The first match of the new Serie A Womens season for Milan and Florentia was played on Sunday 23, August in hot weather at Centro Sportivo Peppino Vismara, Milano.
The game ended with a Milan win that will serve in their long chase after teams like Juventus and Fiorentina who have both won respectively against Verona and Inter.
It was a match that witnessed various chances, especially from Milan while Florentia struggled to reach Milan’s penalty area due to the extensive high pressing from their opponents which drained their energy. But overall, the level of the game was not as high as expected as we did not see an impressive performance from Milan who are looking for Champions League qualification. Also, weather conditions and the long stop caused by the pandemic lowered the rhythm of both teams.
A full and comprehensive analysis of this game will be provided below to explain the tactics and plans of both teams during this game while also pointing out the most influential players of this match.
This tactical analysis will be divided into three parts. First, we will present both teams’ lineups and the tactical choices that both managers adopted for this encounter, then, a meticulous study of the first and second-half chances and tactical organization of the two teams will be provided before picking out the best players during this game.
Lineups
Maurizio Ganz, Milan’s manager, chose to start with a 4-3-1-2 formation relying on Mária Korenčiová as a goalkeeper, Laura Agard and Laura Fusetti as centre-backs, leaving Giorgia Spinelli on the bench, and using Valentina Bergamaschi and Linda Tucceri as full-backs who often move forward to support the attack.
In midfield, Milan played with Refiloe Jane, Dominika Čonč and Christy Grimshaw as a deep-lying midfielder, right midfielder, and left midfielder, respectively. Ahead of them, Miriam Longo played as a trequartista behind Valentina Giacinti and Natasha Dowie, the team’s forwards.
Concerning Florentia, the team played with a 4-3-3 formation composed of Amanda Tampieri as a goalkeeper, a defensive line made up of Serena Ceci and Giulia Bursi as full-backs and Elena Pisani and Tamar Dongus as centre-backs.
The team played with Cecilia Re, Giulia Bardin and Francesca Imprezzabile in midfield who was subbed off during the first half due to injury for Irene Lotti. Then the two wingers Luisa Pugnali and Melania Martinovic played on both wings to support and provide Sofia Cantore, the team’s forward, with passes and opportunities.
First-half tactics and opportunities
The game started with Milan having more possession and creating chances regularly since they were pressing high on Florentia’s defence, resulting in them struggling to clear out the ball in an effective way, and even when they did so, they were not very concentrated when they had the ball in Milan’s half.
Milan were better organised in all phases in the first half as they had more possession of the ball and always tried to play on the wings relying on Bergamaschi and Tucceris accelerations who were then supported by Grimshaw and Giacinti. The latter usually moved to the left when the ball was with Tucceri, while on the right, Čonč and Dowie were always giving passing options to Bergamaschi.
You can see in this example how Milan’s pressing was high on Florentia’s defenders and caused many problems for them especially in the first half since Milan had the most dangerous goal-scoring opportunities during this half.
The first goal was scored for Milan after several missed chances from Giacinti and Dowie, and it was scored however by the team’s trequartista, Longo. The start of the action was due to a wrong pass from Barin which was grabbed by Čonč who passed a smart through ball to Dowie, who did not hesitate to let it go past her to fool her direct opponent and let the ball reach Longo who was waiting without marking right behind Dowie as shown in this picture. And the rest is a successful finish by Longo.
During t
