Internazionale – AC Milan: How Not To Deploy A Box Midfield (5-1)

As the first few passing patterns emerged, Stefano Pioli appeared to make a big tactical gamble. Davide Calabria kept his inverted position and AC Milan deployed the box midfield against Internazionale. The result was a dysfunctional performance as Inter brutalized Milan in a way not seen in many years.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

After a thunderous start to the season, Milan could face no greater test than Derby della Madonnina. The Virgin Mary towers over Milan, but how she has favored the colors of black and blue. 

Four consecutive victories in 2023 confirmed this, especially the two in the Champions League semi-finals that have sealed bragging rights for years to come. Inter could not have started the season in a better fashion either, with eight goals, zero conceded and three victories from three games. Simone Inzaghi is yet to face the illustrious budget that Conte acquired but has produced an amazing job to keep them consistently fighting for the top spots in a highly competitive Serie A.

Despite their start, it was the perfect opening for Milan that had created more buzz. Milan re-spent the Sandro Tonali money on six players to drastically increase their squad depth. Stefano Pioli had appeared to establish consistency back into his team, Oliver Giroud had scored in all three games, whereas Christian Pulisic, one of the six to have been purchased, had also started the season in strong form.

Just one change was made within Inter’s standard 3-5-2 shape. This came in the center of the defense, as Stefan de Vrij was replaced by Francesco Acerbi. Late in . . .