Inter Milan Women hosted Milan Women in the sixth fixture of Serie A Women and the match ended with a huge 4-0 Inter Milan win over their rivals. In fact, this was a surprising result for all Serie A Women followers since Milan was required to make a reaction following their disappointing losses against Fiorentina and Roma. Yet, the Rossonere embarrassed their fans once again by losing one of the most important games of the season both in relation to the value of the Derby and in relation to the standings.
With this loss, Milan are holding the sixth spot with nine points while Inter are at the top of the league with 16 points, ahead of both Roma and Fiorentina who have 15 points. This is the first time in a while we have seen Inter topping the league while Juventus are in the fourth spot. This means that teams like Inter, Roma and Fiorentina are becoming more powerful lately and are challenging both Juventus and Milan for the top spots. In fact, they are ahead of both Juventus and Milan in terms of points. Such news can only make Serie A followers happy since it adds a lot to the competition and makes the league more entertaining.
However, Milan will have to revise numerous aspects and focus on enhancing their performances before it becomes too late. If the team wants to stay competitive and challenge for the top two spots, they will need to show more determination and more organisation on the field in order to win more points and be at the same level as their rivals.
On the other side, Inter proved that they are going through a very positive period and a great run of form after winning against Parma, Pomigliano, Sampdoria, Como and drawing with Juventus. They should exploit this form and keep winning points even though they will be facing some more complicated opponents soon as they will face Sassuolo, Roma and Fiorentina.
In this tactical analysis article, we will focus mainly on Milan’s defensive and attacking issues in order to identify the reasons that led to their failure in the derby. The analysis will also aim at exploring Inter Milan’s tactics to see how the Nerazzurre succeeded in scoring four times without conceding any.
Line-ups
Inter Milan started the game using the 4-3-3 formation with Francesca Durante as a goalkeeper, Anja Sønstevold, Stefanie van der Gragt, Lisa Alborghetti and Chiara Robustellini in defence, Ghoutia Karchouni, Mana Mihashi and Flaminia Simonetti as central midfielders, Elisa Polli and Ajara Nchout as wingers and Tabitha Chawinga as a striker.
On the other side, Milan opted for the 3-4-3 formation with Laura Giuliani, Laura Fusetti, Małgorzata Mesjasz and Guðný Árnadóttir in defence, Valentina Bergamaschi, Christy Grimshaw, Greta Adami and Linda Tucceri Cimini in midfield while Kamila Dubcová and Lindsey Thomas played on the wings and Kosovare Asllani was the team’s striker.
Milan’s tactical issues
Milan lost once again against one of their rivals and this one was even heavier than their previous losses. In fact, the Rossonere looked a bit lost on the field and committed numerous defensive mistakes that led to losing the match from the start. The team conceded the first Inter goal in the eighth minute from a corner kick. Defending set-pieces is representing a problem for Milan so far this season and the coaching staff are failing to fix this issue.
Training on marking during set-pieces and providing adequate instructions for such situations would help the team a lot in this aspect since it is causing too many problems for Milan. As you can see in the picture below, Árnadóttir left her direct opponent unmarked as soon as the corner kick was executed and went towards the direction of it to try to win the ball. However, Árnadóttir had to keep marking van der Gragt in this action in order to prevent the ball from reaching her.
Moreover, Maurizio Ganz should have instructed his players to not defend against opponents while not looking at them and keeping them behind their backs. Keeping opponents behind one’s back is a dangerous mistake some defenders commit and it often results in problems because attackers exploit this wrong defending in their favour by moving towards the direction they want while the defender is not paying attention.
Moreover, what makes Milan’s performance poorer is that they couldn’t make up for their defensive issues by attacking well and scoring. The problem with Milan is that they miss a lot in front of goal and that they have a finishing problem. A player like Thomas, for instance, missed a clear goalscoring chance in the 17th minute which would have made the score 1-1. However, she opted for a shot in the middle where the goalkeeper was standing instead of going for the angles. In fact, this is not the first time Thomas missed a clear goalscoring opportunity and the coaching staff should have worked with her individually to enhance her xG and make her miss less from such situations.
Milan conceded a second goal in the 33rd minute following another mistake from the defensive line. This time, it was a concentration error from Árnadóttir who wasn’t able to follow the trajectory of the ball after it was deflected by Giugliani, and in the meantime, Chawinga was in the perfect spot to meet the ball and kick it towards the net.
To resume, Milan failed both in attack and in defence during this match and the statistics prove this fact even further. Milan shot 12 times and they were only able to shoot on target once, which explains the team’s concretisation and finishing issues. Moreover, they conceded six shots on target and 14 shots overall. This Milan performance should be forgotten and improved a lot if the team wants to remain competitive for the top spots until the end of the season. Otherwise, they will suffer a lot against teams like Inter who are improving from one week to the other.
Inter’s performance
Inter played one of their best games ever against their rivals and in front of their own supporters. They knew how to exploit Milan’s defensive mistakes perfectly and score four goals to consolidate their position at the top of Serie A. The team looked very dynamic upfront and had more possession than Milan as they won more duels compared to their opponents. It is true that they need to improve some defensive problems in order to concede fewer chances and avoid 1 vs 1 situations with the goalkeeper, but overall, their defensive performance was also a solid one.
But more importantly, it should be said that both Chawinga and Polli were the two most impactful players in this match as Chawinga scored once and gave an assist while Polli scored two goals. Both players looked in harmony and there was a lot of chemistry between them whenever they had the ball inside the final third.
As you can see below, Polli had an xG of 1.04 in this match as she scored twice and shot three times. And this highlights how effective this player can be for Inter. The same applies to Chawinga who showed great determination throughout the match and was 100% focused, which enabled her to score after being well-positioned. Being excellent in moving without the ball can therefore help Chawinga a lot in the future in terms of goalscoring as it gives her the opportunity to score from different situations even when she doesn’t touch the ball so often.
Conclusion
Inter Milan performed in the best possible way during this match and such victories can help the team have more confidence in their abilities and perform even better against the other powerful Serie A teams. The most important thing is to keep playing with the same motivation and mentality, without having excessive confidence or underestimating the upcoming games.
For Milan, the team and especially the coaching staff will have to revise numerous aspects and analyse this performance thoroughly in order to fix what needs to be improved and find suitable solutions in order to not lose more points in the upcoming period. Yet, this will not be a simple task as there are plenty of problems to fix both from an attacking and from a defensive perspective.
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