AC Milan’s 24-game unbeaten run was ended by Parma on Sunday evening at San Siro, and the Scudetto dreams evaporated with it.
As is not an uncommon theme so far this season, Milan missed a number of chances to make it an easier game for themselves. Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao came closest, with the latter hitting the inside of the post, while some shots from distance tested Corvi in the Parma goal too.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
With 10 minutes left Parma got their winning goal as Troilo headed in a corner that was initially ruled out for at least one foul, with Mike Maignan and Davide Bartesaghi impeded. After a VAR review the goal was given by the referee, which has generated plenty of controversy.
As fate would have it, Parma also ended Milan’s 58-game streak in 1993 with a 1-0 win at San Siro. With Inter now 10 points clear at the top the title race is gone, and the mission becomes a top four spot. Below are five conclusions from the disappointed evening at the Meazza.
1. A familiar mistake
Davide Bartesaghi has had a breakout season and has cemented his spot in the starting XI, but it’s not all been smooth sailing as it’s quite evident he has plenty of room for improvement and his lack of experience has been costly at times.
Against Parma, the Italian was again at fault at the goal as he failed to mark his man from a set-piece. This has been the case on a few occasions this season with Bartesaghi struggling in this particular part of the game – headers at the far post – and he will need to put in the work to improve.
Whilst in others games it might have not been costly, against Parma it was the winning goal for the away side who struggled to create chances, and Milan shouldn’t have had troubles keeping at clean sheet.
Other teams could quite easily begin targeting it if it becomes a perceived flaw. That being said, we must point out that it did look as though Troilo gave himself every bit of leverage with a push in the back, though Bartesaghi was flat-footed and it looked like he never went for the ball.
2. Continued struggles
Fikayo Tomori started off the season rather well and showed signs that he was getting back to best self after an underwhelming couple of seasons. The right-sided centre-back role in the three-man defence looked tailor-made for him too.
However, as the season has progressed Tomori’s performances have only gotten worse as he keep making the same mistakes time and time again at the back. His positioning and awareness seem really poor as he struggles with the long balls, whilst his attacking contributions aren’t impressive either.
We wonder whether it might be his spot that falls when Koni De Winter, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic are all fit but. For now Tomori keeps getting chances, and there is talk of a renewal being imminent too, which may just be the gesture of confidence he needs.
3. Not enough alone
Adrien Rabiot and Luka Modric have both had marvellous seasons thus far and can hardly be blamed for Milan dropping points throughout the campaign, since the issues for the Rossoneri are either at the back or up front.
Against Parma it was no different with the two largely dictating the game in possession, setting the tempo. In the end it wasn’t enough since both Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic struggled to convert the chances they had or link up better with the midfield as a whole.
Seeing as a title race is pretty much out of the question now, Allegri will be hoping that Rabiot and Modric stay fit until the end of the season so Milan can seal their top four spot and return to the Champions League as early as possible.
Whilst the Frenchman is certainly going to be playing next season it’s yet to be determined if the Croatian will extend beyond the summer and if not the management will have a very difficult job to at least partially replace the leadership, experience and quality that Modric offers.
4. Lots of headaches
Allegri has done a tremendous job thus far in the season with Milan sitting second, and eight points clear of fifth place. This means that the return to the Champions League is nearing but there are lots of questions to be answered after the season ends.
The coach has opted for a 3-5-2 so far, which feels like the right fit at the moment since the squad doesn’t have natural full-backs. For most of the season there has been the lack of a natural striker too, to play a 4-3-3 for example.
It is also clear that some players are really struggling and the main one is obviously Leao, who – despite scoring eight goals and having two assists hasn’t looked his best all season. Some of that is fitness, but some of it is also the central role not allowing him to use his main strengths.
When Füllkrug came on the Portuguese shifted towards the wing and managed to get back to dribbling and crossing. While he can do the job as a striker, it just seems that he’s not the type of No.9 Allegri wants, which is more of a Moise Kean or Dusan Vlahovic type as per reports.
This big question might be Pulisic, who started the season on fire but has been struggling since the start of the year and hasn’t scored for two months. While this is also due to injuries in part, it’s fair to say that the American just players better when he has someone to play off and Leao isn’t that guy.
