Despite a summer of change, AC Milan were beaten, deservedly, in the first game of the season by Cremonese, a newly promoted side.
Having recruited Massimiliano Allegri and Igli Tare in short succession, this was always going to be a highly anticipated season for Milan, especially after their eighth-place finish in the league last season.
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There was plenty of good business in the transfer market with the management finally able to generate funds through sales, and there were also some interesting arrivals, although business might not have been wrapped up just yet.
Regardless, the current squad should have been enough to get past Cremonese in the Serie A opener at the San Siro. But Milan, again, managed to disappoint, as they have on numerous occasions in the last couple of seasons.
The Rossoneri did not start the game badly, and they were in control for most of the opening period. However, a lack of communication in the box allowed Baschirotto to open the scoring.
Just before the half-time whistle, the Diavolo levelled through Strahinja Pavlovic in added time as the Serb made the most out of Pervis Estupinan’s cross and headed the ball well to beat Audero.
The expectations for the second half were for Milan to push even more and complete the comeback, and the Rossoneri did start the half well. However, their familiar struggles in the opponent’s third prevented them from scoring, whilst Cremonese were patiently waiting for their chances on the counter.
And that patience paid off handsomely in the 61st minute when Bonazzoli scored an incredible goal to form the final 2-1 scoreline after finding himself unmarked in the Rossoneri penalty box.
Here are five things we learned from the opening game of the season:
1. New season, same problems in attack
A lot of work has been done during this transfer window, but the attacking department has still not been addressed properly.
The management sold quite a few players, some of which was very good business, but they have not yet brought in the new striker that Allegri wants and needs. In the 90 minutes against Cremonese, it was evident from the game that one must arrive.
Santiago Gimenez doesn’t look capable of leading the line, as he struggles with his hold-up play and ball control, and is more of a poacher, but against these low blocks, he will hardly succeed.
Then, it will be interesting to see how both Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic fare in the 3-5-2 that Allegri is sticking with. The Portuguese showed that he can adapt during pre-season, but it is still unknown if the American will find his place in this new formation.
Finally, we saw Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Youssouf Fofana playing further up the pitch, and their attacking contribution was pretty much zero. Allegri will need to find a different solution if he wants to get goals out of his midfield, and having this particular duo on the pitch doesn’t seem like the answer, despite his 15-goal wishes.
2. Midfield department still feels incomplete
It’s been an overhaul in the midfield this summer, and one could argue that the quality now is higher than it was last season, especially given that Luka Modric arrived from Real Madrid.
Saying that, what Milan had in Tijjani Reijnders was a player who was comfortable in tight spaces and had the technical capabilities to move the ball around fast and dribble his way out of trouble, not to mention the goal-scoring abilities.
The management has not really found a solution to this, and we saw against Cremonese that Loftus-Cheek and Fofana offer very little in terms of passing, dribbling or shooting, really. Both of them struggled with the tight spaces and lost the ball quite a few times.
Not to mention that Fofana was not interested in marking his man on the second goal, whilst you can also make an argument that Loftus-Cheek should’ve kept a closer eye on Baschirotto on the opener.
The duo might be good when Milan play better teams, ones that don’t sit back and actually give empty space for Fofana or Loftus-Cheek to run into. Against most teams in Serie A, they will offer little to nothing in their current state, though.
That being said, Modric can play further up whilst Samuele Ricci can be the regista, which brings more technical ability further up the pitch. However, the issue with that is that the Croatian might not be physically able to play every game, and if he is not on the pitch, then the variety in that midfield is very little.
It will be interesting to see how Allegri addresses this and if a new midfielder does arrive before the end of the window. At the moment, the department seems a bit incomplete.
3. Shaky debut for Estupinan
The Ecuadorian had a rather disappointing debut at the San Siro, despite his assist for Pavlovic in the dying minutes of the first half, and he was subbed off by Allegri at half-time.
With good reason, too, the left-back struggled with his runs and lost the ball on various occasions. His only positive? The assist, if we are being honest, as harsh as it may be.
