Tactical Analysis – Napoli 3 AC Milan 0

Tactical Analysis – Napoli 3 AC Milan 0

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Napoli have claimed a vital three points in the race for Champions League qualification with a resounding 3-0 victory over AC Milan at the San Paolo on Monday morning.

Goals from Marek Hamsik, Gonzalo Higuaín and Manolo Gabbiadini were enough for the hosts to seal the victory against a Milan side who played virtually the entire match with 10 men, following the sending off of Mattia De Sciglio after just 40 seconds.

Milan now sit in the bottom-half of the Serie A table in what has been the clubs worst campaign in recent memory, as the Rossoneri never even threatened Napoli throughout the contest.

For the Partenopei, the result sees them stay in fourth place, four points behind third placed Lazio in the final Champions League place for next season with four matches to play.

Match Summary

In a game where Milan was already predicted to struggle, the sending off, rather harshly you might add, of De Sciglio was the turning point inside the opening minute. A great pass in behind found Hamsik who was hauled down by the Milan right back as he was about to shoot for goal.

Fortunately for the visitors though, Diego Lopez stood up tall to make a brilliant save from the resulting spot kick though to keep the score at 0-0. Pippo Inzaghi’s men had their only real opportunity of the match late in the first-half, as a header from Giacomo Bonaventura clipped the post with the goalkeeper well beaten.

Napoli continued to press following the break though, hitting the post and being denied by Lopez early before a six minute goal blitz sealed the result. The opener was taken brilliantly by Hamsik who pounced on a poor clearance to slot home at Lopez’ near post to make it 1-0 in the 70th minute.

Higuaín made it two just four minutes later with a clinical strike, before Gabbiadini found himself in the right place at the right time to deflect the ball home after an attempted save from the goalkeeper to make it 3-0.

Formations

Napoli:

                             Andujar

      Maggio Albiol   Britos     Ghoulam

               Jorginho     Lopez

      Callejon       Hamsik   Insigne

                        Higuain

AC Milan

                       Lopez

De Sciglio Alex  Paletta   Bochetti

  Poli      De Jong     Van Ginkel

Honda      Destro      Bonaventura

The influence of Hamsik

With Milan down to 10 men, Napoli skipper Hamsik ran riot in midfield for the hosts, creating chances at will and dictating the play against a shell-shocked Rossoneri outfit.

The Slovakian international completed 95% of his passes, with the majority of those being in the final-third, laying on chances for Jose Callejon, Higuaín and Insigne throughout a dominant performance.

With one less man on the park, Milan had to revert to a 4-4-1 formation with de Jong and van Ginkel attempting to sit in the hole, but that tactic meant that Milan had almost no forward pressure throughout the match and inside the last 20 minutes especially, the visiting players simply could not keep running without possession any more.

The opener showed Hamsik’s class in front of goal with his finish of top quality, squeezing the ball in-between Lopez and the post to open the scoring at a critical time for the hosts.

Following the goal, Milan’s resolve was well and truly broken and it did not take long for the Slovak and his teammates to add to the score line soon after.

Hamsik pass completion statistics
Hamsik pass completion statistics

If you do not create chances, you will not score goals

As soon as the referee reached for his back pocket to send off De Sciglio, you knew that Milan were in for a very difficult day in the office, especially going forward. With the Rossoneri already struggling to create goal scoring opportunities in recent times and without the suspended Jeremy Menez, the team’s top scorer this season, the visitors applied virtually no forward pressure over the course of the match.

Mattia Destro has been disappointing since his summer loan move from Roma and yet again he was a virtual bystander, with Alessio Cerci only finding a place on the bench and Keisuke Honda anonymous yet again. Bonaventura at least fought hard to create chances and very nearly opened the scoring with his first-half header, but other than that chance, Milan didn’t even trouble Rafael in the Napoli goal.

Chances Created for both sides
Chances Created for both sides

Milan lacking quality in all areas

With a new owner waiting in the wings to take over the once great Red and Black side, it is a wonder where they will start in terms of getting Milan back to its once super power status in world football.

It took all of 40 seconds for the back four to be exposed with Alex’s lack of pace and a lack of cohesion between the lines resulting in the sending off for De Sciglio, and had it not been for some Lopez heroics time and time again, the score line may well have been embarrassing for Inzaghi’s men.

In midfield, de Jong struggled to control the game as were used to seeing from him, with Andrea Poli unable to create anything of substance and van Ginkel also having next to no impact as the likes of Hamsik, Jorginho and David Lopez took complete control of the match.

Up forward, Destro as previously stated did not even get remotely close to goal, whilst Honda and Bonaventura also did not provide any chances. The only real solution is seemingly a major squad clean out for Milan if they hope to resurrect any ambitions of a Champions League place next season, with mid table obscurity already confirmed this campaign.

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Conclusion – Napoli

Just far too good, simple as that. With Milan down to 10 men the hosts were in complete control of the match creating chances at will and suffocating their opponents. Hamsik, Higuaín and Jorginho were standouts in a match which could easily have finished with five or six more goals to the home side.

Conclusion – Milan

Simply not good enough. Granted playing with a man down for 89 minutes is tough, yet great teams can adapt to difficult circumstances and this Milan outfit is anything but. No forward pressure and struggling to string any meaningful passes together, Inzaghi’s men had Lopez to thank for keeping the score line respectable, the end of the season cannot come quickly enough for the Rossoneri.

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