AC Milan were defeated at the Juventus Stadium by a solitary Paulo Dybala goal on Saturday night, condemning the side to it’s fifth defeat in 11 games to start the season.
It was a strange game in many ways, one in which Milan looked comfortable without threatening at the other end. The one moment of quality in the game told.
After all the anticipation, it is sadly another big game where the side has failed to turn up, and so the inquest begins.
What did we learn from the defeat?
1. Back to square one
The same old problems seem to come about with this team.
Nobody was expecting miracles, in fact even the most ardent of fans may have expected Milan not to have come away with the victory from Turin.
However, I think everyone was expecting the team to give it more of a go than that. The defence looked well organised but only because nearly every man was behind the ball, and the attack was completely toothless.
The team never clicked; rarely using possession effectively and ultimately just waiting until Juventus did something with the ball themselves.
It was a huge opportunity to prove to the rest of the league that this team means business. It’s yet another let down.
2. Questions to be asked
Part of what I mentioned in the previous point has to be directed towards coach Mihajlovic.
It was under his orders that the team sat back to frustrate Juventus and make life difficult for them. The best thing that could have come from that set-up was a 0-0 draw, because there was no way the Rossoneri were scoring at the other end.
With all the questions surrounding Juve this season and their confidence being as fragile as it is, it wouldn’t have hurt to take the game to them and try and strike early. That is how you approach a game like this. Going into a shell was obviously going to produce the worst outcome.
Some may have been happy with a 0-0 draw. Understandably, the clean sheet would have been very nice, and they were very close to getting it. Sadly, it came at the expense of all creativity, and as soon as the score went to 1-0 the game was over.
3. Reverting to the past
Another negative point unfortunately has to be Alessio Cerci.
I will hold my hand up. I thought that, with Cerci being a confidence player, he may have turned a corner after the 2-1 win against Sassuolo.
Somehow, he has gone back to his frustrating self, putting in another poor display. He is a dynamic player, but he never takes the chances he is presented, and doesn’t offer enough from other areas of open play to warrant a place in the starting line-up.
It really is a shame, as a Torino-form Alessio Cerci would be a huge asset to this team and this formation in particular. His time is on the pitch is up; his time on the bench must begin.
4. A solitary positive
The goal aside, the team actually looked very organised against (on paper) one of the best attacking forces in the league.
The defensive duo of Romagnoli and Alex seem to be complementing each other very well, and Luca Antonelli is a very consistent performer on the left side.
Realistically, Ignazio Abate isn’t good enough, but he was far from the worst player on the pitch on Saturday night.
My only worry is that this solidarity came due to the fact the team kept men behind the ball and played a conservative game, rarely threatening at all up the other end.
It almost worked against the champions, but it didn’t, and there is no way the team should set up like that again this season.
5. All is not lost
Although it is very easy to get down about things at the club, it is crucial that the team do not.
There are five very winnable games coming up; Sampdoria, Carpi (A), Hellas Verona, Frosinone (A) and Bologna.
If any European football is the objective this season, the team has to win four of them. No disrespect to the opponents, but the squad is good enough to win them all without question.
Mihajlovic needs to tell the team that there is life in this yet.
So, that is what I took from another rather depressing game.
Every week I hope this team will prove me wrong, but I’m yet to see anything other than the same concerning signs.
A big change is needed in the mentality.
Article by Oliver Fisher
Our mentality is reality the problem.I dont recall milan coming from behind to win a game.When am watching our matches and we concede first its game over for me.
Mentality isnt the only problem but the midfield yes we have a bunch of average players but the midfield is where we either loose or win the game because the defence is holding their own and the attack cant do what they are supposed to without the support. Its time Mauri and Suso get a chance and let Montolivo take a seat. Use a formation that doesnt require a deep lying playmaker, abate is ok but calabria or sciglio should be used ahead of him. Surprising that ALex is playing well with Romag so good for him i hope Ely… Read more »
We need Monti. Him and bonaventura are the only ones who can produce a decent final pass or even a pass
All the big teams who we expect to beat us have beaten us,Napoli,Foirentina,Inter,Juventus,we can’t even spring up surprises,what a shame,the only surprised we have sprung is against Lazio,and I forgot there is another surprise,the abysmal display against Atlanta,sorry to say but our midfield is yuck,only bona deserves to be on the bench of a Milan midfield
that is right … we must win this four mutches Sampdoria, Carpi , Hellas Verona , Frosinone and Bologna .
a mention should be given to poor performance from montolivo and his terrible ”long balls”
in one of these ”esaier” games we could try a 4-4-2 with calabria instead of MDS and abate ,in midfield, we could try suso on right, berto and somone in centre and bona on left and in attack bacca and adriano
Better than having terrible long balls than no long balls don’t u think? Coz I don’t see anyone else who can do his job
We are doomed the defense going well bcoz we come to turin for defence… Miha is total idiot make to mistake in game aprouch substitute and player decision..its so depressing watch that game… I believe I can coach better than miha… Please just bring seedorf or Pippo back… Remember Pippo not get 100m n seedorf only get essien
Calm down , the team is doing better than last year . Patience is the key in our Milan right now ! I was very sceptical about this season , so far there is a progress . Forza Milan and with a bit of luck we will win our next four matches .
