AC Milan forecast for no El Nino

Date: 17th October 2014 at 3:56pm
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Honda El Shaarawy Menez - AC Milan v LazioThere is a theory which suggests that when a team loses their star player, they inexplicably exceed expectations and perform to a higher standard. American readers may be more familiar with this concept known as the Patrick Ewing Theory, which is applicable in the case of AC Milan following the summer departure of Mario Balotelli. 

Balotelli’s move to Liverpool left a lot of people curious as to how Filippo Inzaghi would set up his Rossoneri side this season, with the only obvious striker in his squad being Giampaolo Pazzini.

Fernando Torres AC Milan It became apparent in the following weeks that AC Milan would deploy a striker-less 4-3-3 formation, with new signing Jeremy Menez featuring in the role of a false-nine. It started well; the Rossoneri overcame Lazio 3–1  and the attacking trio of Keisuke Honda, Stephan El Shaarawy and the aforementioned Menez each contributing with either a goal or an assist.

While everything appeared to be going smoothly on the pitch though, their was an air of uncertainty regarding future selections as in the stands was one Fernando Torres.

So far this year, AC Milan’s whole attacking methodology has best revolved around this false-nine system. The tendency of Menez to drop deep in search of the ball allows El Shaarawy and Honda to do what they enjoy most. The young Italian is now afforded more space to cut in from the left and onto his right foot, while it opens up the pitch for Honda and prevents him from becoming isolated out wide. Indeed Honda has been the first beneficiary of this new attacking formula (see diagram below). He is currently AC Milan’s top goal-scorer with four goals, and has also contributed two assists

Keisuke Honda's zonal chance creation.

Keisuke Honda’s zonal chance creation (from squawka.com)

In order to accommodate Fernando Torres, one of the three previously mentioned attackers would lose out. We have already seen Menez moved to the left to fit in Torres. Although the Spanish striker put in a solid performance against Empoli, it was to the detriment of the overall team performance and Menez’s in particular.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TGnBGZzzz9Y[/youtube]

It could be argued that Menez lacks the defensive discipline required to be fulfil the responsibilities required of a wide player, and thus leaves the team exposed as a result. Paradoxically though, while he has the freedom to roam in his false-nine role, he rarely drifts out wide. In fact, of the nine chances he has created, only one has come from a position outside of the central channel.

Fernando Torres AC MilanChelsea saw a different Fernando Torres to that of anywhere else. While often derided for his lack of goals, his overall contributions rarely drew the acknowledgment they perhaps deserved. Torres was consistently one of Chelsea’s more prolific chance creators and more often than not found himself in positions normally occupied by an attacking midfielder.

In order to fit into Inzaghi’s current false-nine blueprint, it might indeed be required that Torres show signs of his Chelsea form more so than that of his time at Liverpool.

Should Inzaghi persist with the current system, and Torres not adapt to it, it may well be the case that AC Milan be better off not trying to accommodate El Nino.

Follow Conor Clancy on Twitter: @concalcio

 

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