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The Bergamo Massacre 2.0: Lack of mental strength, the collapse of the old system, how Milan can re-function

After conceding more than four goals in the league for the first time in more than three years, Pioli's team fell into another trough.

Life has ups and downs, and it is indeed embarrassing to think about it.

Almost exactly a year ago, the same score was 4-0, when the spring breeze was proud of the horseshoe disease of the red and black side. A month later, Tonali finished his victory at Olimpico in Rome, and the Milanese were doubly happy – a match that laid the foundation for Pioli's youth to win the Serie A title and boosted the confidence of the team.

In just one year, time has changed. Paolo Maldini's words clearly describe the difference between Milan's situation at this time and then: "Long before last year's Lazio and Milan match, there was a message in the team: we all know we are fighting for the league title. Things are completely different now, we have just been eliminated in the Coppa Italia and lost more than two goals to Inter in the Super Cup. ”

Differences in mood bring very different results. This time it was Milan, and the embarrassment of the scene and the cruelty of the score made people unconsciously think of the more embarrassing five-goal defeat in Bergamo three years ago. Since then, the Milanese have never conceded four goals in a single Serie A game until they were stabbed again by the Blue Eagles.

Mental deficit brings a low state

At the end of 2019, he lost five goals away to Atalanta in Bergamo, the worst defeat of Pioli's team.

Comparing the performances, it's hard to explain why Milanese are so bad. You must know that a year ago, in the four-goal home game, eight Milan players came on the game, including Romagnoli, who has changed his shirt and goal. Roma Jr. not only started for Milan a year ago, but also assisted Leo's first goal, which opened the way to a triumph. Unexpectedly, a year later, Romagnoli was still the winner, but Milan became the loser.

Similar to Inter's Super Cup, the scary thing is not the defeat itself, but Milan's inability to play content on the field. Pioli's side have experienced failures, but since the 20-21 season, Milan have rarely been so passive in the game that they have been unable to play in the style they are familiar with. Since the New Year, there have been more and more similar scenes, and the team's weaknesses have been exposed more and more obviously, which will inevitably make Milan fans frightened: Pioli's three-board axe, has it been played?

Speaking about Milan's sluggish situation last week, Sacchi bluntly said that "Milan lacks mental motivation". The team as a whole has the confidence to win and the desire to win, and the motivation of players to run two more steps and grab two more feet on the field will be stimulated, which is one of the secrets of the champion's constant victory. On the contrary, the team as a whole has no confidence, the ball is mixed with garlic at whoever is at their feet, everyone compares the mistakes, and the teammates gradually lack the idea of involving running and strategy.

Last April, Milan beat Lazio in the title series, and Ibrahimovic, who is the spiritual leader, sent Tonali a key pass. Now that Ibrahimovic is gone, Milan's mental attributes have also declined.

For example, Leo's forced lateral dribbling shot in the first half did not hit the Blue Eagle goal, but hit the offside Giroud. This is a typical scene of lack of spirit - the French center does not have the idea of Leo's next move at all, and will stand in place and watch, even hindering the teammate's attack.

Leo himself lost the confidence to traverse the field. The breakaway from Giroud's pass in the first half was almost the only time he managed to advance into the box with the ball of the game, and in a period of Leo's full of confidence, the Portuguese would surely complete the attack on his own, rather than suddenly timidly knocking the ball into the middle when approaching the opportunity - Dias and Messias, accustomed to Leo's sideways shooting habits, misjudged Leo's connection and did not follow up at all.

Mental lack brought about movement deformation and coordination errors, which caused Milan to be at a low point in form. Lazio managed to make 26 tackles throughout the game, meaning Milan made frequent mistakes in confrontations and shots. Changing the team's trough state, Pioli tried to restore high-pressure pressing, but with the team's current style of play, it was completely unable to form an effective combination, but it was easy for Lazio to quickly break through and form a counterattack through continuous passes, which became a vicious circle.

The collapse of the system is the key

Leo, who has been frequently taken care of by opponents since the New Year, has experienced a decline in form, and how to play under the restrictions of opponents is an important learning direction for his further improvement.

In this vicious circle, the lack of mental power is only one part of it. Without a leader to drink, the team is muddy and unable to lift its spirits, but in any case, it will not suffer successive defeats, or even collapse. In the end, the vicious circle of Milan's predicament is still due to the collapse of the established system.

The rise of Pissen Milan, a 4-2 victory over Juve in the 19-20 season, is a masterpiece. In that game, the youth army took the running and pressing to the extreme, and the situation of being two goals behind forced the Juve defense to rush, not only achieved a reversal victory, but also broke the invincible psychological fear of Juve, the top of Serie A such as Juve, and became the germ of Pis' Milan.

After that, Pioli's team began to rely on high pressure and counter-attacks to play form, and then honed the system in a gradual lineup fine-tuning. Te'o's style of play, which became the core of the offensive advance as a knife defender, worked wonders in the blitz on Atlanta, and also transformed the French fullback into a playmaker and offensive launching point.

Te'o's absence due to a muscle injury is thought to have had a big impact on Milan, but in fact, the French full-back has not been in good form in recent games.

After this style of play was studied and limited by opponents, the addition of Giroud and Leo's knack equipped Milan's attack with cutting-edge elements. In particular, Leo used his physical advantages to begin to evolve into the main offensive gun, which once made the entire Serie A terrified. The peak Leo is flying up and down on the wing like no man's land, and his ability to pass and shoot combined with Giroud's ability to make the ball and grab points makes him a near-perfect attacking partner, so that Pioli does not have to worry about attacking firepower. The attacking combination of these men, combined with Milan's midfield running and possession, allowed the Rossoneri to return to the top quality sequence in Serie A, and this system became the cornerstone of Pioli's unexpected Serie A title.

