From The Vault: PSV’s jigsaw to control AC Milan

The 2005 Champions League season is remembered vividly because of two things. Liverpool’s comeback in the final and Luis Garcia’s ghost goal against Chelsea in the semi-final. Perhaps this over shadowed PSV Eindhoven’s achievement. They were the first Dutch team to reach the competition’s semi final since Ajax in 1997. Guus Hiddink’s side won the Eredivisie and the Dutch cup, but there was always a question of what if.

PSV were 2–0 down in the semi-final first leg against AC Milan. A side that had just won the competition two years ago, will win it two years later and lost a 3–0 lead in the final against Liverpool. This Milan side consisted of ethereal talent such as Kaka, Andriy Shevchenko, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Cafu, Clarence Seedorf and Andrea Pirlo.

The 2nd leg was all PSV, even Carlo Ancelotti agrees. “PSV were excellent and we’re delighted to reach the final. It was an immense match, an exhausting encounter.” That wasn’t enough though for the Dutch team to progress.

PSV’s lineup looked like a 4–3–3 before the game, even the pre-match visual had Ji Sung Park on the left. That wasn’t the case though. He played as a number 10 just behind Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink with the left flank completely free for Park’s compatriot, Young Pyo Lee.

Phillip Cocu helped the Korean left-back while Mark van Bommel was running up and down the field.

Park’s role was to amplify the intensity in midfield. It was his job to not make it calm and collected for the Milan midfielders especially Pirlo. He man-marked the Milan deep midfielder, taking him out of the game and enabling the rest of his team to mark the rest.

This had a harmful effect on Milan as they couldn’t reset their attacks. Once the ball was out, Park was glued to Pirlo meaning that any pass back to Pirlo would have been intercepted. So Milan had to play the quick game as PSV wanted, without resetting. In this example Cafu is forced to play an easy cross as he couldn’t reset the attack.

Park’s man-marking to Pirlo also allowed his team-mates to mark Milan’s midfielders without losing the safety net of Johann Vogel behind them. a 3 v 3 and losing your player in-front of the defence was now a 4 v 3 with Park involved.

The result of this is that a lot of times Nesta and Jaap Stam had to distribute. Their distribution wasn’t great and the passes were usually too heavy. Here, Seedorf couldn’t control Nesta’s pass and Milan lost possession.

Another example is here where Stam is forced into a long ball because Pirlo and Seedorf are marked. While Van Bommel is pressing the defender and blocking his passing lane into Massimo Ambrosini.

Wilfred Bouma headed the ball and started a counter-attack for PSV. The player leading it ? Park. Pirlo had no option but to foul the midfielder whose intensity is making holes in the Milan midfield.

The man-marking continued and Gennaro Gattuso was unable to pass to Pirlo, forcing Milan into unfavorable passes.

Even when Pirlo advanced up the field, Park kept tracking him to prevent the Italian from making late runs into the box.

Tracking Pirlo up the field meant he couldn’t combine with others as well as being the creative hub from up front. Kaka here is forced to play the ball wide to Kahka Kaladze who replaced Maldini during half time.

The other part of Park’s role was to intercept passes in midfield to start PSV’s offensive transitions using his pace and directness.

He was still dropping but for another purpose other than tracking Pirlo. It was to attack the Milan players from their blind side and start the offensive transition. Here he managed to intercept the ball from Kaka

Park was the trigger for the counter-attack. Once he collected the ball, Van Bommel, Vennegoor of Hesselink and Jefferson Farfan sprinted forward.

This counter-attack eventually resulted in a free-kick through which Vennegoor of Hesselink hit the bar. PSV’s offensive chances were minimal, but they were deadly.

From one of these midfield darts — albeit from possession phase rather than an offensive transition — Park managed to score the opener, making it 1–2 on aggregate.

The lack of a left winger meant that it was Lee’s role to provide width on the left. The problem is that he would vacate space behind him which could be used by Milan’s players.

PSV couldn’t force Vogel to move and defend that space as that will create a hole in the middle. The solution ? PSV’s defenders adjusted their positions while they are attacking to be in the correct position once Milan began their counter-attack. This way they decreased the threat Milan had on the counter by closing the space on them.”

After Lee loses the ball for a throw in on the left side, Vogel is protecting that area with Van Bommel near. Despite the complete shift of midfield — and defence in next picture — PSV are adjusting to Milan’s threat sources. Kaka, who’s on the ball here is by the touchline, Seedorf is near the center and Ambrosini as well. That means that there’s no point in PSV keeping players in their right wing area.

