Milan came out strong vs Atalanta but in the end just didn’t have enough to walk out with even a point as Ademola Lookman found a late winner to pull out all 3 points for his team. Was Atalanta just too good? Did Fonseca jeopardize the team with another boneheaded lineup decision? Did the players not show up? Let’s dive in…
Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way. Atalanta was better on the day as they did enough to get all 3 points, but they weren’t leaps and bounds better. Truth be told, it was anyone’s game for most of it. So there’s some good news there that Milan were on the level with the Serie A leaders.
Fonseca started a solid lineup, so I don’t have any complaints here. If Milan was at home I probably would’ve started Chukwueze but in Bergamo? Sure, Chukwueze could’ve given them a little more umph getting forward but Musah was decent and provided more defensive cover, so a worthy tradeoff against the league’s top scorers at their home field.
The players showed up for the most part. I know a lot of you want to throw Theo under the bus, some of you even want to be the ones driving said bus, but I don’t think there was anything more he could’ve done on Atalanta’s first goal. Charles De Ketelaere high-pointed the cross and at 6’4″ (1.92m), Theo, all of 6′ (1.84m) didn’t have a chance. I suppose if you really wanted to blame anyone then maybe Thiaw? He’s Milan’s tallest defender and if possible you’d want him on Atalanta’s tallest player. But, if you watch the replay you can see CDK was outside the 6 yard box and not near the crowd on bodies in the 6 yard box near Maignan before the ball was struck, so Atalanta purposely set that up so that Milan’s CBs would have a difficult time locating him. Sometimes you get beat, both by strategy and execution. Tip your hat and get them on the next one.
Milan responded well to that first goal and had a beautiful and perfectly executed counter 10 minutes later. Everything looked good to this point, two heavyweights duking it out. But then Pulisic went down injured about 15 minutes after Milan equalized and the air seemed to get sucked out of them. I’m not sure if Fonseca tactically changed things up into a more conservative approach, my hunch is yes, but either way Milan became passive and reluctant to take chances. It honestly felt like the Juventus game in mid-November. It wasn’t that Milan lacked firepower, although losing Pulisic obviously hurt, but rather the team just seemed scared to take risks, aiming to walk out with a point. Felt very midtable-y of Milan…yuck.
What Happened in Serie A
So Atalanta now sit in first but what about the rest you ask???
Napoli (2nd) fell out of the top spot with another barn-burner…yawn…a 1-0 loss at home to Lazio (5th). Again, and I’ll keep saying it, even with Conte purposely getting out of the Coppa (I believe that was his goal), and with no European commitments, Napoli still isn’t good enough to win the league. They’ll get back in the top 7, maybe even top 4, but this team has been punching above their weight so far this season.
Other top teams, Inter (3rd) dominated Parma (13th) 3-1, and are looking like they are going to make another run at the Scudetto. I mean, they manhandled Parma and the score could’ve been much worse. Fiorentina (4th) bounced back after Edoardo Bove’s collapse last week, winning 1-0 against Cagliari (15th). I’m sure that felt good for them and their fans after an emotional week. Thankfully Bove has recovered and will receive an implant like Christian Eriksen, which is great for him and his quality of life but it also means he will need to leave Italy like Eriksen did due to Italy safety regulations. We obviously wish him all the best.
In the battle of the, we just don’t want to lose teams, Juventus (6th) and Bologna (8th)…drew. Who would’ve guessed?! Combined both teams have played 29 games in the league and drawn in 16 of them. Calling it the Allegri Derby wouldn’t make much sense since Allegri hasn’t coached Bologna, but he was there in spirit…he was there.
Udinese (9th) got a much-needed win, 2-1 over Monza (19th), while Empoli (10th) continued their impressive season with a 4-1 win over Hellas Verona (18th). If someone would’ve told me Empoli would be 10th or thereabouts as the midpoint of the season approached, I would’ve ask them for a hit of whatever they were smoking. At 19 points, Empoli is already close to the 30 point range that usually keeps you from being relegated.
Claudio Ranieri got Roma (11th) their first win since Halloween, a 4-1 win over Lecce (16th), while Torino (12th) and Genoa (14th) decided to hold fort with a 0-0 draw. Finally, and matching that same Torino-Genoa energy, Como (17th) and Venezia (20th) drew 2-2, leaving Como just out of the relegation zone on point differential and Venezia still hugging the floor at the bottom of Serie A. At least Venice is pretty.
Now onto ratings…
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6.5 – Had a couple of good saves and maybe could’ve done more on the second goal although the glancing header definitely threw off everyone’s timing on that cross.
