Another win! What’s going on? I’m sure this little streak has left many of you out there wondering what if, but while it might be too late to salvage Champions League football for next season, getting a good read on Conceição and various players has definite upside. Plus, there’s still 2 plausible paths to some form of European football on the table, so still stuff to talk about and debate.
The big lead-in story for this game was Rafael Leão missing the match due to card accumulation. This left Conceição with a pretty big hole to fill but also an opportunity to change up the formation to utilize different players in different ways since the star winger typically thrives most in isolated wing play formations.
The biggest hurdle to overcome I thought was ensuring there was some creativity out there. Pulisic can provide this and is a solid makeshift CAM, but after seeing a Leão-less lineup to start the previous game…with Pulisic in the lineup…the team clearly needed something extra. That extra came with a formation change and João Felix. This was particularly helpful since Bologna engaged in a high intensity press for most of the game, surely encouraged by Leão not being available. Milan didn’t exactly carve up the Bologna defense but it would’ve been worse without Felix out there.
I know João Felix isn’t everyone’s favorite. I like him but he hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire since arriving in January. Still, I’ve gone on the record here a lot saying that while I’d be fine keeping him, Milan desperately need someone with his, or at least CAM, characteristics. This skillset, most acutely aware on plays like the one-touch layoff to Pulisic, mostly manifests in individual ability to beat their man one on one or deliver a ball no one else saw much less would play (or attempt to). The game is so hard, in Serie A especially, that individual moments of brilliance by players with his unique skillset can take you from a good team to a great team.
In the end, João Felix didn’t get on the scoresheet. And that’s fine. I appreciated his presence out there especially with Leão out. But do you know who did get on the scoresheet?! Santiago Giménez.
Loyal readers also know that while I have some man-love for João Felix, I haven’t had as much for Giménez. I mentioned when he first arrived and had a couple of early goals, that he seemed to be an excellent finisher. That has indeed been born out in these months since, but his game hasn’t shown much else. It’s a big reason Abraham was getting minutes and why Jović all of the sudden found playing time again.
But these last couple of games, and especially this one, we saw what he might be able to do. The goals came from his navigating transition play, finding the lanes and space to make himself available. With his solid finishing, I know I felt like the shots were just a formality as he’s hard-pressed to miss. These are things we’ve seen him do since he arrived.
But I thought he did exceptionally well at running horizontally across the 18 yard box, dragging the CBs along with him. In the game before this, it was a Felix ball over the top to Giménez making a vertical run, which he then fired across the box to Leão for the equalizer that did it. Since he doesn’t have exceptional speed, timing and angles will be how he bests defenses and it’s encouraging to see some signs of progress. If the finishing stays elite, than maybe Giménez will excel and prove many people, including me, wrong. I know I’m hoping for it.
As to what this means both for the team and the players for European qualification, well we’ll cover that some in the next section, but with 2 rounds left to play Milan sit just 4 points back of 4th. Who saw this coming, huh?! Unfortunately…warning: Buzz Killington incoming… I don’t think the stars will align for Milan this time, since they don’t own most of the head-to-head tiebreakers with the other teams chasing 4th. But, the team’s play and the play of players new and old are important as Milan heads into an offseason likely restrained by reduced spending. How players like Giménez, Tomori, Theo, and others play will shape priorities, and of course I hope it provides confidence – and cover – for them to keep Conceição.
The Coppa Italia this Wednesday can be an important fall back as it might give Milan the freedom to play loose these last 2 rounds. Maybe fate will intervene…
What Happened in Serie A
This round 36 brought us one more certainty but a whole lot of tightening throughout the table.
Napoli (1st) stumbled against Genoa (13th), drawing 2-2 at home due to Genoa’s 84th minute equalizer. This shrunk their lead in the table to 1 point, since Inter (2nd) beat Torino (11th) 2-0. With 2 round left, Napoli’s lead is tenuous especially considering they don’t own the head-to-head tiebreaker with Inter.
Atalanta (3rd) beat Roma (6th) 2-1 today, securing the 3rd spot in the table. Atalanta can’t catch the top 2 and no one can catch them at 3rd. They get to play free and enjoy the last 2 rounds. Roma on the other hand, had the chance to completely control their own destiny heading into this matchup, but the loss means they will need some help if they want to finish 4th. It’s been a hell of a turnaround regardless, but I’m sure there’s some bitterness in their mouths after this.