That’s not to say that he is a bad player, quite the opposite, he has proven himself in the Premier League. Instead, he still needs time to adjust to the team and the league.
The cross for the goal showed a glimpse of his qualities, but he has a lot more to offer and it will be interesting to see how he fares in that left wing-back position as the season progresses.
4. Leao dependant, again
Despite all the changes in the club this summer, it’s fair to say that Leao will be the key to Milan’s success during the season.
If Allegri manages to take the Portuguese to the next level, meaning the winger finally finds consistency, then the outcome of the season might be pretty good, given that the new manager should be able to toughen the defence. The real problems are up front, where no investment has been made yet, and again all hope lies on the shoulders of Leao.
The winger has shown maturity during pre-season as he did well in the new 3-5-2 formation, even scoring a couple of headed goals. Though a familiar problem has been exposed against Cremonese: there isn’t another player that can impact the game as the Portuguese can, and the squad lacks the creativity up front.
Hopefully, there is a reaction after the loss, and Tare manages to bring some firepower before the transfer window closes.
5. Modric dazzles
The Croatian got to start the game at the San Siro and, as you might have expected, he was the best player on the pitch.
Unfortunately, his good performance was overshadowed by the loss, but Modric played an excellent game. He covered a lot of ground and worked well in tight spaces, which was exactly what Milan needed to break down Cremonese.
Frustratingly, the former Real Madrid player didn’t receive any help from his new teammates, which marred the game.
The midfielder’s passing was class, and he barely got a foot wrong; he found the space between the lines perfectly. He was even close to scoring a goal himself, but the keeper denied him.
Overall, it was a very positive performance in which the Croat showcased his abilities on the ball but also his good physical condition. It will be exciting to watch him this season, provided his body does not catch up with him too much.
Nico Paz. What a player, what a pass for the goal 👏.
Cesc Fabregas has Como playing beautiful football again. They are suffocating Sarri’s Lazio.
BTW, not a single Italian in the Como starting lineup.
Nico Paz. What a player, what a goal from a set piece.
Whats your point, Milan had only one Italian and yet they lost from Italian filed Cremonese. But i guess it didn’t suit your narative to mention that yesterday lol. Btw Como invests way more than Lazio so no surprise there.
Just an observation. Don’t let facts hurt your feelings.
Como plays a beautiful football and wins. Their coach is Spanish while their player base is Spanish and Argentinian. Current European and World Champions.
Cremonese plays park the bus ugly football and they are a prime candidate to get relegated. Maybe being filled with Italian players has something to do with it.
How is that for a narrative?
Its nonsensical. Here’s why. Como invests way more money. They invest on pair with top/upper teams in Italy. So normally they will have better players. So nothing to do with the players nationality. Thats even silly outlook, not fact. You can get bunch of cheap Argentinians and still get relegated lol. Btw Como has pleanty of Italians too and some of those Argentinians are Italians too. Now those are facts, yours is just nit picking what you want to see in order to build a biased narrative.
Ha ha ha.
Como have plenty of Italians too?
Not only was there not a single Italian in the Como starting 11, but all 5 subs were non Italian.
You hoping that some of the Argentinian players have Italian roots and are Italians too and claiming it as a fact is an embarrassing statement.
Como has 9 Italians, their captain is also Italian you can go and check. Also you can check the last names of some of those Argentinians to see their background or just check Argentina history in general. You will learn something. But nice try to divert from your nonsensical argument that Como is winning cause they have no Italians, while completely ignoring the fact that they have spent 100mil and are winning with or without Italians in their lineup… Whats really embarrassing is how you people always try to ridicule your way out with ha ha when your silly arguments are busted.
You are mentally ill, that is how it is for a narrative.
Agree with most of this but for me Allegri deserves a spot in this countdown… He starts RLC and Fofana over Ricci and Jashari, doesn’t take either of them off until the last minute, tells Fofana to blast balls into the stands non-stop, hasn’t sorted out our awful defence at all and, like our past three coaches, has no clue how to break down a crappy team playing like it’s a CL final.. I just hope I’m not proven right in not wanting this dude back in the first place – hopefully he’s learned his lesson….
