One step forward, two steps back [Newsletter]
It wasn’t to be for AC Milan as their winning streak came to an end on Saturday evening. Fiorentina were the better side, by a clear margin, and the Rossoneri now must recharge their batteries ahead of the Tottenham return. Unfortunately, though, the loss has resulted in some question marks.
La Viola, led by Stefano Pioli’s nemesis Vincenzo Italiano, dominated the game especially in the first half. Even though the final scoreline was 2-1, the three points never really seemed in doubt after Fiorentina took the lead. Theo Hernandez’s late rocket acted as a slight confidence boost, instead. As always, if you want the news bulletin straight away, scroll down!
It should be mentioned that Milan have struggled against Italiano in the past. In fact, three of Pioli's six away Serie A losses in charge of the Rossoneri have come against Vincenzo Italiano sides (Spezia in 2021, Fiorentina in 2021 and 2023). However, it’s also clear that they took two steps back on Saturday evening.
The defensive cohesiveness we saw in the four-game winning streak was completely gone. Fikayo Tomori never looked comfortable in possession and his defending was too reckless, while Malick Thiaw always opted for a backpass and also made a couple of fatal mistakes. It’s the last thing we wanted to see ahead of the Tottenham return, to be honest.
The collective breakdown aside though, from the defence to the attack, there are more creeping issues to deal with here. Why did Tiemoue Bakayoko get the chance again, with both Tommaso Pobega Pobega and Aster Vranckx on the bench? And why did Yacine Adli get the chance with just seven minutes to go at 2-0 down?
Pioli’s tendency to give the youngsters/new signings the chance under poor circumstances is becoming very frustrating from a fan perspective. It’s almost like he’s doing it just for the sake of it, to be able to tell the media afterwards that he did indeed give the youngsters a chance.
The reality, however, is that the likes of Malick Thiaw and Charles De Ketelaere wouldn’t have started if it hadn’t been for injuries. And Adli’s appearance off the bench never would have materialised. If the new signings never get a proper chance, under the right circumstances, how can we properly judge them?
Moving forward, there needs to be an ever clearer line between the signings made by the management and the players used by the manager. For now, however, let’s focus on the crucial Tottenham clash. A win would be fantastic for the confidence and would boost Milan in the top-four pursuit.
News bulletin
➤ Milan Primavera won only their second league game of 2023 beating Cagliari 1-0 away from home thanks to another winner from midfielder Kevin Zeroli, who scored the decisive goal in the UEFA Youth League win over Rukh Lviv too. Ignazio Abate's side are now 14th in the league, three points above the relegation play-off zone.
➤ The Milan Women will take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their Coppa Italia semi-final against Roma as Martine Piemonte got the decisive goal at Vismara on Sunday afternoon.
➤ Milan's shaky start to 2023 has rather unsurprisingly given rise to rumours that there could be a big shake-up in the summer, with the likes of Ante Rebic, Divock Origi, Tommaso Pobega and Junior Messias among eight at risk of departing to make room for new faces.
➤ The playmaker role continues to be the subject of mystery as do the debut seasons for Charles De Ketelaere and Yacine Adli, but we took a look at their heat maps and compared them with Brahim Diaz plus how Hakan Calhanoglu operated to try and get to the bottom of the problem.
➤ Malick Thiaw could well end up being the story of the season for Milan and yet another bargain secured under the current management. His agent Gordon Stipic revealed that his slow integration into the line-up was always planned, and that Maldini and Massara had convinced him to join the Rossoneri over the Premier League in the summer.
➤ The future of Rafael Leao feels like a longer-running soap opera than Dallas at this stage, and the latest reports suggest that no progress in being made in renewal talks with Jorge Mendes having offered him to a top European club, while Manchester City are keen and Chelsea are too despite Milan offering a deal worth €35m net.
➤ The predicted XI for tomorrow’s clash against Tottenham is a bit all over the place as Brahim Diaz just recovered from his injury and Olivier Giroud managed to get rid of a fever, after both being doubts. It seems they could start, but if not then Rade Krunic and Divock Origi are in pole position. In defence, there is a battle between Malick Thiaw and Simon Kjaer.
In case you missed it
Make sure to check out the five things we learned from the disappointing loss against Fiorentina and our latest podcast episode.