Width the Key to AC Milan's Resurgence in Form

The pretences are over. Finally, AC Milan look something like the team they hope to become.

A convincing 3-1 away victory over Lazio on Sunday evening carried their unbeaten run to four games and, perhaps most importantly, acted as a form of validation for the methods of Sinisa Mihajlovic, who had previously seen his tactics questioned by club president Silvio Berlusconi.

According to La Stampa (h/t Football Italia), Berlusconi had said "Mihajlovic is a great trainer...but Milan need a bit of tactics now." However, faith in Mihajlovic's tactical acumen should rightly soar in the wake of his team's third straight win since switching formations from 4-3-1-2 to 4-3-3.

Little over a fortnight ago, the coach was under serious pressure. His summer appointment as the man to correct the direction of a wayward Milan ship looked increasingly misguided after a frustrating opening to the campaign.

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The team’s performances had been punctuated by inconsistency and an inability to defend. At present, the former issue seems a thing of the past. The latter issue remains, but to a lesser extent. Resultantly, Mihajlovic can relax safe in the knowledge that his position is no longer under threat for the time being.

While the Lazio win may appear the most important moment in Milan’s season, it was, in fact, more of a small culmination. Milan’s turning point actually came several weeks ago.

After a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Napoli in San Siro, Milan’s players were granted the mercy of an international break. During the time away, Mihajlovic pondered over various tactical changes before settling on a switch to a 4-3-3 system, something encouraged in this column.

Milan’s first match in the new system was a trip to play Torino. It wasn’t an easy game and, in the circumstances, the 1-1 draw was a solid result. Nonetheless, uncertainty was still rife regarding the future of both the team and Mihajlovic.

Two fairly unspectacular home wins followed over Sassuolo and Chievo. While neither display was particularly reassuring, they at least propelled Milan up the Serie A table, closer to where they ultimately aim to be.

While the collective performance still seemed lacking in conviction, these three games did contain hints of promise.

Alessio Cerci’s confidence seemed to be returning and Andrea Bertolacci was beginning to look like the player Milan lavished €20 million on. Furthermore, the defence was shipping goals at a decreasing rate.

A lot of the improvement has to do with the new system, particularly the use of inverted wingers in Giacomo Bonaventura and Cerci. The value of this new-found width was shown emphatically in the win over Lazio on Sunday evening.

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It was Cerci’s dangerous cross from the right that led to Bertolacci’s opening goal, while it was Bonaventura’s defence-splitting pass that set up Carlos Bacca for Milan’s third.

The utilisation of Cerci and Bonaventura has led to more fluid attacking play. Both like to cut in from the wings onto their favoured feet, opening up the possibility of combinations with the central midfielders. Their presence out wide has also supplemented Bacca’s effectiveness.

The Colombian likes to make runs behind the centre-backs, a trait that the inverted wingers bring the best out of by cutting in, drawing the attention of the nearest opposition centre-back and playing through balls behind the opponent for Bacca to latch on to.

The combination play between Bonaventura and Bacca is similar to that often seen between Napoli's Lorenzo Insigne and Gonzalo Higuain. Ironically, it was their dismantling of Milan’s defence that provoked Mihajlovic’s implementation of the 4-3-3, the same system used by Maurizio Sarri's Napoli side.

The tactical change has also helped Milan in other ways.

Within the framework of the 4-3-1-2, Milan’s ball-players had few outlets to target. Milan’s construction of possession was often stultified by the narrowness of their attack, making their passing game slow and predictable.

Since the switch to 4-3-3, however, Milan’s deeper-lying players have a wider (literally) array of passing options.

This improvement is shown statistically in the form of higher pass success percentage. Per WhoScored.com, Milan’s pass success was over 80 per cent in three of their last four games since the tactical change. Their seasonal average pass-success rate is 78.4 per cent.

Additionally, once in the final third Milan’s attacking play is significantly better now because of the greater width, which tends to stretch opposition defences more and create extra space for Bacca to exploit.

Milan’s improved defensive record can also be attributed to the change in shape.

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Against Lazio, the wingers dropped back to form a midfield four with Juraj Kucka and Bertolacci, while Riccardo Montolivo sat behind them. This made it very difficult for Lazio to retain good possession and build attacks.

Speaking to Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia) after the match, Mihajlovic noted this particular aspect of the tactical switch’s effects on performance, saying: “Since we changed…to 4-3-3 we are under less pressure at the back.”

Numbers can back up this assertion.

Prior to the Torino game and Mihajlovic’s tactical modification, Milan had conceded 13 goals in seven games; a rate of nearly two per game. Since then, they have conceded three in four; a rate of less than one per game.

Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani recently hinted at further tactical change on the horizon at Milan, telling Mediaset Premium (h/t Football Italia), “At this moment we are playing…a (4-3-3-) system…while we wait to work on the 4-4-2, or 4-2-4.”

However, on the basis of recent results—particularly Milan’s performance against Lazio, which is by far their best of the season—Mihajlovic should perhaps consider eschewing any further change in favour of sticking by the 4-3-3 system.