Goal Keeping Overall 6.5
Defense
ROYAL 6 – Was not good. His getting forward sucks and seemed to have a hard time for most of the night, as Atalanta did what they wanted on his side. Let me put it this way: I would not have been upset with a Calabria substitution.
GABBIA 6 – I don’t know that I would blame him or Thiaw on either goal but I know that both goals came across the face of goal, inside the 6 yard box, and neither him nor Thiaw (or even Maignan) did anything on either of them. Again, I don’t know if they could’ve done anything on them but I still feel like they need to get themselves between the crosser and a body, any body.
THIAW 6 – Read above.
HERNÁNDEZ 6.5 – As mentioned in the beginning, I don’t really blame him on the first goal. He got posterized. It happens. I gave him an extra .5 on the hockey assist that really was what sprung Milan for their only goal. Still, Theo isn’t thriving under Fonseca and the coach needs to figure this sh*t out for both their sakes.
Defense Overall 6
Midfield
FOFANA 6.5 – Solid if unspectacular. Had a couple of key tackles, blocks, interceptions. Solid DM effort.
REIJNDERS 6 – Invisible for most of the night. Could’ve been the counter-attacking posture Fonseca took but his most bland game in a while. He’ll be fine but could’ve really used the Reijnders we’ve seen for the last month.
Midfield Overall 6.3
Forwards
MUSAH 6.5 – Like Fofana, solid if unspectacular. His ball carrying is great, and has a decent cross, but he got in close a time or two and he just doesn’t have the finishing to be a viable offensive option at RW. I know Okafor has played RW, I don’t know why Fonseca doesn’t try him there and see if he gets that defensive work rate from the position with a little more offensively bite.
PULISIC 6.5 – Was having a good game until the injury. Speaking of, looking like he’s going to miss the remainder of the month as he has a minor calf strain. Ugh. If the Juve game and this game were any indication, then Fonseca is going to coach scared without Pulisic.
LEÃO 7 – I thought he was one of the best players on the pitch. Absolutely gorgeous ball to Morata for the goal too.
MORATA 7 – Great first-timer for the goal and almost had another one just before that but it was chalked off as offsides. Very industrious by the Spaniard.
Forwards Overall 7
Subs
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6 – Did RLC things.
ABRAHAM 6 – Solid. Brought on the energy I was hoping for but I maybe would’ve paired him with Morata especially since Fonseca seemed to pull back. Easier to bomb one down and have those two play off each other and find a streaking Leão, Theo, or Reijnders.
CHUKWUEZE NA – He played.
Subs Overall 6
Coaching
FONSECA 6 – The lineup was good and the tactics were good…until they weren’t. As we discussed already, clearly the change occurred when Pulisic went down and the team just kind of sat back and…? I don’t know. They didn’t seem super eager to try and counter. Again, felt similar to the Juventus game where Milan just seemed to play for a draw.
Also, it feels like Milan keeps going through phases where they keep getting beat by one way for 3-4 games, then a different way another 3-4 games, and so on. It’s like whack a mole or plugging fingers in dykes. First it was getting caught out of position and hit on the counter (it’s happened to all the CB pairings), then crossing to the back post (either post…and this one is still around), then set plays/dead balls. There’s been some boneheaded plays that set these into motion, some have been bad luck, but mostly it’s a team that doesn’t know how to defend in Fonseca’s system. Better coaching or better execution? Probably a bit of both.
A scudetto is surely out of reach now, and with the pile up in the top 5, Milan inserting themselves won’t be easy with so many teams neck and neck. The early season dropped points that I b*tched so much about, with Fonseca’s pissing contests, feel particularly wasteful now and have jeopardized a top 4 finish.
There’s still time and many teams have gone on sustained runs in the league, so it can obviously be done. But with where Milan are right now, there won’t be much room for error and things will be more difficult now with Pulisic out for a few weeks. Fonseca is going to need to find creativity from somewhere other than Leão, be it with a different formation or finding the right player to plug into the CAM role. Plugging RLC as the CAM won’t do it, and neither will holding Theo back or inverting him in the formation.
Needless to say, I’m not optimistic how the next few weeks will go, or how that will affect Milan’s chances for a top 4 finish.
Final Thoughts
Ok, busy week ahead and not much time to figure things out but Fonseca and Milan are backing themselves into a corner and need to find a way out. A winnable game midweek in Champions League can help and then a winnable game vs Genoa at home in Milan’s 125th anniversary match. Opportunities arise…can Milan meet them?
Forza Milan.
gillis
