AC Milan suffered a disappointing defeat against Ferencvaros on Thursday evening, and as highlighted in our tactical analysis, a lot went wrong for the Rossoneri. 

Milan’s Europa League campaign has turned into somewhat of a nightmare, after being tipped to fight for the title in the summer. Just one win in the first four games means a top 8 finish is very difficult, while there are no guarantees for the playoffs either.

Ruben Amorim certainly voiced his disappointment after the game, sending a clear message to the players, even if the head coach deserves some of the blame too. Below is the tactical breakdown from Rohit Rajeev, who has pointed out several flaws.

High press and build-up issues

Ferencvaros were committed to pressing Milan and looked to create numerical overloads in the wide spaces. In this particular sequence, Milan found themselves in a 6v8 situation, highlighting the numerical disadvantage they faced when trying to play out from the back.

In the centre, Musah was very isolated as Bartesaghi, Cisse and Hutchinson failed to drop short or move inside to make themselves available. This left the American with limited options and made it easier for Ferencvaros to sustain their press and disrupt Milan’s build-up.

Individual errors also made things difficult for Milan when going forward. In the example below, Terracciano failed to play a simple pass into Hutchinson’s path, preventing Milan from launching a counter-attack.

Opportunity not exploited

As Ferencvaros were pressing high and maintained a high defensive line as a result, there was space to exploit in behind. However, Milan failed to make runs behind the defence, while very few long balls were played to target that space.

The lack of depth in their attacking movements allowed Ferencvaros to remain compact, leaving little room between the lines for Milan to exploit. It also meant that Ramos was very isolated up front, with effectively a 3v1 created against him.

Individual errors fatal

The first goal that Milan conceded stemmed from two individual errors. De Winter made a poor decision by playing the ball back to Torriani, while the goalkeeper’s heavy first touch didn’t exactly make things any better in stopping the danger.

Milan then pushed forward in search of an equaliser and their defence was reduced from three players to two. Ferencvaros won possession after De Winter’s clearance, launching a quick counter-attack.

Joseph then made an intelligent run to block Bartesaghi’s path, preventing him from recovering defensively.

Tactical battle lost

Taking a look at Milan’s first half, it was characterised by sterile possession as there were significantly more passes in their own half as opposed to the opponent’s half. Ferencvaros also dominated the physical battles, winning every ground duel and breaking up any attacking rhythm for Milan.