AC Milan 1-0 Brescia: Five things we learned

By Ivan Stoev -

After the disappointment away from home against Udinese, Milan claimed their first win in the Giampaolo era with a 1-0 win against Brescia at San Siro.

Milan changed their formation to 4-3-2-1 this time around with Andre Silva leading the attack, unexpectedly, as Piatek was left on the bench.

Bennacer and Kessie started from the very first minute this time around, making the Rossoneri midfield look a lot better compared to the game against Udinese.

Here are five things we learned from the game…

1. Bennacer – the solution

Ismaël Bennacer arrived at the San Siro for €16million this summer after being named the Player of the Tournament of the African Cup of Nations.

The Algerian made his debut at home for the Rossoneri starting from the beginning and was arguably the best Milan player in the clash.

Great passing, effective dribbling and ball recovery are all attributes that a deep-lying midfielder should have, and it seems though Bennacer has them all.

Aged just 21, the midfielder is showing great potential and is introducing himself with style as Milan, finally, have found themselves the regista they have long-awaited.

2. Giampaolo not afraid to bench the “stars”

With Andre Silva starting, Giampaolo left Krzysztof Piatek on the bench and showed his clear intentions.

The coach stated more than once that he will play whoever he sees as fully fit, and this ways he puts the needs of Milan first.

Moreover, by showing the players that they have no guaranteed spot in the starting eleven, Giampaolo will boost the morale of his players, while having faith in every single one of them.

As we saw with Andre Silva’s display as the Portuguese showed some excellent movements and was a pleasant surprise.

Furthermore, he made Piatek react while coming on the field as the Poland international showed his best performance since Giampaolo’s arrival. Good tactics from the coach and the fans should be satisfied and patient.

3. Gigio being Gigio

The Milan goalkeeper was not very busy against Brescia but was brilliant when needed. Made a few crucial saves and was one of the reasons the Rossoneri secured the three points.

After a lot of speculation regarding his future, Donnarumma looks set to stay at Milan having rejected earlier advances from Paris Saint-Germain.

Game by game, the talented young goalkeeper, is showing how much talent he has, and hopefully, he will stay at the club for a long time.

He was on top form against Udinese in the season opener, but finally got a deserved clean sheet against Brescia on Saturday.

4. Silva lining

A tough decision to make but coach Giampaolo decided to leave the out of form Piatek on the bench as he started the game with Andre Silva instead.

While being heavily linked with a move away from the club, the former Porto striker did not have a nightmare.

Showing good technique on the ball, pace combined with great movements and good link-up plays with his teammates, the Portuguese showed that he possesses the quality to play in a top team with his mentality being the problem most of the times.

Time will tell whether or not Silva stays at Milan as there are only a few days left to the end of the transfer window, but after this display, he might have tempted Giampaolo to rely on him and help him develop into the player he was expected to be.

5. Milan showing squad depth

In the second half of the game, €70million duo Piatek and Paqueta were brought onto the field with Silva and Calhanoglu coming off.

Those two substitutions showed something that the team has lacked for quite a few seasons now, and that is squad depth.

An essential aspect of the game as the season has roughly 50 games, and with injuries and fatigue, you need to have proper substitutes that do not drag the quality of the team downwards.

With that being said, Milan look to have fixed that issue as excluding the two substations made, on the bench were the newly bought Rafael Leao, Rade Krunic and Leo Duarte.

Moreover, the likes of Giacomo Bonaventura and Theo Hernandez are almost entirely fit and ready to play with Mattia Caldara also recovering and expected to return in a month or so.

With all the players mentioned, Giampaolo looks to have a lot of quality on his disposal and hopefully when the players fully understand his style of play Milan will achieve their targets.


READ MORE: Ratings – AC Milan 1-0 Brescia – Chances created but Hakan decisive

Tags AC Milan Andre Silva Gianluigi Donnarumma Krzysztof Piatek Suso
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