Playing without a Trequartista

AC MILAN haven’t played with a real trequartista this season.

It is a testament to the coaching skills of Allegri that we won the title this year without a crucial player to Allegri’s tactical system, a trequartista.  In Allegri’s preferred formation, a 4-3-1-2, the attack is linked by a traditional #10 who is responsible for creating chances, as well as distributing the ball around the offensive half of the field.

Ronaldinho was a master of this earlier in his career.  However, upon his move to Milan, we began to see the “old” Dinho, by which I mean the one who goes clubbing, partying, and has lost his desire on the field.

And now the renewals…
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Because of this, Leonardo found space for him on the left of attack, giving us a sort of question mark-shaped formation (which Galliani dubbed the 4-2-fantasia) which lead to most of our attacks flowing through Ronaldinho, who more often than not, killed the pace of the game, and as a result, slowed our attack. Sometimes this worked to great effect, such as the first game of Round 2 in 09/10 against Siena where Ronaldinho was absolutely unplayable and pulled the strings of our attack.

Allegri’s free flowing system meant that Dinho was going to be afforded less time to play around on the ball, and that tactical difference, as well as off the field factors, led to the departure of the Brazilian in January.

Allegri had a solution to this personnel issue that is becoming more and more popular across Europe, putting a box-to-box midfielder behind the strikers in the Trequartista position.  What this does is allows a previously “immobile and old” midfield, and injects it with pace. As we began to play Boateng behind the strikers, we would create more chances.

Putting a box-to-box midfielder like Boateng in the AMF role achieves three main functions for the team:

• He serves as a target for Abbiati on goal kicks
• He provides a running threat that often attacks ahead of Ibrahimavic, allowing him to flick on headers and balls to running midfielders as well as strikers.
• It allows us to pressure further up the pitch – Boateng says he has always played behind the strikers, but if you take a look at the Ghana matches from the 2010 world cup, Boateng was deployed in almost a holding/DMF/creative role sitting in front of the back four.  He has the technique to press and shut down attacks, as well as the finesse to create them. This prevents our “front 3” from being totally disconnected defensively from the rest of the team, and additionally provides extra support both offensively and defensively.

It should be noted, that in order for a box-to-box midfielder to work in the trequartista role, that someone else has to supply the passing necessary to keep the team going. We need a metronome: a Xavi, Pirlo, Seedorf, or the excellent signing of Van Bommel.

In the traditional 4-3-1-2, the trequartista can play in one of two manners, that of Kaka’ who was most famous for his slalom runs and who served as a magnificent final-ball player.  There is also the type of player who sits back in the AMF role and simply creates.  Ganso is seen as this type of playmaker,  as is David Silva,  and Samir Nasri (who often drifts to the wing when Fabregas plays but can play as a traditional #10) to name a few.

Whether or not we sign Ganso, Lamela, or any of the other trequartistas we are linked to is up to Berlusconi and Galliani. Allegri has demonstrated an ability to change tactical setups to fit personnel and a system that allows the speed and technique of our team to shine.

Congratulations to all fans of the 2010-2011 Italian Champions AC Milan!