PIOLI's New 4-3-3 | Super GOAL Machine 83 Goals

Hi guys,

today I am going to introduce to you Stefano Pioli's new 4-3-3, the tactic he is using in his 5th year as coach of AC Milan.

After 4 years playing a beautiful 4-2-3-1 and winning one Italian Serie A title (in 2021-22), due to the massive amount of changes in this summer transfer session ( after selling one of the most important players in the recent years, Sandro Tonali, to Newcastle, Milan bought 11 new players) and after last year Charles De Keteleare failed to become Milan's new top trequartista, Milan gave Brahim Diaz back to Real Madrid.

There isn't anyone in Milan squad who can play as a trequartista behind Giroud (well, Pulisic could do it but Pioli prefers to let him play on the right side where he can make runs to the byline or towards the box. Therefore, Pioli decided to play a 4-3-3 with 3 central midfielders (here we can see that, due to Bennacer's long injury, there isn't a real playmaker, Krunic plays in this role but he has different features from those a playmaker should have) to give more cover to the defense, the real weakness of AC Milan last year, with Tomori who did not replicate his great 2021-22 season when the Tomori-Kalulu duo was one of Europe strongest central defenders duo and helped a lot AC Milan to win their 19th title.

Last season we saw mainly Tomori playing with the new income, the German wonderkid Malick Thiaw (yes, in Football Manager he is considered a wonderkids), not giving AC Milan the same safety they gave before.

Another weakness AC Milan had in the last years was the excessive difference between the left and right flanks, if in the left flank Theo Hernandez and Leao are probably the strongest duo in Europe and theyare the main source of Milan's goals, in the right flank, Calabria often paired with the Belgian player Alexis Saelemaekers had mainly defensive tasks (and AC Milan captain is not a very good defender either), thus making it easier to the opponent because if they could stop Theo-Leao, they had stopped the 70% of Milan's attacking play.

This summer, Milan bought Pulisic and Chukwueze (the latter being one of the best assistmen in last Spanish Liga with Villarreal) to solve this problem. Pioli, probably inspired by what Guardiola did with Stones in his new 3-2-4-1 at Manchester City, now wants Calabria to stay in the middle of the field, playing as a central midfielder to help Milan building the play and in possession and to allow Pulisic to make runs.

But even if this helped a lot in the first Serie A games won against Bologna, Torino and Roma, it became a great weakness in yesterday game lost 5-1 against Inter. Inter's first goal is an example of it. Inter is attentive, not pressing high, but they take the lead at the first opportunity, highlighting the little tactical balance of the opponents: Thuram moves to the right, with Thiaw falling to the ground, left alone by Calabria, a cross to Dimarco whose shot-cross is put into the net by Mkhitaryan.

Thuram is a physical force: Kjaer cannot contain him, and the Rossoneri defense suffers because Calabria stays in the middle of the field and is slow to cover the flank, leaving it exposed. Pioli's men hold more possession; Inzaghi's team drops deep to limit spaces and then counterattacks.

Leao is invisible because he's not involved much and because Dumfries and Darmian limit him well, so Hernandez's "special effects" are needed to awaken Milan. The French winger starts from his half and, after a triangle with Giroud, dribbles past three opponents (Calhanoglu, Bastoni, and Darmian) before narrowly missing the target with a diagonal shot.

It's a wake-up call for the Rossoneri: they attack with many men for a few minutes, and Inter suffers, but on the first Nerazzurri counterattack, it's 2-0. Lautaro initiates Dumfries, who crosses to Thuram, the ball is too long, but the Frenchman has time to retrieve it, take on Thiaw (again missing Calabria's cover), and score with a shot into the top corner that ignites the Meazza.

Before halftime, Giroud's free-kick goes over the crossbar, and at tea time, the Devil has significantly more possession (72%) but is behind in chances created (6-3) and has only tested Sommer once. Calabria's advanced position in midfield, a successful move in previous matches, backfires on the counterattacks this time.

In the second half, despite Pioli gave up Calabria's advanced position at least in the defensive phase, Milan controls possession but still struggles to contain Inter's fast counterattacks and even after Leao scored the 1-2, Inter scores again after a switch of play from right to left and a touch from Lautaro Martinez to Mkhitaryan, who completes his brace. This highlights once more the weak balance of Pioli's tactic.

In Football Manager 2023, I tried to emulate this tactic with the two fullbacks being two inverted wing backs to obtain their staying in the middle (Theo often did so last year too and, in the match against Atalanta he scored a beautiful goal starting from the left flank and cutting inside with the ball, dribbling all Atalanta's defenders towards the box). Then the two central defenders are a BPD on defense and a CD on defense too.

The 3 midfielders are a DLP on defense playing in front of the defense (this role is modelled on Bennacer obviously) and two CM, the one in the right being a BBM-support to emulate Loftus-Cheek position, I tell him to move forward to let him make runs towards the box, the one in the left being a mezzala-attack (I thought also about using an Advanced Playmaker on attack but to replicate better the continuous forward-movement of Tijani Reinders, a mezzala suits better). Finally, the attack trio, we have two inside forwards on attack and a complete forward on support who has to drop down to link the play (Giroud is good at doing this.)


In the possession phase, the instructions are the following: wide attacking width, shorter passing, sligthly higher tempo, play out of defence, overlap left and right, low crosses.

In the transition phase, I gave the following instructions: counter press because Pioli wants his team to press high when they lose the ball, and counter because then they can start the attack immediately, roll it out and pass to the two cbs.

Out of possession: High press, higher defensive line, trigger press much more often because Milan wants to dominate the game, stay on feet (to avoid too many yellow or red cards), step up more to apply off-side trap, trap outside to force the opponent to play near the touchline where they have less options and stop crosses.

I finished 3rd (2nd together with Lazio) with Sassuolo, having the 2nd best attack (83 goals, after Inter's 86) and playing a beautiful football but having the same problems of Milan yesterday against Inter in defense. We conceeded 46 goals, being the 8th defense in Serie A, not a so bad result despite the fact that Sassuolo is not a top team with a top defense, but I think Pioli must work hard to improve the team's tactical balance.









This is all for this tactic, I hope you like it and it works for you too.