AC Milan 0-1 Atalanta: Five things we learned – indivudual errors and lack of balance

AC Milan needed a win against Atalanta in their pursuit of a European ticket but instead, they were brought down to earth. As always, we have highlighted five takeaways from the game. 

It was a rather boring start to the game, with very little happening in the first half aside from a Luka Jovic shot (went wide) and the great counter-attacking opportunity for Rafael Leao. The winger got dispossessed too easily and the San Siro drought thus continued.

Then, in the second half, Milan tried to bring a bit more intensity going forward, but that immediately opened up more space for Atalanta on the counter. Indeed, in the 62nd minute, Ederson made it 1-0 after a lovely attack from the away side.

The Rossoneri then failed to cause proper issues for Atalanta, with their only shot on target being more of a pass, and the game ended in defeat. Below are five things we learned from the game…

1. Lack of balance proves costly again

Milan have been dreadful against sides above them in the league this season. Given their position in the standings, currently 9th, that means there are 8 teams against which the Rossoneri have had a lot of struggles.

Against Atalanta, it was made obvious why as the team lacked any kind of balance throughout the game. In the first half, the Rossoneri were the ones defending for the majority of it and on the few occasions they did go forward, they weren’t clinical enough to make a difference.

Then, in the second half, when Milan did try to attack more properly, there was no balance between the defence and attack. The team got exposed too easily on counter, giving plenty of space to Atalanta to punish them.

Youssouf Fofana was a very good example as he did well for the opening hour or so, but then when Milan tried to apply pressure, he wasn’t good enough in transition. He often lost the ball, allowing Atalanta to counter, and then he wasn’t in the right positions to cover defensively.

It’s also fair to say that the attack failed to create anything worthwhile, while the midfield didn’t quite keep the ball enough to bring calmness to the game. Overall, it’s going to be a very busy summer for the management with many fundamental problems to fix.

2. Inconsistency is here to stay

It always seems to be seasons of ups and downs when it comes to Rafael Leao. When he’s great, he makes the fans forget his poor performances even if they were recent, but then he dips and the cracks become so evident.

It has been no different this season, during which we have seen plenty of ups and downs from the Portuguese. Given that he has managed double digits in goals and assists for four seasons in a row, you would imagine that the numbers would have been even better with consistency.

Maybe he will never find it, and Milan might need to face the facts when they re-evaluate the squad in the summer, especially if a huge offer were to come in.

Focusing on the game against Atalanta, though, he really should have stepped up and scored that chance in the first half. Bellanova caught up to him and dispossessed him easily. You would expect a lot more from Leao in that situation, given his pace and physicality.

3. Jimenez and Pulisic struggle on the right

The Spanish youngsters did okay, all things considered, as he combined well with his teammates and had a couple of good moments in attack, despite the lack of danger created. However, he struggled a bit at the back, especially against Ademola Lookman which kind of diminishes his performance.

Christian Pulisic, on the other hand, was poor in every aspect of the game as he pretty much had one successful dribble all game and contributed with nothing in attack. He was also very high up the pitch on Atalanta’s goal, so it was a game to forget for him as he brought nothing to the table.

In short, as a whole the right-hand side wasn’t exactly strong for Milan and it showed, with most of the attacks going through the left.

4. Jovic not enough

It’s true that the Serbian missed a great chance in the first half, but it’s fair to say that he was the best attacking player for the Rossoneri as he constantly combined with his teammates, dropped back to help in the build-up. In general, he just seemed more motivated to make something happen, winning a lot of duels and picking up loose balls.

That being said, Milan need more from their striker (yes, a goal would be nice!). So if that chance in the first half had gone, we would have been talking about heavy praise for the striker. Now, however, the question marks remain regarding his contribution and he’s probably heading for an exit in the summer.

5. Three at the back has some positives

Overall, it was a game to forget given the outcome, struggles in the attack and the overall approach. However, the three-amn defence did work rather well for a big part of the game, at least if we exclude Atalanta’s goal.

For starters, both Hernandez and Jimenez were a lot more active on the flanks. Especially the Frenchman has picked up the pace in recent weeks, as he seems to enjoy the freedom in this new formation.

Then, Matteo Gabbia, Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic did well to contain Atalanta for the majority of the game. The Serbian could have done better on the goal, that’s a fact, but the counter was really good by the away side and there were a lot of individual errors in the build-up to that goal.

Then again, other than the goal, Mike Maignan had little to do which is rather impressive given the attacking power Atalanta has.