Against Milan's system, Serie A's top teams naturally react the fastest. As with the loss to Inter and to Lazio, Milan were deliberately targeted by opponents of similar strength. The high-pressure counter-play caught Milan's weak backcourt ability and became the source of Lazio's crazy tackle-counter-attack.

The Bergamo Massacre 2.0: Lack of mental strength, the collapse of the old system, how Milan can re-function

Kjaar's mistake between the third goal is a microcosm of Milan's dysfunctional system.

For Lazio's third goal, the Blue Eagle caught Kjaer's pass at the back, and Felipe Anderson who remained in front and Pedro who followed up completed a classic counterattack that broke the Milan defense. The opponent is forced to the high-pressure state of the midfield, and the already weak confrontation ability of the Milan midfield is further exposed, and the ball receiving point is single, which is very easy to be predicted by the opponent in advance. Milan's 26 cut-offs were mostly the case – the ball carrier had only one target to choose from within his field of vision, almost making a passing choice while his intentions were prejudged by the opponent. Pioli reluctantly made a reluctant way to give up the ball in the midfield in the second half and play directly from the back, but this method is inefficient, how can it ensure offensive efficiency?

As the old saying goes: soldiers are impermanent, water is impermanent. A team's set of playing methods polished to maturity will certainly form an effective attack, but if it is used to the end, it will naturally not bring long-term effect. Milan's decline this season, what is the key point? In 10 meetings with the top 6 teams in 38 rounds last year, Milan won 21 points with 6 wins, 3 draws and 1 defeat, and the stronger the stronger once became the Pioli label. Half of the season and already lost 2 games, and it was a complete defeat. This shows that the opponents have already dealt with Pi's Milan, and if the boss wants to get out of the predicament, he must upgrade the existing system.

By attracting a way out? Pioli has to earn his own impression points

Maldini has admitted Zaniolo's entry into Milan's radar, but Roma's €35 million asking price will be the biggest obstacle to such signings.

How to achieve system upgrade? The easiest way, of course, is to attract help. The many scenes of Lazio also confirm that many of the existing personnel in Milan are indeed promoted because of the overall strength under the tactical system designed by Pioli, and once the system does not work, the characteristics of insufficient individual combat ability are completely exposed: such as Calabria, which was suddenly unable to find the north by Zakani, such as Messias, who can only be icing on the cake. In other words, Pioli proved that he did lack a single player with absolute quality, and Milan needed better players if they wanted to achieve better results. To paraphrase Conte's famous saying, Redbird can't always expect Pio to make 100 pieces of 100 yuan from 10 yuan ingredients, and Pioli, who has already won the championship, deserves more expensive ingredients to cook a more delicious meal.

Pioli tried to fight for it, but it was rejected by management. This shows that in terms of leadership ability, the old coach has not been able to completely impress the Red Bird as a new owner. Even in the eyes of management, Pioli is not without "high-end goods": for example, Origi, who is a Champions League goalscorer, has no place to play, and is regarded as the new De Bruyne de Ketlare cannot even find a place under his account. There is also Adeli, who spent 8 million euros in Milan, and this investment is already a large deal in the hands of the tight-knit Elliott, but these three investments, Pioli has not been able to realize wealth and asset appreciation.

As soon as possible to let blockbuster signings like Origi and De Ketlaré play their due value, Pioli can ask for new signings for himself in exchange for basic trust.

Is it that Pioli is not capable? A cook who spends 10 yuan to make a table of delicacies may be a coincidence, and if he spends 50 yuan on ingredients to make delicious dishes of the same value, it is inevitable to wonder whether he has the ability to master a high-end restaurant. But any famous coach cannot rely on only one set of playing styles and systems to go to the world, or can transform the playing style according to time and place, such as Carlo Ancelotti building a Christmas tree in Milan and grinding magic in Real Madrid; Either they are good at calling players to know people well, and can use their talents to play at the top level, such as Conte and Allegri. At this point, Pioli and his opposite Sarri are both a cut. The two have been mixed up for a long time, and the system ideas for building the team are all in the chest, and what is lacking is the changing thinking according to the time and conditions.

From Milan's point of view, this is another point of contradiction between management and the coaching staff. The times are different, it is unrealistic to rely on the 500,000-level recruitment force alone, 20-30 million potential newcomers, Milan should also shoot, such as Kiviol who has just been cut off by the gunman. Leo is a ready-made example that if Milan wants to follow a healthy fiscal path, it is the salary burden, not the transfer investment. Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez, Botman and Kiviol did not come, which hurt not only the enthusiasm of the fans, but also the benign possibility of further improvement of the team.

Leading the team out of the trough as soon as possible and getting the team's system running smoothly again is Pioli's next main job.

To resolve this contradiction and embarrassment, it is up to Pioli himself. The Super Cup is gone, the league title is basically hopeless, Pioli's performance line this season, the top four spots, and finding ways to make De Ketlare and Origi shine. Only by proving that he can make good dishes with top-quality ingredients can Redbird be confident that top-quality ingredients are in his hands. Otherwise, there are a lot of famous people in the world, if Pioli does not do well, why not change the celebrity chef to provide the ingredients?

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