulisic to connect play in the center: and his flexibility between the lines can explain his good run in the team under Allegri. As Pulisic attracted midfielders towards him, Giménez made early switches back onto the left for Milan to progress through the middle third.
7th minute: Buildup through the middle third from Milan. As Modrić moved the ball to Saelemaekers, Pulisic made himself available as the rest of the Milan midfielders filtered out of the center. Pulisic encouraged both McKennie and Locatelli to move towards him, which made more space for Giménez to switch to Bartesaghi.
Despite Milan being able to break out of their own half quickly, their attacks did not stabilize. Milan could not travel from channel to channel without the Juve defensive line resetting and Milan recirculating as a result. From there, Milan constantly looked back towards Modrić for solutions. Balls would be made back out to the wing-backs, but with the ball-sided midfielders still running further up the chain, neither Bartesaghi nor Saelemaekers could effectively rotate with one of the French midfielders positioned in proximity, except for a short pass further along the outside channel.
With Modrić and Pulisic still positioned on the left, the more creative exchanges came down this side of the field. Rabiot did make some effective movements between the lines, perhaps an influence from his time with Roberto de Zerbi, but despite Milan keeping possession in high spots, nothing was being created outside of a deep cross being thrown in towards the penalty area.
Juve with more carrying threat
Locatelli was also dropping into deep-left positions to distribute, and also had a similar left-sided assistant in Andrea Cambiaso to make Juve’s side quite flexible in settled possession. However, Juve approached the opposition half differently than Milan, with outside center-backs that joined in more attacks down the channel and with different profiles out wide that could create danger from their own accord.
On the left, Kelly and Cambiaso remained inside Kenan Yıldız, further down the chain. On the right side, Gatti and Kalulu offered a similar dynamic for Conceição, although Gatti offered fewer combinations outside and more of an extra box presence once Juve had advanced. With both attackers staying high and wide, Juve got them in more isolated areas for them to utilize their dribbling. Even in deeper positions, their dribbling was used to attract multiple Milan defenders towards them and free up attackers around them. This was more noticeable on the right side, where Kalulu was an effective runner on the outside channel in situations where Conceição held possession deeper in the chain. It’s from these cutbacks/low crosses that Juve produced the most dangerous attacks in the game.
The first opportunity came when Conceição motored around a backpedaling Bartesaghi. David’s vertical run took Fikayo Tomori and Gabbia away from the ball, and McKennie moved in Modrić’s blind side, but no clean connection was made. McKennie did connect a few minutes later, when Conceição hesitated and moved the ball away from the wing-back to cross with his right. The ball span towards the back post, but if Jonathan David had a clearer view, he could have reacted at the back post. The best opportunity created was for the Canadian in the box, and away went another chance of a clean attempt in the penalty area.
33rd minute: Buildup to David chance. After Conceição attracted Bartesaghi and Pulisic on the left, he moved the ball back towards Gatti. In the process, Bartesaghi and Rabiot swapped to their usual defensive position, but in the process of exchanging, Locatelli put the ball behind for Kalulu to freely sprint into the box. His cutback found the Canadian, only for David to slip at the vital moment, and Gabbia hooked the ball away to stop a chance from being recovered.
Milan looked vulnerable in these situations, and Juve were asking more questions on the attack. However, the balanced nature of the game meant that neither side could sustainably put pressure on the other for long enough during the game. Corners and dead-ball situations were limited because of this dynamic, and the lack of attacking quality was clear when neither side bypassed the 0.3 xG mark in the first forty-five minutes.
Penalty pressure in a dwindling affair
Neither team stepped away from this game state, but individual errors within the Juve set-up seemed to test this at the start of the second half. After Mike Maignan made a big save from Gatti, a promising free-kick situation could have kept the pressure. However, the set-piece in question led to Juve passing the ball directly to Modrić, and a tactical foul from Locatelli saw him straight in the book. Kelly’s foul was almost a lot more costly, as Modrić dinked the ball towards the penalty area and the English defender bundled Giménez over, who seemed destined to meet it (he even got to head the ball as he was brought down). Pulisic stepped up but skied his penalty as he aimed for the top corner.
Milan did establish some momentum before the hour mark, and Allegri wanted to capitalize without straying from the path. Fofana came off for Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Rafael Leão replaced Giménez. The Portuguese attacker did not contribute with his usual game but was on the receiving end of two opportunities. A low cross from Pulisic found Leão at the back post, Rugani closed his angle to deny a close chance from hitting the target. His bigger opportunity came towards the end of the game, when Modrić’s slide rule pass broke the lines and put Leão through on the right side of the box. Off balance, his attempt still tested Di Gregorio, but what could have been if the play had come more smoothly.
Tudor offered the more direct tactical changes with twenty minutes left, when all three of his attackers were changed. In the process, Khéphren Thuram came on as an extra midfielder, whilst strikers Dušan Vlahović and Loïs Openda were also introduced. In the process, Juve changed their chance creation from relying on a high volume of carries to trying to connect on longer exchanges from deep and working on the transition. The problem for Juve was that there was no stable connection for them to do this, and the off-ball runs that they produced kept them in a very narrow state, which made Milan’s job easier with less space to cover.
76th minute: Attempted transition from Juve. After Di Gregorio was engaged in the deep buildup, which attracted some more jumps from Milan, Juve tried to quickly progress as Gatti produced a channel pass. McKennie and Kalulu supported down the same side, but Juve needed presence on the far side to stretch the Milan defense further. Instead, Openda moved onto the same side as the ball and only started to move towards the back post once McKennie had passed to Kalulu on the outer right channel.
Tudor’s substitutions effectively sealed the game’s fate. Both Juve and Milan still registered late shots, but Juve failed to find the same creative levels that they had reached in the first period. Milan took even fewer risks with their tactical blueprint, but would be left to rue some of the situations that they found themselves in.
Takeaways
A draw in which neither side would beat themselves up over. It is now five draws in a row for Juve, with very mixed performances between those games. Nevertheless, Tudor has a lot of profile selection behind the striker, but has yet to find a concrete path for his team to travel down. Their schedule does not get any easier after the international break, as they travel to face Como, Real Madrid, and Lazio upon the return of club football.
Milan can be encouraged by their performances against both Napoli and Juve in the past two weeks. Both teams offer a lot of offensive depth, but for long periods, Milan did not look threatened once their low block had been established. Winless Fiorentina and Pisa are next, before Allegri faces a crucial autumn, with Atalanta, Roma, Inter and Lazio all to play before the end of November.
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