I’m amazed at the amount of people on this blog that are still crying for Suso to get playing time. If he can’t beat out Cerci or Kucka what does that tell you? In preseason he was horrible. No reason for him to get any minutes in my mind. Mauri on the other hand should be starting in midfield. Should have been there all season. He’s young, hungry, and most of all talented with great vision on the field. He also brings a speed element that we don’t have at all. There were countless times passes to Bacca amounted to… Read more »
Thank you
Just being honest. I am amazed at the amount of people in love with Suso. A guy who cant even beat out Cerci for a starting spot.
both suso and cerci were equally poor in preseason and in early stages of the season. I didnt see cerci doing anything special that suso can’t to be honest… individually suso have better dribbling accuracy and vision plus he can still develop. not being able to bench kucka and cerci might have to do with the coachs tactical preference, just like he’s keeping mauri out when you think he should be played. others must be really bad for cerci to be best choice at this moment bro
Here is my take on this team: 1-The only coaches that had moderate success coaching AC Milan in the last 5 years or so realized that Constant was a better LB than Abate – that’s a nice way of saying that Abate f/n sucks ! 2-What is Honda doing on AC Milan ? 3-Why is Poli still on the roster ? 4-No Bertolacci no party ! 5-If It took 80+Million and Milan finishes 2 spots higher than last year then my math says it will take over 320 million in player investment to become scudetto winners. If that’s the money… Read more »
Funny to mention the fact that Constant was a better LB than Abate. Of course, Constant is a left footed natural left wing player while Abate has never (at least to my recall) played on the left and is right footed. That comparison is almost as relevant as saying that Bacca is a better striker than Alex. That being said, your argument isn’t viable. Not that I’m a huge Abate fan, but tbh, MDS hasn’t been that convincing this season that Abate or even Calabria wouldn’t at least deserve consideration for a spot in the starting XI. As much as… Read more »
I said it in our whatsapp group about our midfield but most guyz are condeming Mauri. Its time for mihaj to find solution with this guy with what he did with Gigi.
Whats the whatsapp group? Id be interested in joining?
Comment:Pleas add me to the whatsapp chat. My number: +2348066187917
Guys… we need two type of players…
One player who will be a leader, who will mentally carry the team… someone who has winning in his head… someone like Ibra…. A big ego with the right attitude…
And one player who is quiet, hardworking and creative… someone like Modrić… who gives his all and who makes everybody around him play better… no goals, no assists, but his impact is unbelivable….
Couldn’t agree with you more we need Ibra again not as much for his quality but leadership that you do everything to be the best that’s why milan fans are so sad now because we are losing and no one has that type of heart (except little Gigi)
Its strange how the writer of this article and every other person failed to see that ABATE was the cause of that goal. He was way ahead of Aleksandro (Juve LB) as the ball was coming from above and Abate with no reaction at all allowed Alex Sandro (who was about 3meters behind him) to reach the ball ahead of him and place a cross to Dybala and Dybala finished the ball off. That guy Abate doesn’t care about this team, he plays like “I can’t kill myself, afterall its just a game”, he plays with no spirit and reaction.… Read more »
Abate was at fault for the goal yes, but the “sit back and pray” game-plan didnt help either. You can only absorb so much pressure before the game is broken open.
Abate was resonsible for the goal? Whats wrong with ppl here?? There is about 10% of fans here that really understand football and you are not one of them!! If abate was responsible for the goal, then also it was cerci’s faul when he didnt score from poli’s “super pass” the other game. Wake up. Alex is the one to blame, go and watch the replays and u will see (hopefully) that alex is to blame, poli is to blame for that TERRIBLE pass he made to cerci, But you like 90% other here, blame cerci for poli’s pass and… Read more »
Lol. It’s quite apparent you know absolutely nothing about what you are talking about. Abate had the job of eliminating outside crosses. He was doing it all game, he didn’t seal his man out and he cut inside allowing dybala to break free, alex had the stopper duty but he was also tasked with shutting Mandzukic down. Dybals was not his responsibility. You just like to come on here rag on everyone for not knowing what they are talking about when it is you who has no idea and just comes here to upset people.