Shevchenko was trying to attack the area behind Vogel, so Bouma shifted to protect. Seedorf was central, therefore Alex shifted to protect. This leaves us with Theo Lucius, PSV’s right back, whose narrower positioning allows him to collect Pirlo’s ball forward and prevent a foot-race between Alex and Seedorf. The shifting in positions towards the right side from all the PSV players minimized any threat of a counter.

PSV’s rest defence — how a team’s structure in possession allows them to immediately defend upon losing the ball — made Milan’s counters look toothless. Instead of being far-back, Vogel and Bouma’s presence in these positions while PSV had the ball protected the left channel and center once they lost the ball. The other point is that neither Seedorf nor Kaka could build up speed towards the defenders because the distance is small. Seedorf decided to play a long ball to Shevchenko who couldn’t control it.

Vogel’s positioning while PSV were in possession saved them once they were countered. Bouma and Alex here have to defend the wide area as the full backs are high up the field. Vogel was already central when Milan retrieved the ball, now when Kaka has it there are not any lucrative options for him. He passes it wide, losing the threat of the counter.

When PSV had a free-kick, Vogel was the deepest player protecting the space behind Lucius. This structure is in place as it’s beneficial to have Lucius cross the ball from the right side for the players in the box, in case there was a 2nd phase in the free-kick. The other benefit here is that it gives PSV a safety net if Milan managed a counter-attack.

Just like the previous example where Vogel was central. His presence here denies Kaka a clear path on goal after the Brazilian dribbled past Lee.

The two major aspects of a counter attack are pace and space. If you deny the opposition these two variables, then the counter-attack is as harmful as a normal attack. Seedorf starts one here while Kaka is on the run.

Again it’s Bouma and Alex’s positioning while PSV are in possession that saves the day. Their presence in the channel makes it easier for them to either protect the wing areas or the central one. Adding to that, their advanced position denies Kaka from building up speed on the counter against a defence that’s at rest with no acceleration. Finally, their positioning pays off and Bouma intercepts the ball to restart the PSV attack.

Well, had Kaka bypassed Bouma, Vogel was there. His deep central positioning when PSV had possession offered a safety net once they lost it.

Lucius also offered protection when the ball was on the left side. The theory is that with Lee pushing forward on the left wing Bouma has to adjust to protect that area. Lucius being wide right doesn’t make sense as when Milan retrieve the ball they would either attack the center or the space behind Lee because that are the shortest routes. In aid of not keeping Alex alone, Lucius is positioned narrower towards the center when PSV are attacking down the left side.

Kaka takes Alex out of the equation with a pass. He then makes a run behind Vogel. Lucius’ initial narrow positioning allows him to be ahead of Kaka and matches his run, making sure Heurelho Gomes collects safely.

Lee’s positioning and attacking roles on the left needed his team-mates to be aware of their positions when PSV had the ball, in case a Milan counter was to occur. The Korean repaid them in the end. His cross for Cocu made it 2–0 and now the tie was back to square one but with PSV in the driving seat.

The trip stopped here however. Ambrosini’s goal in stoppage time meant that PSV needed two in a space of two minutes to go through. They only managed one through Cocu. 3–1 was the final result and Milan were off to Istanbul on away goals.

“We were very, very close until the last minute and then we threw it all away. We’ve played some excellent football against one of the best sides in the world and provided a good advertisement for Dutch football. Unfortunately we had to make some changes to the team [Bouma was forced off with the recurrence of a back injury] during the second half and we lost a little control with it.” Hiddink elaborated after the game.

When Bouma was injured Hiddink played a risk card by introducing the Brazilian forward Robert. Cocu dropped to left center-back and the midfield was no longer a diamond as Park had to drop next to Van Bommel. Had Robert’s shot went in past Dida, Hiddink would have been a genius as his decision to bring a 2nd striker allowed PSV to collect Vennegoor of Hesselink’s flick ons. At the same time it removed pressure from midfield, which allowed Milan to have a bit of control.

Moving Park inside to put pressure on Pirlo and provide intensity during offensive transitions decreased the threat from the left wing. Lee had to push forward to present an attacking option from the left wing. To balance that in case Milan were on the counter, PSV’s midfield and defence had to perfect their rest positioning while they were in possession. Making sure they deny Milan space and acceleration.

In the end, it was all connected. Unfortunately, PSV missed their connection to Istanbul.