Milan secured all 3 points in a place they had won only once in their previous 12 tries. That by itself was a win. Also a win? Coming back from 2 goals down. That type of comeback is hard to pull off on the road and can be a boost in confidence if/when the team finds themselves in a similar hole later in the season. But the fact that they found themselves down 2-0, especially early, as disappointing especially considering they had to know how poorly they’ve played vs the smaller sides so far this season and needed to do better.
So, there’s enough good and bad in there to feed whatever narrative you want or have been going with, but for me it provides some evidence on how Milan needs to approach these games moving forward. Let’s dive in.
Giving up 2 goals in the first 20 minutes was a disappointment to say the least. How they happened were equally disappointing. The first, a completely avoidable and bone-headed play by Tomori to raise his arm away from the body either to deliberately handball it or to block the ball visually from the opponent (almost certainly the latter but who the hell knows). Handball. Penalty. Conversion.
The second goal was just about as poor, as Milan was lackadaisical in defending the counter with Pavlović and Maignan slow to react to the Zapata shot from about 10 yards out. Why did these goals happen? We’ll get to that in a second.
Milan got on the board about 8 minutes after the Zapata goal with an absolute gem from Adrien Rabiot. Like shot of the season candidate not just for Milan but all of Serie A. What a screamer. I can’t believe how much I like this guy. Completely out of the blue for me (and I really didn’t like him at Juve).
Milan fought to get that equalizer and had a couple of decent opportunities but it wasn’t until a still-recovering-from-the-flu Pulisic came on that things changed. And boy did they change and fast! Just a minute after coming on, a Saelemaekers cross barely missed Pavlović’s head to find Pulisic’s foot who calmly slotted home the equalizer. About 10 minutes later, Ricci, who had come on for an injured Leão 30 minutes into the game, crossed a beautiful ball across the top of the 6 yard box and Pulisic darted in and fired it against Torino keeper’s momentum, into the right corner. It was a brilliant comeback and near-perfect substitute appearance by Milan’s MVP so far this season.
This game for me crystalized the need to Milan to go all in on playing aggressively vs these smaller sides. We all know Allegri wants to play conservatively and keep it tight defensively but these smaller teams are just not going to play along with that approach. We saw Pioli’s Milan have the same problem with smaller sides but for different reasons, and truth be told a lot of the bigger teams struggle against smaller sides because they pack it in and play all-out defense.
In the games where Allegri has missed due to suspension, Marco Landucci has largely had positive success as he seems to allow the team more openness in shape and attack. Yes, I know Allegri is there all week and strongly influences the game plan for the opponent, but in game management is on whoever is in the coaches box and Landucci is clearly more comfortable allowing the team to open it up and get forward. I can’t stress enough how much this would actually allow Allegri to play his preferred way for more of the game and more effectively.
My thinking is basically this: these minnows do not want to let you get behind them. They’re whole gameplan is around that. Allegri wants to defend and then break out in transition, either from winning the ball back in the midfield or winning it deeper in their own final third and then breaking out with full-on counter attacks. But because these smaller clubs don’t want to play along, Milan kind of half opens up and attacks but doesn’t fully commit. This indecisiveness doesn’t give them the benefitting of putting the opponent under assault in their own third and netting some goals AND it sacrifices the compactness Allegri wants to maintain, thus making them more vulnerable defensively. It’s why, (1) it’s been harder for Milan to score vs these types of teams, and (2) it’s also why they concede more often vs the worse teams than the better teams Milan has dominated so far, who often want to play in an open game.
If Milan would commit to attacking aggressively early, they would likely score early more often which would allow Allegri to transition to his preferred defensive posture against a foe who couldn’t sit back and defend as they would normally want to do. It’s a little more risk at the start but it would put Milan in a stronger, more comfortable position for more of the match, and decrease the level of risk at the end and the odds of dropping points.
What Happened in Serie A
Milan still at the top! Yeah, boiiiiiiiii! But ok, let’s dive into the rest of what happened in Serie A this round.
Napoli (2nd) beat Juventus (7th) 2-1 as Spalletti couldn’t win in his first trip back to the Maradona since leading them to the Scudetto a few years back. Juventus has played better since Spalletti came on but they’re going to have to work hard to take one of those top 4 spots. As for Napoli, it’s been a very Conte-with-multiple-competitions-type-of-season (can’t compete on two fronts as Champions League has been underwhelming).
