Yahoo Sports ‘Compact and narrow’ – Sacchi explains the only way Milan can beat Atalanta
Arrigo Sacchi has provided an analysis ahead of tonight’s game between AC Milan and Atalanta, naming the only way he thinks the Rossoneri can win.
Milan have a bit more confidence behind them after scoring 12 goals across their last three games and winning all three, while they have four wins in six and are unbeaten since losing to Napoli on November 29.
Facing La Dea will be a much bigger test than Empoli and Sassuolo, with respect to those sides. The Rossoneri are still currently six points below Fiorentina in fourth, plus four points off Juve in sixth and 10 behind Napoli at the top (with a game in hand on both).
Positive results are needed to keep in touch with the top spots but above all the team must show tonight that they are have grown and are able to compete with a team at the top of the standings.
Sacchi spoke to La Gazzetta dello Sport and offered his thoughts on what could be a very entertaining game at the Gewiss Stadium between two sides who score for fun.
“Openly. Two teams that look each other in the face and play it out. Without fear, without tension and with a lot, a lot of courage. This is what I expect from Atalanta-Milan, a high-level challenge whose result can contain different answers,” he began.
“In the event of a win, the Bergamo team would be increasingly launched towards the goal of the Scudetto, a goal for which they can fight until the end; if, instead, the Rossoneri prevail, then they will be able to think about relaunching themselves and rejoining the leading group.
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“In any case, I believe that we will see a spectacular match and I hope so because finally Italian football, this season, is coming out of the past and entering the future.
“Imagining this duel in advance is not easy, you would have to be in the control rooms of the respective clubs and know all the details and all the mechanisms that were tested during training. One thing I am sure of: neither team will distort their style.
“This means that Atalanta will continue to do what they have always done and therefore, pressing and man-marking all over the pitch, overlapping on the wings, appropriate doubling up in the containment phase.
“Milan will respond with their usual attitude, most likely they will line up with two wingers and a centre-forward, and will have a pair of players in the middle of the pitch who will have to shoulder the work of buffering and building.
“Fonseca, up to now, has always chosen this style of play, and I don’t think he intends to change it now. It’s a matter of understanding what the level of form of the group is, how the players are, individually and collectively. And this reasoning applies to both Atalanta and Milan.
“Speaking of the Rossoneri, one thing must be said first: consistency has not yet been found this season. Fonseca’s team perform well and then, suddenly, declines. This is, in my opinion, a normal phenomenon if we consider that the coach is in his first year of work, and that the players must adapt to his methods and ideas.
“It is right to give the coach time so that he can put on the field, and show, what he has proposed. In the month of November, in six games they collected four wins and two draws: it seems to me that there is growth compared to the initial period and this means that confidence and self-esteem are also increasing.
“Of course, facing Atalanta is not a walk in the park and a very high level match is needed – both technically and psychologically – to stop the Bergamo side. You know that I don’t like to focus on individuals because I remain convinced that football is a collective sport and not an individual one, and therefore the difference must be made by the group.
“I am sure that, if the Rossoneri really play with 11 men, then they will be able to create problems for Atalanta and make them suffer. What does it mean to play with 11? Simple, everyone must participate in the build-up, everyone must attack and everyone must defend.
“I know it seems trivial, but few teams behave in this way. If you are not well connected between the departments, if there are not the right distances, you cannot press. And without pressing, in today’s football, you go nowhere. This is a golden rule that should be learned by heart.
“I think the key players could be Reijnders and Pulisic. I really like the Dutchman, he plays the classic midfielder role well, he has strength and excellent technical skills. Pulisic dribbles with confidence, creates numerical superiority, is always dangerous.
“And then there is always Leao: when he is on form he turns the heads of all the opposing defences, but you never know if you can count on him. Milan does not lack the technical qualities to face this duel, it is rather the aspect of balance that must be focused on.
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“A compact and narrow team, so that the opponents cannot slip into the spaces: this is the first rule. Also: aggression in the attacking zone, to quickly steal the ball.
“Atalanta, a club and team that should be held up as an example throughout Europe, starts with a bit of an advantage, because the group has been working with Gasperini for many years and knows his lesson by heart. At the moment, the Bergamo team is doing very well, they are in amazing shape.
“Across the league and the Champions League, they have put together eight consecutive victories and have also found eight consecutive wins in the league: stopping them seems impossible based on what we have seen in the last two months, even if the impossible does not exist in football.
“Certainly, every time they find themselves faced with an obstacle, they show that they already have the solution ready. And this is thanks to the coach who has given his players a wealth of high-level knowledge.
“When I look at it, at the moment I can’t find any real weak points in Atalanta: Gasperini’s tactical ideas, the man-marking all over the pitch, the exceptional athletic preparation, the excellent choices in the build-up phase of the action stand out.
“And then there’s that left winger, Lookman, the one who scored the hat-trick in last season’s Europa League final, who I don’t know how you can stop. He’s a rocket and has a precise and powerful shot.
“Milan must face Atalanta’s advances with the group and not relying only on the strength of individuals, otherwise they risk collapsing. If Reijnders can be decisive for the Rossoneri because he is fundamental both in the containment phase and in the attacking phase.
“And if Lookman can be an added value for Atalanta, I would not overlook the importance of Ederson, a midfielder who covers every space very well and also knows how to get into attack. In conclusion, I say that watching Atalanta-Milan you will not get bored.”
