Build-up structure against a compact 4-4-2: Tactical analysis of AC Milan 3-0 Lecce

AC Milan made it three straight wins in Serie A and temporarily went top of the table as they comprehensively beat Lecce 3-0 at San Siro on Friday night.

Contrary to what the scoreline suggests, Milan did not have it all their own way as it was a rather difficult opening to the game with Luca Gotti’s side sitting deep and aiming to cause issues on the counter-attack.

Alvaro Morata’s header from a free-kick sparked a collapse though, and when Theo Hernandez hammered in a shot from close range at the near post after a Rafael Leao feed it was 2-0. Christian Pulisic pounced on a rebound inside the box to net a third goal in five minutes.

Davide Bartesaghi got a harsh late red card for a tackle deemed out of control, but it was a job well done in front of over 70,000 home fans. Below is our tactical analysis, from Rohit Rajeev…

The shape

Milan fans were worried after the game about how Lecce were able to get more chances than they should have, but then in Italy with so much of tactical changes managers have to adapt to the opposition.

You can see how Lecce are playing a compact 4-4-2 which is placed way deeper with the idea of protecting the defensive area of the pitch, unlike Inter who wanted to play a more attacking game.

You can see how – compared to Inter – Milan had only two players (at times) at the back while building up as opposed to a three-man defence during the game against Inter. This was to pump numbers forward to create numerical overloads.

Set piece analysis

Below is a look at the free-kick for the first goal and how Milan set up for it.

Second goal

Pressing

Statistics

A lot of the criticism of Rafael Leao has been aimed at him not being committed enough and not running for the team, but even though he didn’t score his performance against Lecce deserves applause. He is one of the players who ran the most, and the pass for Theo Hernandez was exquisite.

The average position map also confirms that Milan played higher and in a more expansive way to open up Lecce.