A shocking result to the AC Milan Women as Internazionale nicked their first ever win against city rivals on Milan Derby, and the most important on so far. The rossonere once again had a poor performance and even the surprising change of formation, as Ganz turned back to the 4-3-1-2 used in the start of the season, was not enough to make an impact.
Here some thoughts on this game.
Ganz changes formation and his choices.
It seems to be a traditional this season. After suffering a defeat against Juventus in Serie A, coach Maurizio Ganz promotes a fundamental change in the team’s formation. This time, he chose to switch back to a back four defense, a diamond in the midfield, a classic “number 10” behind the strikers. The change itself was not the problem at all, but maybe Ganz should have chosen better the players.
Dominika Conc and Christy Grimshaw often were caught off-position while defending, and both tends to make the wrong decision when in possession, rushing to long passes instead of building the plays up. Yui Hasegawa is a well-known technical player who thrives in the left flank but, instead, Ganz deployed her centralized as a trequartista and, though she had a decent performance, the physicality of Internazionale took the best of her.
Another poor first 15 minutes
The worst nightmare for every Milan fan became reality as the team delivered another poor 15 minutes of the first half and, much like Juventus, Inter were clinical enough to capitalize from those individuals mistakes, opening the score with Marinelli from a penalty rebound and Moller, with a screamer on the right corner of the penalty area.
Whether it was the formation change or the lack of another centre-back is to blame, the rossonere must never enter the game with this lack of attention.
Blame the wind?
On can say that the wind had an influential part on the game, particularly when Korenciova’s pass to Fusetti, when Milan were playing against the wind, proved to be too weak and did not reach AC Milan defender, forcing her to concede a penalty. Nevertheless, the rossonere failed to take advantage in the second half, when they were playing in favor of it.
Giacinti and Dowie partnership
At this point in the season, one could hope that the partnership between the rossonere attacking duo Valentina Giacinti and Natasha Dowie could at least be a in stage that both benefit from it, even if they don’t set goals up for each other often. However, when things get complicated, the turn into a selfish apex predator, trying to fix things alone and this hurts Milan game so much, and the team can’t really make the most of it.
They must work on it as fast as possible, and Ganz have to intervene to make sure the team benefits from it.
The use of the bench
Maurizio Ganz have a lot of quality at his disposal in the Milan’s bench, maybe enough the make the much-needed impact that would change the game in his favor. Yet, the coach doesn’t feel comfortably enough to take chances and often stick to his basic choices, replacing, for example, a fullback for another or a defensive midfielder for another defensive-minded player. For instance, as the team was trailing 2-1, replacing Grimshaw with Julia Simic and switching to a 4-3-3, with Hasegawa and Giacinti as wingers, or even a 4-4-2 with Hasegawa and Conc wide open could have given the team a quality touch and some more fire power to, at least, draw the game.
Nothing is decided yet.
Giacinti's goal granted Milan a very important away goal that the rossonere can benefit from it in the second leg, which will be played at the Vismara on April 24 or 25. Nonetheless, AC Milan must enter the pitch with a different approach and mindset in order to overcome this setback and make it to the finals for the first time in their history