This. Fofana & RLC were just awful and clearly not what we needed on the pitch!
1- Maybe bringing in Rabiot isn’t that bad of an idea afterall.
2- Maybe bringing in 2 strikers instead of one is also not a bad idea.
3- Maybe bringing in Kiwior or Djimisti is also not a bad idea.
4- Maybe Allegri should apologize to Fofana and instructs him to never shoot again.
5- Maybe there are some players that shouldn’t start together (I’m looking at you, Loftus-Cheek and Fofana).
Exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly and FOR SURE!
Article was spot on. RLC and Fofana are good IN OPEN SPACE. In tight spaces, they arent. I have a feeling we will move to 4-3-3 .
It’s literally the opposite for RLC.
He’s great in tight spaces especially when he uses his strength to turn like he did for his shot and when he won the free kick.
He was probably the third best player on team after Modric and Saelemaekers.
But the bandwagon jumpers are all in violent agreement.
All I can say about this ridiculous article is that you have gone out of your way to avoid any culpability for the shambolic defending by the Core of the backline Gabbia and Pavlo…well done.
With the exception of one bad pass from Pavlovic the CBs didn’t really do much wrong. If you look at the replies you will see that it was Loftus and Fofana who lost their man at the goals. Pavlovic actually tried to close down the goal scorer at the first goal, which is why it looks at first like he was next to him. But watch the full replay and you will see that the CBs were guarding other people. At the second goal they even imidietly yelled at Fofana who lost his man.
Yes, they were busy being suckered into following the decoy runners and waited for others to fill the gap they created instead of attacking the ball. Watch Liverpool next week, Van Dyk would have been all over that cross. He and Konate own the box. Bonucci & Chiellini owned the box, Terry, Baresi, Stam, Nesta, Ramos Thiago Silva owned that box. Our defenders today. The striker is definitely getting the ball. I don’t disagree that the midfield should help but there is an obvious lack of leadership and power missing in the heart of Milan’s backline. Gabbia is a big part of that mess. We need to stop making excuses for him.
No doubt our current CBs are not on the level of Van Dyk, Nesta etc. But honestly i don’t think they can do much if the rest of the team is loosing their man in the box.
Any good defender would solve that situation. Pavlovic is below average and average is his ceiling. Anything else is just cognitive dissonance by you. You don’t need Nesta for that, a Roque Junior would do.
There is a lot they can do…if they were better players they could do a lot more. Not on the level of Van Dyk?, no they aren’t…We really don’t need them to be. We just need them to be commanding and dominant in the box. And they aren’t.
And it does not seem to matter what combination of midfielders are on the pitch. Let’s call it what it is…Milan has a huge problem in the CB positions. Fix that and get a decent striker.
Agreed. We had 5 in the box and Cremonese had 3. I watched the replays on both goals and neither midfielder (RLC or Fofana) made much of an attempt to mark a man. Defending your box is a team effort. Ball-watching isn’t going to keep us from giving up
Well, it’s too early to judge now. The important thing is that the boys spirit do not drop.
But one thing I did take away was this: as much as I don’t sympathise with them, we need curva sud. The stadium lacked some life.
I’m hoping Mialn and Curva will have a middle ground. They really do electrify San Siro.
“2. Midfield department still feels incomplete ”
Nah bro come on! We can’t buy all these players with such varied characteristics plus the ones we currently have and say the midfield is incomplete!?. The problem was the choices of the coach, not the completeness of the midfield. Jashari had 15 mins and Ricci didn’t even play. But he kept Flopfana and RLC on.
“4. Leao dependant, again”
Yep, we’ve always been dependent on him. Last season, the season before etc. and this season would be the same. Just hope we can appreciate what he brings to the team.
We also lost some goals in Deers and Theo, and I’m not sure Fof and RLC can replace that.
Early days still and it was the first game. So I guess we can cough it up to jitters
“We also lost some goals in Deers and Theo, and I’m not sure Fof and RLC can replace that.”
