Ok, I don’t know about you guys, but I would LOVE a game where Milan gets out to lead early and coasts their way to all 3 points. Don’t get me wrong, I love excitement especially against the league’s best teams, but also want the occasional low stress breeze. I don’t think that’s too much to ask!
In case you’re wondering, it’s been 9 games across all competitions since Milan had what many of us would call an easy game. And by easy I mean going up by at least 2 goals. The last time Milan did that was a 3-0 win over Empoli on November 30th, then the 6-1 win over Serie B Sassuolo and their B-team lineup in the Coppa Italia on December 3rd. Hell, even just taking a 1 goal lead into halftime has only happened once in the last 9 games. Yikes.
This game was more of the same but different. Another slog, yes, but rather than Milan being the culprit of their own demise, I was actually taken aback by how well Cesc Fabergas and Como game planned against Milan. Let me explain what I saw.
Como was almost defiant in how they wouldn’t press Mike or whoever had the ball at the back, even as they strolled toward the edge of the back third. It wasn’t until the ball moved into the middle of the pitch that Como pressed. Como would attack the ball carrier and teammates would swarm to cut off passing lanes and outlet passes. The unified team movements also meant Como had lots of opportunities to break the other direction with numbers and players all moving in the same direction (towards Milan’s goal), which is mostly why we saw so many Milan players take tactical fouls to prevent breakaways. Think about it…didn’t it seem off how often Milan was needing to do that?
Conceição’s switch to the 4-3-3, which saw his midfielders play pretty narrow, ended up playing into Como’s hands and helped them swarm and surround the Milan ball carrier and cut off passing lanes. Milan’s best plays in the first half happened when the ball carrier got past his defender and ran with the ball, as we saw Leão do multiple times including the run that ended in a layoff for Reijnders that he failed to convert on.
But Conceição proved again that he’s not afraid to make changes at the half, both in personnel and tactics. With the insertion of Musah and Jimenez, Conceição had a couple of more guys who could run with it, while Abraham is at least as good as Morata at linking up with teammates and helping in buildup. The team appeared to spread out a little bit more too, which helped counter Como’s swarming pressure but also meant that when the Milan player got by his guy, there wasn’t another one too close who could pick him up.
Jimenez in particular had a couple of runs where he turned and ran with it, staying on his feet as defenders tried to knock him off the ball. Some poor finishing, or less clinical anyway, left those opportunities wanting but Milan was starting to breakthrough Como’s press.
For Leão’s game winner, it was a unpressured Tomori pass (because again, Como wasn’t pressuring the furthest guy back) who found Musah, who maneuvered around his guy who was trying to press him and found Abraham in the half space (and a smart move by Abraham to stay in Cutrone’s blind spot as he tried to locate him), and combined with good spacing by Leão and Jimenez, Abraham played a beautifully placed and weighted ball to Leão running behind the defense and of course Leão finished it with a cheeky chip over the keeper. It was equally as beautiful as the Leão-to-Morata winner in the Supercoppa final. Happy days are here again, amiright?…
No, not quite. But it is progress AND there’s still plenty of work to do. Theo needs to do better closing down guys. While not the howler like against Cagliari, Maignan can’t be giving up near post goals. Milan’s finishing is still poor much of the time. And the team still needs to learn what Conceição wants them to do.
But, the team has fight and has come back in 3 of the 4 games under Conceição and as won 3 of 4 as well. If they can win 3 out of 4 the rest of the way I will be very happy.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6 – Might be lower than some gave him but I HATE conceding near post. This is a couple of games now where he could’ve (and should’ve in the case vs Cagliari) done better.
Goal Keeping Overall 6
Defense
ROYAL 7 – Apparently get got Serie A Player of the Match? LOL. I didn’t think he was that good but he did have 2 of the best crosses I’ve seen him make as a Rossonero. So that’s something I guess.
TOMORI 7 – In a game were Milan were caught out of position a lot, his speed was crucial (and I thought he played well).
