Thread: Man U vs. AC Milan - Could we learn?

Originally Posted by Craiglistee

There has been a lot of talk about an alternative tactic to 442 with 451 being touted with some frequency. The absence of a play maker sitting back deep makes that impossible to play.

AC Milan is an interesting team for me. I supported them in the Serie A way back in the 90s when they were winning everything. They are a team consisting mainly of 30 year olds right now, not the early 30s, but the mid 30s. Think Seedorf, Beckham, Favalli, Nesta etc. But yet they are playing at the top level all things considered.

So they play a 433 with three man midfield and two winger/forwards with one lone striker. Perhaps we could immulate this formation with Modric and Lennon as our two wingers, Kranj sitting back with Hudds and Palacios.

This way, we play Defoe against slow defenses and Crouch against fast ones. We will no longer have to see the following sequence of

1. defender lumps ball towards crouch
2. Crouch nods it down
3. ball falls behind defoe
4. opponent launch counter

This is a great post man, and a good idea.

I also have followed milan over the years, the reason they play a 433 is because it was the best way to get the most out of Ronaldinho, they didn't used to play that way, outside of the 433 he has pretty much sucked. Barca played him the same way I believe. There was a great blog about it on bbc a while back actually.

I see modric doing well in it, however, other players (like bale or crouch) might not be as well utilized. Good post though man, its fun to try to imagine how it would work.