A lot of wasted chances, lack of concentration, many players playing out of position. All this and much more lead to a disappointing lunch-time 0-1 defeat against Sampdoria at the San Siro.
The match started in a very dynamic manner and both teams played in an attacking fashion. The new man Gerard Deulofeu seemed to be everywhere on the right side and was very dangerous in the opening minutes of the match.
In the 15th minute, after Deulofeu’s cross into the box, Bertolacci could have sent Milan into the lead, but his shot was too weak to cause Viviano any trouble. The Italian midfielder then fired a shot from distance, but Viviano was again very attentive.
Sampdoria, however, did not just sit back and watch, a couple of minutes later Luis Muriel got into a great chance, but his shot was blocked by Paletta.
Overall, Milan continued to be the dominant team, as expected at home. But imprecision and a somewhat gritty passing game let Vincenzo Montella’s men down on many occasions.
This imprecision sometimes lead to big errors. For example Deulofeu’s back pass to the center backs which was intercepted by the opponent’s players, who then had a counter attack in which Donnarumma pulled off a huge save on Sampdoria’s Linetty.
That was probably the first big chance of the game, as Milan continued to hold possession but in a very static manner. Occasionally Suso and Deulofeu caused trouble, but except Suso’s shot from a Deulofeu pass, all of it had little impact. Which is why at half time the match was goalless.
As expected, in the second half it was a much hungrier team, at least at the beginning. In the 48th minute, Deulofeu could have celebrated his debut at the San Siro with a goal, but he hit the post from the rebound after great work from Kucka and Suso, who created the chance.
Milan then started to look much more fresh, Bertolacci worked well with Pasalic, whose shot was blocked. The Croatian had another great chance after Deulofeu found him in the box, but the shot went just wide.
Montella’s team continued to be the protagonist of the match, despite being a somewhat gritty protagonist, but one mistake ruined it all. Today’s captain Cristian Zapata lost the ball foolishly in the middle of the field and from a counter-attack, Sampdoria won a penalty after Paletta fouled Quagliarella. Muriel had no problem converting and the Blucerchiati went into a shocking 0-1 lead at the San Siro.
Afterwards the side was in complete chaos. Montella tried to revive the team by sending Lapadula, Abate and the new signing Ocampos on, but there was little concentration from the players and instead of equalising, Milan almost conceded when Djuricic’s shot almost went in.
In the dying minutes of the match, the substitute Lapadula could have at least saved a point for the hosts, but his shot was somehow saved by Viviano. After this, it was pure despair from the team and Sosa put the cherry on the bitter cake with his last-minute red card after a second booking.
Milan have now lost three games in a row in Serie A, as European position seem more and more distant after every match day. On Wednesday the team will travel to Bologna to seek redemption against Roberto Donadoni’s team, who will look for the same after a 1-7 humiliation against Napoli on Saturday.