THIAW 6.5 – Had some really good passes early. Long. Flipping the field of play. But had some poor, loose giveaways too. Ended up getting subbed out for Gabbia apparently for a thigh bruise. Gabbia has been playing well so I wonder if he gets his starting spot back once healthy.
HERNÁNDEZ 7.5 – Wanted to give him an 8 but he could’ve closed down Diao much better than he did on Como’s goal. But the goal he scored to level it…catching it on the volley and floating it over the keeper…yes a little lucky…but sometimes you make your own luck.
Defense Overall 7
Midfield
BENNACER 6 – He didn’t have errors, per se, but he routinely made the type of pass that allowed Como to swarm and put the team under duress the whole first half.
FOFANA 6.5 – Best of the starting midfield but not his best game. Thankfully he didn’t get carded and is available vs Juventus this weekend.
REIJNDERS 6 – Hasn’t been as good under Conceição. Needs to find his form again. And the first half miss. Has to do better. Leão left it on a platter.
Midfield Overall 6
Forwards
PULISIC 6 – Was mostly invisible while he was out there. Then got the knock. Early indications are that he avoided injury (muscle fatigue) but I wouldn’t expect to see him until Parma at the earliest in a couple of weekends.
MORATA 6 – Worked hard but not much else. While I don’t mind that he isn’t always the furthest up the pitch, he also didn’t contribute as much as he usually does in the buildup. That’s why I scored him a little lower. In fairness to him, apparently he’s suffering from muscle fatigue too and on top of accumulation (out against Juve), I don’t think we’ll see him until the Parma game either (Girona is before Parma, midweek next week).
LEÃO 8.5 MOTM – Most effective attacker on the day for Milan. Should’ve had an assist to Reijnders and of course had the wonderful run and chip over the keeper for the game winner. Why were so many people cool with benching him again?…Hmmm…
Forwards Overall 6.5
Subs
MUSAH 6.5 – Did ok. Better than Bennacer anyway. Was also a key part of the game winning goal buildup.
JIMENEZ 6.5 – Someone on Twitter asked if he’s just a mad Salad and it made me laugh. Also, yes.
ABRAHAM 7.5 – Another contribution with a wonderful through ball to Leão for the game winner. That’s now 10 g/a in 1,022 minutes across all competitions. Would happily do a Saelemaekers for Tammy swap, straight up.
GABBIA 6.5 – Came in for Thiaw on a dead ball and got his head on the end of it. On top of being as good (or better) than Thiaw, he is Milan’s best aerial threat from the backline. Could be really good vs those packed-in sides if Milan actually kick the damn corners into the box…
CAMARDA 6 – Played and covered ground. Just what Milan needed especially after Leão scored to take the lead, which was just 3 minutes after he entered.
Subs Overall 6.5
Coaching
CONCEIÇÃO 6.5 – Clearly he’s proving to be a second half coach even though I’m sure he’d much prefer to get the lead early and control the game rather than chase it.
As mentioned at the top of the post, I actually think he and Milan got out-coached in this, as Cesc Fabergas had a creative gameplan that caused Milan a lot of problems. But he adjusted and Milan did what they needed to and that was to find a way to take home all 3 points. He has smartly leaned on his 2 best players and they have responded.
There was a video circulating of the post game huddle where he was talking to the team. The video I saw didn’t have any sound but you could tell from the facial expressions and movement of the players the team appears to be all in with him. Maybe more importantly, they’re starting to believe again.
Final Thoughts
Big 3 points here, everyone. It was a game in hand and they needed to make the most of it. In case you missed it, Inter and Bologna drew today and combined with round 20 over the weekend, a lot of the teams ahead of Milan have dropped points and are in a rough patch. Milan entered the Como game in 8th and now they enter round 21 in 7th.
With 4th only 5 points up in the table and Milan with another game in hand, Milan still has work to do but it’s there for the taking. Speaking of, next opponent is Juventus. Who is 3 points up. A win and Milan leapfrogs them as they would win the head to head tiebreaker. Which means Milan could be in 6th by the end of the weekend…
Forza Milan.
gillis
