AC Milan: Overcome Defensive Weaknesses To Draw Agianst PSV Einhoven

AC Milan esacapes with a darw against PSV Eindhoven

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

When the draw was made for the final round of qualifying for UEFA Champions League, the one tie that caught the eyes of many and was dubbed the must watch was PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands and AC Milan of Italy. Aside from both teams having a rich history of excellence, the tie was even more intriguing given the tactical matchup, which was going to be on display between both teams.

After the first 90 minutes which were played at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven, Milan will consider themselves fortunate to have played to a 1-1 draw given that for a good portion of the game, Milan’s defensive frailties were exposed by a PSV Eindhoven team that attacked Milan’s defense with little fear of being made to pay for their attacking adventures. Both Milan and PSV fielded teams that came out and played in a 4-3-3 formation. Yet the biggest difference between Milan’s 4-3-3 and PSV’s was the selection of a few players in Milan’s starting eleven by coach Massimiliano Allegri.

In particular, Allegri decided to start with veteran Urby Emanuelson, a player whom the team had sent out on loan for the second half of the 2012-13 season to Premier League team Fulham over a young and better defender in Mattia de Sciglio. Another controversial decision was choosing to start Kevin-Prince Boateng over options like Andrea Poli and or M’Baye Niang. The selection of both players played a role in Milan being over run by a PSV team who in the first 45 minutes of play did a very good job of passing the ball around and building play up. Luckily for Milan, a few acrobatic saves from Christian Abiatti and a few hits of the goalposts/crossbars keep PSV scoreless.

In addition to some luck, Milan were also bailed out by the fine play of Mario Balotelli and Stephan El Shaarawy, who showed they could play together upfront as both sacrificed themselves and did the needed running when required. It was El Shaarawy who gave Milan the desired away goal as he headed in a cross from Ignazio Abate 15 minutes into the game. While Milan were on their back foot for most of the game, they did control the initial 15 minutes of the second half and were the better team until they allowed Tim Matavz to equalize and ensure that the tie would still be up for grabs.

As Allegri looks back on this game and the defensive performance of his team, there are a number of reasons as to why his team had such a bad game. For starters, he as the coach put his team in a bad position by choosing to start Emauelson and Boateng. In choosing to start with these two players, he ensured that PSV would be able to attack down PSV’s offensive right side as Emanuelson was exposed on a regular basis by Memphis Depay who had a fine game for PSV. In starting Boateng, Allegri also hurt his defense by ensuring that his back line was protected and therefore left expose to continual attacks from PSV as Boateng is not the mixed midfielder that Milan needed to partner a slow footed defensive midfielder in Nigel de Jong.

The return leg will take place next Wednesday at the San Siro in Milan in what is sure to be an exciting yet tense atmosphere. While Milan remains the favorite to win the tie and advance to Champions League given they are playing at home and hold the edge because of the away goal, it should be no surprise to anyone if the team coached by Phillip Cocu were to go in and take the tie and leave Milan out of Champions League play and put the future of Allegri as coach in serious doubt.

Lucas Carreras is a contributing Soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. You can follow Lucas on Twitter by following him @maldini3fan and you can add him to your network on Google.