Milan welcomed Lecce to the San Siro for the second time this season (in the Coppa Italia back in September) and managed to take home the W. Beating a team 3 times in one season is never easy, even an historically small club, so massive credit to Allegri and the team for getting it done. The next 3 or weeks will be interesting but Milan got off on the right foot.
Milan still labored in this game and Lecce did them some favors by playing for a draw. But the team played better attacking football at times and either lacked the final product, or more likely, Lecce keeper Wladimiro Falcone once again against Milan found the god-mode setting and kept out some sure fire goals. Falcone’s xG conceded was 3.22, and since he only gave up 1 that means his xG saved was 2.22, which was higher than Maignan’s against Como to give you some perspective (1.88).
This meant Milan needed something a little bit extra and they got that from a similar formula to the last game midweek against Como – long ball, delivery, cool finish. Essentially Milan used a long ball (Gabbia) to Saelemaekers, who tracked it down and just barely got a cross in before the ball went out for a goal kick. The ball found it’s way across the front of goal and new arrival Niclas Füllkrug connected on a wonderful glancing header into the opposite corner, full avoiding the ridiculously in-form Falcone. It was a badly needed goal and Füllkrug, who has been salve for Milan’s attack up top, did what he is expected to do.
Füllkrug is making Allegri…one would hope…think twice about sticking with the 3-5-2 formation. Or, at least one starting 2 wingers up top. With a week now between games, maybe we see him make the change although traveling to Roma might put that change on the back burner for another week. Still, Füllkrug probably needs to start and Leão really should be given the opportunity to rest and let his groin injury heal. He’s lacking that burst and if Milan does go back to a winger formation that burst will be needed out wide. So, I would at least try and hold him out of the Roma game if at all possible.
Other things I liked was Jashari and really the interior 3 of the midfield. Ricci played a hell of game as did Rabiot, but I was most impressed with Jashari. After the dud in his last start, I think we saw the truer version in this game. He had the most balls played forward in the game for both teams and covered the most ground for Milan. I loved how he wasn’t easily dispossessed, and had a lot of line-breaking runs and passes. He needs to play more.
Gabbia is back to form defensively but has got to do a better job on headers. He had 3 chances in this and didn’t get one on target. Estupiñan is looking more and more like an expensive backup, and I thought De Winter had a nice game after being a little shaky vs Como. All this being said, I’m relatively happy with the performance especially considering some squad rotation but I’d still rather see Milan get that early goal and bait the opponent to get forward. How they performed for about 15-20 minutes in the second half, culminating in the Füllkrug goal, is how I want to see them attack out of the gates. Make these smaller clubs uncomfortable then bury them.
Finally, Fossa Hall of Famer Nonno Michael Lisi (damn that’s a long title!) shared some stats in the matchday post that I’d thought I share. He said (paraphrasing):
If the top 6 were a mini-table we would be top with 13 points from 5 games. Then Napoli with 11 from 6, and Inter with 7 from 6. As long as we keep that kind of form up we are just fine. I think we finish right around 82-83 points.
There you go! A Nonno prediction. Jot it down and then take it to the bank. Nonno usually knows what he’s talking about!
What Happened in Serie A
Another round in the books. Let’s do a quick recap.
Inter (1st) got another early goal and rode that all the way to the 0-1 victory over Udinese (10th). Inter has won 5 of their last 6 in league play with the other being a draw. Champions League starts again for them this week, combined with hopefully a regression and maybe Milan can overtake them.
Napoli (3rd) just got their first win in their last 4 league games, beating Sassuolo (11th) 1-0. They too are about to head back to European play and are hoping they can just tread water in the league. Roma (4th) jumped into the top 4 by beating Torino (14th) 0-2 on a just-arrived Donyell Malen goal 26 minutes in and a Dybala clincher in the 72nd minute. Roma jumped over Juventus (5th), who suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss at Cagliari (15th). They’ve now dropped points in 2 of their last 4 league games.
Como (6th) bounced back after their Milan defeat, beating Lazio (9th) 3-0 behind a Nico Paz brace. We all saw Como playing good football last week, not surprised by this result as they probably had some anger to let out. Atalanta (7th) got a late goal to go up 1-0 but gave up an equalizer just 4 minutes later in the 87th minute to draw to Pisa (19th) 1-1. Disappointing result as they’re trying to catch Como for the last European spot. Rounding out the top of half the table, Bologna (8th) dropped points to a somewhat surging Fiorentina (17th), losing 1-2. A very late Bologna made it look closer than it was.
Rounding out the rest of the games were some snooze-fests with Cremonese (12th) drawing 0-0 to Hellas Verona (20th) and Parma (13th) also drawing 0-0 to Genoa (16th). Gross.
Now, ratings.
Player Ratings
Goal Keeping
MAIGNAN 7 – Giving him a 7 even though he only faced 3 shots, none of them on target. Because why not? It’s not like he messed up.
Goal Keeping Overall 7
Defense
TOMORI 7 – Punching in. Punching out. Blue collar kind of day.
GABBIA 7.5 – Improvement from the last game and that was already solid. Have you noticed he’s had some free headers of late and hasn’t been on target? Got to get those in frame.
DE WINTER 7.5 – Much better and really controlled his side, which with Estupiñan over there is a must.
Defense Overall 7.5
Midfield
SAELEMAEKERS 8 Co-MOTM – Another great game. Had a bad touch on a overhit cross that could’ve been a SOT but other than that, great game all around.
RICCI 7.5 – Best game as a Rossoneri? Maybe. Sure was good throughout.
JASHARI 7.5 – THIS is what I’ve been wanting to see. Had some great tackles, carried the ball through traffic, and broke lines with his runs and passing.
RABIOT 7.5 – A bull.
ESTUPIÑAN 6.5 – Better defensively than he had been of late but still that same regression pattern since the start of the year. His first touch is brutal too.
Midfield Overall 7.5
Forwards
PULISIC 6.5 – Another missed golden opportunity, although he needed to be absolutely perfect on his shot to get it by god-mode Falcone and it was just barely not that. Still, this is that regression I was talking about earlier in the season. It’s not a knock on Pulisic, he was just never going to maintain that goal-scoring pace nor the efficiency.
LEÃO 7 – He’s still laboring out there. REST HIM ALLEGRI.
Forwards Overall 7
Subs
FÜLLKRUG 8 Co-MOTM – Exactly what the team needed. Pure class on the header.
LOFTUS-CHEEK 6.5 – Had some nice challenges.
ATHEKAME 6.5 – I like him. Want to see more. Switch to a back-4, Allegri.
MODRIĆ NA – He played.
NKUNKU NA – He played.
Subs Overall 7
Coaching
ALLEGRI 6.5 – It was a better game plan (?) or execution (?) than we’ve seen vs smaller clubs, although Lecce was coming in for a 0-0 draw. As mentioned in the editorial, that stretch in the second half is what I want to see out of the games. Attack, attack, attack, then bait them forward after you get your goal. Then sting them on the counter. Effectively tie the game off by halftime.
Final Thoughts
With how Milan played…and Lecce, I wasn’t really worried about a draw but Milan left it a bit later than I think any of us wanted. But they found a way and that hasn’t exactly been a given this season. So let’s take it and move forward!
Roma up next on Sunday at the Olimpico. Game at 2:45pm EST/7:45pm GMT. Should be a fun one.
Forza Milan.
gillis
