Well that was better! I wasn’t terribly optimistic heading in but always happy with 3 points especially after dropping points in a game at home vs a newly promoted side.
Don’t get me wrong, this was far from perfect but there were some good things that happened too, so let’s go through them and put things into context as we embark on this 2 week international break.
In the Milan-Cremonese post match, I skewered Ruben Loftus-Cheek for his, well, abysmal play pretty much the entire time he’s been with Milan. He had one decent spell in January of 2024 but other than that, just completely ineffective. Even with his goal in this match, he now has 1 goal/assist since the start of the 2024-25 season, in about 2000 minutes of play. So, yeah, I stand by everything I said last week.
Even in this game, he wasn’t all that great. The dead-ball glancing header, from a wonderful pass by Modrić, was nice. It was a good use of his size and good awareness of where the goal was behind him. But from open play he was as bad as he’s been, with poor touches in and around the 18 yard box and missed opportunities either finding teammates or getting a shot on goal. Allegri is going to get burned if he keeps giving him a lot of minutes and maybe the addition of Adrien Rabiot will help shrink those minutes Allegri seems to want to give him.
As for the rest of the team, the lineup was suspect and notwithstanding the limitations of the attack with Leão still out injured and Pulisic banged up a little, it feels like something else would’ve worked better than basically the same midfield but with Saelemaekers and Giménez up top in place of Leão and Pulisic. Why not move Modrić to an attacking role, even running some version that has a 1-1 at the top with Giménez at the top and Modrić behind him? Get some wide play from the wingbacks?
All game Modrić was the only player who looked dangerous offensively, at least until Pulisic came in. Giménez had a few good plays, including a goal called off, but he’s not creating and just reacting to what his teammates can produce for him. We already talked about RLC above, and as expected Fofana and Musah didn’t add anything. I suppose Saelemaekers did Saelemaekers-things but that is often a couple of good dribbles and then a lost possession, so nothing of value really there either (I’m just talking offensively! I know you Saelemaekers fanboys can get touchy with criticism…).
All of this points to something we all knew was possible with Allegri: ultra conservative even when facing provincial sides. Someone in the comments of the matchday post asked, rhetorically, why would Milan need so many holding midfielders vs Lecce? This indeed is the right question. Yes, Milan won and 3 points are important. But let’s not lose sight that the breakthrough took 66 minutes, and didn’t come from open play…vs Lecce. A team that finished 17th last season and conceded 58 goals while not exactly improving this summer.
You combine this with the 1 goal vs newly-promoted Cremonese last week, again with a conservative squad selection, AND a summer mercato full of DMs and defenders and I’m sure you all can put 2 and 2 together. We’re likely in for a very frustrating watch all season. Sure, we’ll likely get those counter-attacking goals that are fun vs the better sides, but that’s only against other top 4 rivals. Most of the time we’re going to see what we’ve seen the first 2 matchdays and that’s a offensively-challenged Milan side. I suppose I should be at least happy with the clean sheet, something that didn’t come until matchday 4 last season.
I’m going to talk more about this in my summer mercato wrap up coming out later this week or early next week, as the characteristics of the incoming players only reinforce the direction I’m seeing and surely that you’re seeing as well. So more to come on that.
What Happened in Serie A
After 2 matchdays Milan is back in 8th! How familar! Woo-hoo!
I kid, I kid. It has only been 2 matchdays and there’s a few surprises but a lot of chalk so far too.
Napoli got a VERY late winner vs Cagliari to win 1-0, at home, and of course the Napoli just that that winners mentality narrative was everywhere. Gag. I think they sucked and almost choked like Milan did in matchday 1. Maybe let’s get a little further into the season before grand proclamations get made, maybe?
Juventus won again and won again at the hands of a player they don’t want and actively tried to offload all summer, who iced matchday 1 and had the only goal in matchday 2, both coming as a late substitute. Roma got their second 1-0 victory and the surprise team of the season so far, who just signed CF Jamie Vardy, is Cromonese, who beat Sassuolo 3-2 on a 90+3 minute penalty. All 4 teams – Juve, Napoli, Roma, and Cremonese – sit atop of the table with 6 points.
