Strategic Showdown: Sassuolo’s defensive woes and Milan’s success in Coppa Italia Women prelude to Serie A Femminile clash – tactical analysis

Following Kamila Dubcová’s tripletta against Sassuolo Femminile in the first leg of the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, Milan Women succeeded in confirming that they deserve to pass to the semi-finals of the competition with a commanding six goals scored on aggregate. As a result, I Rossonere will be facing Roma in the semi-finals, while the other semi-final will witness a clash between Fiorentina and Juventus. Sassuolo, however, will need to focus a lot more on their defensive and attacking errors in order to improve their performances and challenge the top Italian teams once again, knowing that they have been better from both aspects recently.

In this tactical analysis, we will explore Sassuolo’s main weaknesses and needed improvements in terms of tactics following their 6-0 loss against Milan in the quarter-finals. At the same time, the analysis will identify what has changed at Milan and why they are performing better against tough teams like Sassuolo, knowing that they used to struggle against this team during the last few seasons and even this season in their Serie A Femminile encounter.

We will also look at how Milan can build on their double performance against Sassuolo to improve their results in Serie A, knowing that their actual standing is worrying and does not reflect a positive season for the Rossonere so far. Holding the eighth spot with just 15 points is not really what Milan are aiming for this season as the main objective is to qualify for the UWCL or challenge for the league title.

Therefore, we can consider Davide Corti’s results as disappointing so far, even though the team is doing well in the Women’s Cup.

On the other hand, Sassuolo are doing a little bit better in the league as they are holding the 5th spot with 20 points, winning six games, losing seven games and drawing twice. As things stand, this spot enables Sassuolo to qualify for the championship round. In contrast, Milan will have to play in the relegation round if they do not improve their results in a significant way and as soon as possible.

Lineups

Corti started this match using the 4-3-3 formation with Selena Babb as a goalkeeper, Guðný Árnadóttir, Małgorzata Mesjasz, Julie Piga (who was later subbed by Laura Fusetti), and Angelica Soffia in defence, Valery Vigilucci, Silvia Rubio Ávila and Christy Grimshaw as central midfielders, while Nadia Nadim and Evelyn Ijeh played as wingers and Chanté Dompig was the team’s striker before being subbed by Andrea Stašková in the second-half.

On the other side, Gianpiero Piovani preferred to opt for the 4-4-2 formation with Isabella Kresche as a goalkeeper, Bénédicte Simon, Angela Passeri, Caroline Pleidrup, and Davina Philtjens in defence, Giorgia Tudisco, Giada Pondini, Kassandra Missipo and Erika Santoro in midfield while Manuela Sciabica and Valeria Monterubbiano formed the attacking duo.

Sassuolo’s defensive and attacking issues

Sassuolo made a lot of mistakes in the first leg of the quarter-finals and gave the opportunity for Milan to win the advantage both in terms of goals and on a psychological level too, making Milan’s mission a bit easier in the second leg. One of Sassuolo’s most remarkable issues against Milan was their misplaced, inaccurate passing inside their own half, which led to conceding opportunities and, eventually, goals.

The most problematic action in this regard concerns Kresche’s wrong pass to Dubcová, which led to conceding a goal out of nowhere due to a passing mistake. Sassuolo will have to urgently fix this issue by either relying more on long passes towards the final third or the wings or simply by avoiding passes towards the middle and training extensively on how to build up from the back without taking risks, as this has been causing real defensive issues for Sassuolo.

Another big issue that is creating a lot of problems for Sassuolo is their marking inside the box, whether during set-pieces or crosses. Individual marking on certain occasions was very poor since Sassuolo’s defenders left too much space for dangerous attacking players such as Dubcová and Grimshaw to find the necessary time and space to execute their actions without disturbance.

This absence of aggressive marking inside the box and distraction by opponents’ movements without the ball must be addressed as soon as possible to avoid situations like in this third Milan goal when Dubcová found herself free in front of goal. At the same time, her direct marker was very distant when the ball was crossed from the right wing, allowing Dubcová to score without precipitation since she had all the necessary time to make her decision, control the ball and shoot on goal.