For the rest of the traffic jam for 4th, Juventus (4th) drew 1-1 at Lazio (5th) and Fiorentina (9th) lost at Venezia (17th) 2-1. The win propelled Venezia out of relegation for the time being but the loss gave Fiorentina the hardest path to qualify for Europe especially with Milan’s win over Bologna. All in all, 4th to 9th is separated by 5 points with 6 possible points left on the table. While there’s 3 European spots left to be filled, all of these teams are really battling for 4th, and if that’s the case, then there’s 6 teams for 1 spot…
Como (10th) continued their hot streak by beating Cagliari (14th) 3-1. That is now 6 straight wins and they’ve gone 8-2-2 over their last 12. Heck of run to end the season. Less impressive have been Udinese (12th), who lost to Monza (20th) 2-1. That was their 6th loss in their last 8. Yikes.
Finally, Hellas Verona (15th) drew 1-1 to Lecce (18th) and Empoli (19th) beat Parma (16th) 2-1. That was Empoli’s first league win since December 8th. You read that right. With 6 teams mathematically eligible for relegation, this upcoming weekend will be big for these teams as well.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7 – Solid. Got beat on a pretty good strike from Orsolini. Sometimes it happens (and Pavlović could’ve done better).
Goal Keeping Overall 7
Defense
TOMORI 6.5 – Almost didn’t rate him since he left pretty early (14th minute) after a shoulder to the head on a challenge. Seemed ok overall but smart to take him off. Did fine while he was in there.
GABBIA 7 – Quietly consistent. Not playing lights out but good enough.
PAVLOVIĆ 6.5 – Mostly fine except for the Orsolini goal as mentioned above. Orsolini hit a great shot and credit there for sure, but he was also giving a Kvaratskhelian-effort to get it to his preferred (left) foot for the shot, and that’s where I fault Pavlović. Got to make him beat you some other way.
Defense Overall 6.5
Midfield
JIMENEZ 6.5 – After some really solid showings, I thought this one was just alright as he didn’t really contribute much in the final third.
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6.5 – I didn’t notice him as much and that’s a good thing.
REIJNDERS 7 – Did great as the box to box guy and was better at carrying the ball forward in this than he had been of late.
HERNÁNDEZ 7 – Solid in all aspects I thought, even if he didn’t exactly excel in any one area.
Midfield Overall 7
Forwards
PULISIC 8.5 – Really good. Best game overall in a while. Contributed everywhere and was part of just about every big play Milan could muster in the final third. Got the assist on the first goal and then followed up with scoring the second by continuing his run and getting a fortuitous bounce of a deflection…which is why you continue making your run, kids!
FELIX 7 – Might be a little bit high for some folks but I thought he was out there to help connect play from the middle third to the final third with Leão out and he did just that. That one-touch layoff for Pulisic was slick.
JOVIĆ 6.5 – Good game. I thought he could’ve moved around a bit more and we saw how that benefitted Giménez when he came in.
Forwards Overall 7.5
Subs
THIAW 6.5 – Came in and did a solid job filling in for Tomori, who left early with the head injury.
WALKER 6.5 – Solid if unspectacular.
CHUKWUEZE 7.5 – I didn’t mention him in the editorial up top, but I thought he was the perfect spark for the match. I mean, Giménez stole the show with the 2 goals and rightfully so, but Chuk was great and utilizing his speed, which had been missing in the lineup, was the key. It’s funny, sometimes he looks like he can be an important player and sometimes he looks like he can’t get out of his own way. But he excelled on this day.
GIMÉNEZ 9 MOTM – A 9? Yep! Kid has been on a tear! Seriously though, getting an important brace in 25 minutes of work is impressive. His finishing is top notch and if he continues to find a way to contribute, then I think we’re all happy waiting as he develops the other parts of his game. Heck of a run he’s on.
MUSAH 6 – Was fine.
Subs Overall 7
Coaching
CONCEIÇÃO 8 – Giving him this high of a score because of the tactical flexibility he displayed both in the initial lineup and the substitutions. With Leão out, and seeing how Milan played the game before this without him, he knew he didn’t have someone he could plug-and-play who could create in remotely the same way. So he played two behind the striker, specifically two guys with full-field awareness and although they do it differently, they can both create and build play.
The other part was the substitutions and switching to a back-4 (running a 4-4-2) and completely opening up Bologna the last 25 minutes. The initial lineup and approach was solid but didn’t end up netting a goal, but this late switch blew it open. Bologna didn’t look like they knew how to counter and stop it and we saw the result: 3 goals in the final 17 minutes. Solid job from the skipper.
Final Thoughts
BIG game on Wednesday for the Coppa Italia final. Two weeks ago it was looking like Bologna could go through the motions on this but not anymore. Right now, after round 36, Bologna is also sitting on the outside of Europe with Milan, a far cry (but not in points!) from when they were sitting in 4th. Should be a fun game.
Forza Milan.
gillis
