GdS: ‘Masked flaws’ – why Conceicao’s formation change worked for Milan | OneFootball

AC Milan looked, for the first time in a long time, dominant on Friday night, and winning 4-0 is a testament to the performance. However, it now must be built upon.

Scoring four goals will always be a positive, and when keeping a clean sheet alongside it, there are positive questions to be asked. For Sergio Conceicao, most of them have been, so why has this not been trialled sooner?

As Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write, though, this was the earliest opportunity to change the system, feasibly at least.

Since before the international break, the Portuguese coach has pondered the idea of a change in the system, away from the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formation that Milan have almost exclusively used in recent years.

So, the ball began to roll before the international break, and whilst the idea was to test the side against Napoli potentially, it was stored away until now. Though it was not a case of analysing the system by video, it was about working with it – persistent training of the ins and outs.

In Udine, the side were clearly much more compact, though there was also more freedom on offer to those who needed it – Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao, for example, which the Portuguese spoke of post-game.

Of course, there are still flaws within this team, but the 3-4-3, though seemingly with more vulnerabilities on paper, ‘masks’ them.

Now, there is a hope for what can be achieved in the next few weeks with this new system, especially with difficult games on the horizon. There is also a lingering sensation, a feeling of what if, what if Conceicao arrived in the summer, allowed the time and clean slate to work out his side.