"With Jashari playing as the deep-sitting midfield, he operated between the central centre-back and the left centre-back, allowing Tomori to push up as a quasi right-back to try and target Spinazzola. Napoli used a central overload with McTominay sitting back to create a 3+2 build-up structure. This drew Milan's front two and the midfield three, allowing space between Milan's front two lines and the last line of defence."
"Milan's first shot on target came from a set piece. Conte's men used zonal marking and covered the front post and back post area, but left a gap in the centre. With Estupinan's cross towards the front post, Pavlovic exploited vacant space and got his shot off, which became a pass for Loftus-Cheek. With Conte using horizontal pressing to squeeze Milan to the side areas, the Rossoneri - like a proper relationist side - used the Escadinha to play out of the press."
"Classic wingplay from Hojlund and Spinazzola, where Hojlund would run behind the defender thereby stretching the players vertically, gave space for Napoli's wingers to make runs. Milan and especially De Winter failed to deal with the attack, and Napoli scored."
AC Milan rotated several key players and missed injured Gabbia and Leao, weakening the starting eleven and affecting cohesion. Jashari occupied a deep midfield role between the central and left centre-backs, which allowed Tomori to push higher as a quasi right-back to pressure Spinazzola. Napoli constructed a central overload with McTominay sitting back to form a 3+2 build-up, drawing Milan's front two and midfield three and creating space between lines. Milan's only early shot on target came from a set piece after zonal marking left a central gap. Conte's horizontal pressing funneled Milan wide, Milan used Escadinha to play out, and Hojlund and Spinazzola's wingplay stretched defenders, with De Winter failing to contain attacks as Napoli scored twice while Milan chased an equaliser.
Read at SempreMilan
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