There’s lots of solutions and a formation change doesn’t necessarily need to be the one, but it’s quite evident that some reflections are needed about squad planning moving forward when the season draws to a close.
5. Running out of time
Füllkrug was meant to solve a problem Milan has had playing against low blocks as he is a tall physical striker that can play with his back to goal and link up with his team-mates. Excluding a few moments, he has struggled to have an impact and is seemingly not the right fit for the job.
Milan have continued to struggle against bottom half sides and Füllkrug hasn’t helped much. He seems too slow on and off the ball and hasn’t convinced Allegri to give him a start in any game barring Fiorentina away, when he came off after 60 minutes.
Unfortunately the German is looking yet another striker who Milan have brought to the club that can’t really get going. It’s getting a bit ridiculous at this point, especially given how much money was spent on Christopher Nkunku in the summer.
At the moment, it doesn’t seem as though €5m will be invested to make Füllkrug’s loan move into a permanent deal. There are still 12 games though for him to change the management’s mind.
Next season we should bet on Camarda and Kean or Vlahovic (depending on costs). A proper RB and a proper LB (lots of options on the Italian market) and a proven CB. Gimenez, Tomori, Estupinan, Athekame and RLC are free to go. 4-3-3 with the rest:
Maignan
Palestra/Salad – KDW/Gabbia – Pavlo/Comuzzo – Barte/Parisi
Jashari/Ricci – Modric/Goretzka/Fabbian (if Modric retires) – Rabbiot/Cassadei (?)
Puli/Nkuku – Kean/Camarda – Leao/Liberali (?)
Loaners should be sold also in this (extreme) senario 🙂
Article should be called “5 things we already knew”.
Only thing I learned is that it is possible for Milan to play in front of 75000 people in shiny red pyjamas.
Also think number 5 should read as Allegri running out of time to give Füllkrug a chance.
Pulisic was BY FAR the most dangerous player on the pitch last game and was subbed off – how crazy is that – the dude had 3 shots on goal and the keeper and defenders came up big to keep him out –
No doubt, though the folks here don’t seem to see it. If Allegri wants to go with two up front, then he should try Pulisic and Fulkrug together again. Pulisic was probably limited to 60 minutes from the get go. Leao can be a super sub. He’s a part time player even when he’s out there a full 90.
Even the stats say he should have scored from the next chance as in the early part of the season he scored one goal in less than two chances (which has now risen to a goal for 3 or 4 chances). He would have converted the next chance for sure.
And yes, he was the only one getting into the places and made room for others too.
Tomori and RLC should not be offered new contracts. They’re squad players at best.
Nkunku shouldn’t have been signed in the first place. It was a stupid move. The only thing he has going for him is he’s the only player that is accurate from the penalty spot.
So our problem is either attack or defense? Sounds like we should have bought Gila, but since the objective of Champions League is almost within reach maybe the management decide against spending more since the scudetto is just a dream anyway. As for attack, it’s a wonder if we could string a pass or 2 when the striker were always changing, I bet the next match would be with different set of striker as well.
Yeh we wanted to save 5mil by waiting for the summer to get Gila – makes sense doesn’t it when you see Gabbia Pavlo Tomori making mistake after mistake at the back…
Another thing we already knew – management are happy with top four finish. We were one point off inter in January and instead of buying a few reinforcements and going for the scudetto we get one striker with zero goals, who Max doesn’t even like much, and breaks his toe half an hour after signing…
Even if Füllkrug were 100% fit, Allegri wouldn’t have played him. He wants to keep the game at 0-0 until the dying minutes and using an actual striker might jeopardize that by scoring “too early”.
💯 – hence Leao/Pulisic partnership that everyone can see doesn’t work apart from him..
But hey, people here still say Allegri knows best – after all he has won scudetti. (Although the Milan squad would have won it even without a coach and also in Juve he had the best players in the league and he hasn’t won sh1t recent years). 🤷♂️
“Milan have continued to struggle against bottom half sides and Füllkrug hasn’t helped much. ”
Well, introducing him only for the last 15 minutes can have that effect.
“He seems too slow”
Oppose to Leao in his current form when playing as the striker? Or Nkunku who would lose even to Füllkrug in a 50m sprint?