Inter (3rd) put the beatdown on Como (6th), 4-0. Inter have had a few of these games where they really rack up the goals, which has helped them to the top of the goal’s scored list. But they’re in the bottom half in goals conceded and that is almost certainly going to doom their chances at a Scudetto. As for Como, a reality check maybe that they aren’t quite where they thought they were? Jury is still out.
Roma (4th) had a disappointing 0-1 loss at Cagliari (13th), aided by a red card as the second half started and a late Cagliari goal to win it. Cagliari isn’t always the most fun place to play. Roma still have the league’s best defense but are 14th in scoring, odd for a Gasperini team. Bologna (5th) drew 1-1 with Lazio (10th), which has opened up the biggest point gap between 5th and the top of the table at 6 big points…crazy how tight things are still.
Milan’s next opponent, Sassuolo (8th) beat Fiorentina (20th) 3-1. It’s been a strong bounce-back season in Serie A so far for Sassuolo. They haven’t beaten any of the teams in the top 4 that they’ve played but they’ve gotten important points when faced with teams of the same caliber. Cremonese (9th) is still hanging around the top half of the table after their 2-0 win over Lecce (17th).
Rounding out the last remaining games of the round, Udinese (11th) couldn’t get it done at home vs Genoa (14th), losing 1-2, Atalanta (12th) lost badly at Hellas Verona (19th) 3-1, and Parma (15th) went to Pisa (18th) and got the win 0-1.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 6.5 – This was the only picture I could find from this game that didn’t have a watermark across the front! Also, not his best game as he could’ve done better on Zapata’s goal. Pavlović’s defense on that play didn’t help.
Goal Keeping Overall 6.5
Defense
TOMORI 6.5 – Absolutely bone-headed play on the handball AND he bounced back nicely after. Even had an assist! (Rabiot did all the work).
GABBIA 7.5 – Solid, consistent.
PAVLOVIĆ 6.5 – Quietly effective.
Defense Overall 7
Midfield
SAELEMAEKERS 8 – Was going to give him an 8.5 but that flop was the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen a Milan player do. Is that hyperbole? Probably! And I stand by it.
LOFTUS-CHEEK 7 – Ugh. I really don’t like giving him this high of a score. But he was actually solid, and got better and more impactful when Leão went out and had to buy some time until Pulisic could be brought on.
MODRIĆ 7 – Solid if unspectacular. Probably needs to rest a week and with Sassuolo coming up and Jashari healthy, I’d try to sit him the whole game if possible.
RABIOT 8.5 – Third best distance goal I’ve seen in real time as a Milan fan, behind only Pirlo’s goal against Parma and Balotelli’s against Bologna.
BARTESAGHI 6.5 – Not a bad game at all, just not as impactful as most of his other performances.
Midfield Overall 7.5
Forwards
NKUNKU 6.5 – Still doesn’t have the best movement but is at least putting in a shift. With Giménez about fit, I wouldn’t mind seeing him play off of an actual striker in that support-striker role.
LEÃO 6 – Didn’t do much before leaving injured. Glad he stopped when he did as it sounds like he avoided a major injury.
Forwards Overall 6
Subs
RICCI 7.5 – Played really well! Was the right sub (didn’t have a whole lot of options 30 minutes into the match) although I initially wanted Jashari. The ball to Pulisic for the winner was right on the money.
PULISIC 9.5 MOTM – I mean. Sick, only got 23 minutes and almost had the hat trick. The efficiency he’s playing with right now is insane. Keep riding these coattails as long as possible!
ESTUPIÑAN NA – He played
Subs Overall – 8.5
Coaching
LANDUCCI 7 – Some numbers for you:
Landucci vs small clubs (Bari, Udinese, Torino): 3-0-0 with 8 goals scored, 2 conceded – 2.7 gs/0.7 ga
Allegri vs small clubs (Cremonese, Lecce 2X, Pisa, Parma): 2-2-1 with 10 goals scored, 6 goals conceded – 2 gs/1.2 ga
Let the man cook!
Final Thoughts
Top of the table, baby! Love that feeling. I read Milan have 30 points or more after 14 matchdays for the first time since the Scudetto season. I like the sound of that. But they got to figure out how to beat the smaller teams and not have it be so laborious.
We get to see if they are learning their lesson this weekend as Sassuolo come to town on Sunday. And the damn thing is at 4:30am local for me! WTF?! (that’s 6:30am EST/10:30am GMT for everyone else)
Until then…
Forza Milan.
gillis