LOL. Don’t be so insecure about this. It’s so bloody obvious they will never ever be able to provide even remotely close what Tiji & Theo could. If Fofana plays a dream season he’ll score 2 or 3 goals (max). RLC? Well, MAYBE he could do 6-7 but maaaaaan this duo can’t defend. I’ve said that Tiji couldn’t defend but the same applies to this duo.
Time to introduce the new guys and leave these guys on the bench where they belong. We already saw last season how leaky our defense is with the current CBs and Fofana & RLC. It didn’t work last season and it isn’t working this season either. Ricci did well in the preseason. Put him on and watch the defense improve.
Lol 😆 damn bro ….I was *hoping*. Don’t kill my hopes man 😅. Behind my distaste of the transfer campaign I always try to carry hope even at the beginning.
But all jokes aside, we can’t be spending that much on new players and not use them as per your second paragraph. Completely agree. Especially with one game per week. Each week is an opportunity missed if they don’t take the field.
They don’t have varied characteristics.
I can’t see how Ricci, Modric and Jashari can play together.
Milan have done it so many times. Signed 3 players with the same characteristics.
RLC at least offers something different.
I’m not sure what Fofana offers since he’s neither defensive or attacking or much in-between, but hey someone decided to sign him, so Allegri worked with what he had.
Probably the best thing to do with this mess of a squad is a 343 with 2/3 triplets, and Leao and Pulisic either side of a striker but there’s virtually no depth beyond that.
The team’s got no full backs now having forced out all of them. Literally they’ve forced out 5 FBs in the last year including the captain and vice captain. And Bartesaghi still can’t a game.
Como bro. Como. Go support your team!
Not even reading your triple, fake fan
Ok you enjoy the ‘real’ fans insulting the manager and players.
Good times.
Yea you insulted the whole a$$ team by rooting against the whole team last year. You were here cheering on our losses, don’t make me pull up your comments. Yet you come here with your mightier than thou attitude talking about the real fans here and their reactions to the manager and players. We, the real fans, earned that right. YOU DON’T!
I mean Fofana has never scored a goal for Milan in an official match anAllegri is expecting 15 goals from the duo. Allegri is out of his mind.
It was a disappointing loss but its one game. This won’t be the starting eleven or formation going forward. A lot of new signings have arrived and a lot of them have come in late. Different formations were used and established players like Reijnders, Bennacer, Thiaw, and Theo have left. Basically, our entire pre-season can be thrown out the window. The only fair criticism I can make now is that the we didn’t act quicker in the transfer market so it will take a month or two for Allegri and these players to settle and show what they can do.
You are 100% correct. It’s still early.
Na from day break we will know how night will look like it’s a parable nothing is early,unless there change the approach
Again with this “5 things we learned”…? 😆😆
We don’t learn anything…c’mon.
I bet Allegri will put again next match in field Fofana and Loftus. That’s why I never liked Allegri. He’s a stubborn with little obsessions , when he’s fixed on a certain player that’s all, nothing will change. The fact he wants Rabiot doesn’t surprise me because Rabiot is one of his little obsession. I don’t have any hope from this season with Max as a coach. He will be a flop. We are a medium level car with a anost medium quality driver.
Lesson n1 is that Tomori and Pavlovic are not adequate to this level. And especially you cannot have both on the pitch because the quality of your ball circulation will drop dramatically. We lost Thiaw and Kalulu to keep Pavlovic and Tomori. Absurd.
Tomori was playing RB because the club forced out 5 x RBs in the last year.
One was playing against them.
Nearly every game Milan play in Serie A there’s players on the opposing team that have inside knowledge because there’s so many ex-players playing for their rivals.
It’s farcical.
Add Gabbia to that list of inadequate CBs.
I hate criticising players but had a youth player put in a performance like Estupinan I don’t think they’d play in Serie A or B again.
It was one of the worst displays by a FB I’ve I’ve seen.
I hope he improves. Given there’s practically no FBs left.
Chance for Bartesaghi. Allegri has previously backed youth at Milan..