After Inter beat up on Torino 5-0 for matchday 1 and everyone handed them the Scudetto, they lost to Udinese 2-1 and reminded everyone that this could be the year they have a dropoff and don’t contend for the league title. Udinese to their credit, are alone in 5th and should probably enjoy the view for this international break as they will surely drop off before long.
Bologna and shiny Como faced off with Bologna getting their first win of the season and knocking off some of the shine everyone has been giving Como. Como and Bologna round out the top 10 respectively. Atalanta and Fiorentina are off to slowish start, each having drawn both of their first 2 matchdays. Fiorentina and my boy Pioli at least have some excuse as they just completed the second leg of Conference League qualification, but obviously both teams wanted more after 2 games especially considering the opponents each played.
A lot of the usual suspects round out the bottom of the table and I’ll give a little more attention to them once we’re a little deeper into the league season and some patterns are developing in play.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7.5 – Didn’t have a ton to do as Lecce only mustered 2 shots on target
Goal Keeping Overall 7.5
Defense
TOMORI 7 – Another solid outing. Fighting for his place that’s for sure.
GABBIA 7 – Solid. Better than matchday 1. Also, he pushes off a lot in the box on dead balls. I noticed that last season too. Yes, I know there’s jostling on every play but he seems to do that a lot. Needs to learn on to free himself on those plays without a 2-handed shove.
PAVLOVIĆ 7 – Better defensively.
Defense Overall 7
Midfield
MUSAH 7 – In his first and likely only action for Milan this season (he could be recalled at some point but unlikely), the most memorable moment was Allegri yelling Calma at him in the dying minutes during a throw in so he could time waste, LOL.
LOFTUS-CHEEK 7 – Getting a 7 strictly because of the goal, otherwise another mid performance.
MODRIĆ 8.5 MOTM – Best player on the pitch for Milan…again. The delivery on the dead ball goal was excellent and just consistently the only real offensive threat Milan had all game.
FOFANA 6.5 – Worst of midfield but still decent.
ESTUPIÑÁN 7.5 – Solid again but better than matchday 1. We saw more of his defensive awareness in this and while it was against an inferior side, the quicker he gets accustomed to Serie A, the better.
Midfield Overall 7.5
Forwards
SAELEMAEKERS 7 – Good game. He’s a better player than we he last played for Milan but his limitations are still clearly visible.
GIMÉNEZ 6 – Needs to time his runs better but an improvement over matchday 1.
Forwards Overall 6.5
Subs
RICCI 6 – Needs to play more. A formation change would help. Sigh…
PULISIC 7.5 – Best first touch for the attackers and it showed on that goal. Took advantage of the Lecce defender’s misplay and calmly slotted it home to put the game away.
BALENTIEN NA – Who?! I don’t know either! Apparently Milan signed the 18 year old Dutch forward from ADO Den Haag, a second tier team from the Netherlands, to play for the Milan Futuro on August 25, 2025. He impressed in his 25 minutes of action in the Coppa Italia Serie D game, enough that Allegri brought him along since Milan have like zero strikers. Anyway, congrats on your debut kid, and good luck moving forward!
Subs Overall 7
Coaching
ALLEGRI 6 – It worked but I still don’t like it. The clean sheet is the only thing that kept this as high as a 6…
The formation change is forcing him to play a super defensive lineup as that’s all he has to fill the roles of the positions. Let’s hope Leão is healthy coming out of the international break and it forces Allegri’s hand to do something less defensive formationally and player selection-wise. One can hope!
Final Thoughts
Alright! Despite my overall pessimism, the win was important and I don’t think we should lose sight of that. Let’s hope this international break has hit at the right time to get things moving in a more positive direction offensively.
Summer mercato wrap up coming later this week or early next week, so be on the lookout for that. Italy plays Estonia this Saturday at 2:45pm EST/6:45pm GMT, and then Israel on Monday the 8th at 2:45pm EST/6:45pm GMT for those interested.
Forza Milan.
gillis
