Ineffective press and the derailing moment: Tactical analysis of Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 AC Milan | OneFootball

AC Milan suffered their second defeat of the Sergio Conceicao era against Dinamo Zagreb, and it couldn’t have come at a worse moment.

Dinamo went ahead in the first half after a slip from Matteo Gabbia allowed Martin Baturina to seize possession and slot under Mike Maignan, and then Yunus Musah was sent off after two yellow cards to make matters worse.

Christian Pulisic got an equaliser early in the second half with an impressive low shot, yet parity was short lived as Marko Pjaca restored the lead for the home side, one that they would see out in the end.

The result means that Milan dropped from sixth in the table before a ball was kicked to 13th, and now a potentially tricky play-off tie is on the cards in February against Feyenoord. Below is Rohit Rajeev‘s tactical analysis from the game.

Ineffecient press

Milan pressed high and tried to unsettle Zagreb’s attempts to play out from the back in the same way Stefano Pioli had his side playing against mid-table teams.

However, deep in their own half Milan would have a ball-oriented approach where they would restrict the space to play the ball.

Milan’s problems in defensive transition kept continuing in Zagreb just like versus Parma, when the team would press higher up the pitch and there would be a significant gap between the defence and midfield.

The derailing moment

Musah’s red card was what unsettled Milan’s attempt to claw back into the game, but just what was the impact beyond being a man down? The American acted as a safety net whenever Fikayo Tomori would go forward to challenge his marker.

With Musah shown a red the equation changed and it led to the second goal being conceded.

Milan tried some combination play but the quality at the end of it whether it was a final ball or the final shot was lacking all night from all players. It’s a familiar story in that sense.

The xG for Dinamo Zagreb’s first goal carried an xG of 0.32 but the psxG or the xGOT only has 0.26 which means that the quality of the shot of Baturina carried less quality than the quality of the chance he was presented.

This means, in layman’s terms, that Mike Maignan should have made a routine stop, but as we can see the shot went through his legs even though it was straight at him.

Data

The Rossoneri pressed high all game but how effective was it? Milan won only three tackles high up the pitch all game. This will frustrate Sergio Conceicao, who wants an effective high press to be the first line of defence.

In terms of chance creation Milan only created an xG of 1.1 with Pulisic’s chance only carrying an xG of 0.10. Milan created zero big chances all game, which even playing a man down was quite remarkable.

Finally the average positions clearly shows why Morata was hooked at half-time: he was playing closer to the midfield than he was to the goal.

Even Pulisic played much further ahead than he did and most likely Conceicao felt it was better to play Pulisic as a false nine given he was more effective.