Bless your heart.
Comment:for me..we will never move forward if d coach keeps playing montolivo…d guy is trash..his poor defensively… he doesn’t contribute anything offensively….he’s useless to the team…period!!!
Well, like that bonera guy was saying. Bonera would have been a great leader for this team, you know?
The biggest problem with the team is that we have a bunch of nobody’s thinking they’re somebody
El Classico was better tbh.
How far was back was it when we played with the same quality, 10 years? Confident in possession and with great control in the final 3rd…I hope to see us play at that level soon!
Abate just came back from so called injury and was called up because he was abate damn last season under pipo he only had few crosses at begining of the season and thats the end,i think he should sit under that canopy too and let calabria play….Where is the group chat.i wanna join forza milan
Juve are weak at the moment so I have absolutely no idea what Miha was thinking in this match…. 1. sitting back like we’re playing Barcelona, and 2. playing Abate at right back. (Insider Tip: just because the headless chicken’s fit again, Miha, doesn’t mean you have to play him)
Evras injury was one of the worst things that could have happened. He was not sharp and making numerous mistakes. A particular area we could have exploited. And then Alex Sandro came on and put the right side of our defense under so much pressure the rest of the match with his speed and desire to attack. On our end, you can blame miha for his approach, but for christ’s sake the players need to take some responsibility, they could not string the simplest of passes together when we had the ball for rare spells
I agree with most here we need to give mauri a shot in the next few games replace kucka with him and we won’t be taking such a risk. Although I don’t agree with Suso he had his chance and he needs to really impress to start again maybe a sub in the next few games is reasonable. Most people I think Dont want him to end up like the other Ricky and I personally think he doesn’t have that quality.
are u think with this kind of tactic we can win?? …its better to see trio el sharawy menez and honda when doing counter attacking check replay now when we got chance to counter we cant coz cerci and niang always try to beat opponent 1 vs 1 different with last year wear el92 menez and honda doin pass and run while menez beat opponent and thats effective its beetter than see this 1 7 3 formation.. u hear what miha said in pre confrence?he gonna give juve trouble… what kind of trouble? i been a milan fan since 1998… Read more »
As for ME, MYSELF & I.. I have ZERO expectations from this team.. Absolutely no passion and pride from the management down to the least player in the squad. Milan keep betraying my loyalty.
In another news, Mr. legendary Seedorf is being considered as the next Newcastle manager once McClaren gets the sack. I see Honda going in that direction and probably DE Jong.
I like mihas selection excpet for the fact that HE NEVER PLAYS MAURI!! The kid is what? 20?? Give him a chance! Hes prob going to be better than monto tbh
Mihajlovic’s approach was completely a disgrace, playing with fear like those bottom-three teams, sitting at the back and parking the bus. Well we all have seen the results. Our defense is maybe better than what it used to be. Our midfield is something else maybe we should change our tactics and use double-pivot in a 4-2-3-1 formation in that way we can be able to press and keep position and bring back De Jong as a CDM and 1 centre mid with good vision and last but not least play Berto in the CAM position with Bona and Niang in… Read more »
Honestly, I think Abate was easily the worst player on the pitch. Tactically, his ineffectiveness diminished Cerci’s impact on the game. Cerci had an awful game, granted, but he was greeted by at least 2 Juve players every time he touches the ball. My only concern was that Miha couldn’t pin point where the in-game problem was, instead, he brought Jack to CM role with Monto. It worked(Kinda) but we lacked that final connection only he can provide. I’ll like to see Bacca take mins off(Not necessarily a game) so, Niang could play in CF role while being flanked by… Read more »
Add me on the whatsapp group
heres my number : 0631271488
Comme:wel tbh i love miha,i believe he can do it just give im the right midfid and it is over.i tink a 442 atac wil b better if menez and balo is available,dona,cal,rom,alex,antn,berto,djong,jack menez,bacca,balo
The problem is the same as it’s been since 2009/2011 that we haven’t been able to string 3 passes together in midfield and that no-one provides service to the attack (funnily enough in that space of time we sold Kaka, Ronaldinho and Pirlo!). The attack isn’t perfect but I think guys like Balo and Bacca will score a good amount of goals if given the right service. In the summer I was desperate for us to sign a top class centre midfielder like Gundogan or Kovavic, instead we chased the painfully average likes of Bertolacci and Soriano. I really hope… Read more »
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