Sacchi's Milan Tactics for FM22

Good evening from your magicomonta

Tonight I present to you the emulation of an idol, of the one who revolutionized football in the 90s, and like all revolutionaries, he can like or be hated.

Let's talk about Arrigo Sacchi and his Milan tactics.

But what was so revolutionary about Sacchi's Milan? What he was looking for was to apply the concepts of "collective intelligence" and "total football" where every element of the 4-4-2 (with rhombus midline) had to know how to do everything and have full knowledge of the space to be occupied on the pitch. , using the zone defense without free (like no one else did in Italy) and the frenzied pressing on the opponents, always keeping the team very short between the departments. A tactical model based on the module first, then on one's team and, ultimately, on the opponent.

Ball possession phase
The fundamental principles of the ball possession phase were to keep a team short and narrow, in such a way as to allow more easily a rapid game construction based on synchronisms between movement and space, occupying those left free by the opposing team and bringing as many players as possible. to accompany the maneuver, which in the active phase of the game made the module transform into a 2-3-3-2, with the full backs climbing to the height of the low vertex of the midfield rhombus and the midfielders arriving close to the vertex high: every time a Milan player got into possession of the ball, his teammates had to give him at least 4 different passing options. The two main ways to get to the goal were to go through the side ways, arriving at the cross for two specialists of the aerial game like van Basten and Gullit, but also through the central ways, exploiting the movement between the lines of the top of the rhombus of midfield.

Non-possession phase
As for the non-possession phase, however, as already mentioned the basic philosophy was that of the pure zone (and not mixed as it was used at the time in Italy), with a maximum distance between defenders and midfielders of 30 meters and , consequently, a very high rear line, in order to make the opponents fall into the offside trap, which at the time also took into account passive players. Another basic principle of this phase of the game was the frenzied pressing (which started from the attackers van Basten and Gullit) to immediately recover the ball from the opponents (the goal was to always be numerically superior in every area of ​​the field) and immediately start the phase transition to go on offense.

Source calcioorepublic.com

For the explanation of the tactics in football manager and the results achieved, you will find everything explained in the video.


see you next time