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AC Milan 2-2 Torino: Five things we learned – familiar flaws and substitute salvation

By Ivan Stoev -

The 2024-25 season finally got underway on Saturday night, and there was a lot of intrigue to see how AC Milan kicked things off given the positive preseason under Paulo Fonseca.

New signings Alvaro Morata and Strahinja Pavlovic were on the bench along with Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders as the four were not yet at 100% having joined preseason late, while Milan in turn were late in getting going.

San Siro was stunned into silence firstly by a Malick Thiaw own-goal after he didn’t quite manage to scramble a ball clear off the line, and then Duvan Zapata was left wide open from a cross to head in a second.

However, Milan roared back thanks to goals from two substitutes inside the final 10 minutes. Alvaro Morata redirected a shot from Tijjani Reijnders to wake up the over 70,000 fans present, then Noah Okafor volleyed in to equalise in the 95th minute.

It was a rollercoaster of emotion in Foncesa’s competitive debut, and below are five things we learned from the game…

1. Same old woes

Regardless of the coach that came in, one of the main areas to fix in this Milan squad was the defensive department, as highlighted last season in the 69 goals conceded across all competitions.

Unfortunately this season hasn’t started much better. To their credit, Torino moved the ball very well on the first goal but when it came into the box it was pure marking and positioning that ended up helping the away side get the opener.

On the second goal it was amateur defending with both Thiaw and Theo Hernandez having a misunderstanding that meant Zapata had all the time and space in the world to head the ball into the back of the net.

Admittedly, Theo did not start the game and is not fully fit yet and we will most likely see a lot of Emerson Royal, Pavlovic and Youssouf Fofana in the midfield who might help stabilise the situation.

Time will tell if the new additions will bring that stability and if Fonseca can bring some new ideas to the table but it’s the number one problem to solve for him right now.

2. Magic from Mike

The result might not have ended 2-2 if it weren’t for Mike Maignan, who made two great saves in the first half to prevent an even bigger deficit needing to be overhauled.

His contribution went beyond just shot-stopping as he showed off great composure leaving his box in the dying minutes of the game to help his team transition faster. If he had got it wrong, the game would have been over.

The performance earned him the MOTM in our post-game ratings and among the starters he was the only real candidate. The Frenchman started 2024-25 by proving why the management should do everything in their power to extend his contract.

3. Failing to lead, again

Rafael Leao has struggled to take his game to the next level following the Scudetto season a few years back when he was the MVP. At the beginning of every season since Milan fans have been hoping this is the year he makes that leap but have been rather disappointed thus far.

Just like fixing the defence, one of the main objectives for Fonseca is to get Leao to fire on all cylinders and let’s just say the start wasn’t as good as fans would’ve hoped, at least in terms of the end product.

He did cause quite a few headaches for Torino and was the most dynamic of the starting front four, yet the Portuguese winger missed a wonderful chance to get the equaliser in the first half but failed to score in a 1v1 situation.

The ex-Lille man then had another chance after a lovely ball from Reijnders but his ball control really let him down which pretty much summarised the night for him. He will need to shake off this performance quickly and react fast, or else the scrutiny will be dialled up again.

4. ‘Dream attack’ blunted

Whilst Leao failed to impress he certainly was not worse than his other team-mates in attack, namely Luka Jovic, Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze who were the striker, playmaker and right winger respectively.

The Nigerian failed to bring the positives from pre-season to the table and looked out of ideas, failing to beat his man and misplacing several passes. It was a poor performance which needs to be forgotten if he doesn’t want a repeat of last season.

Pulisic also didn’t really manage to anchor himself into the game in that No.10 position but he did have good moments in transition. The issue for him was the final pass or the shot which prevented him from opening his account, though he was certainly not the worst performer.

Jovic also failed to grab the chance he was given as he looked slow and didn’t really get the ball that often. Poor service didn’t help his case either but it was a really forgettable performance by the Serb, who then had to watch Morata and Okafor score off the bench.

5. Subs save the day

Despite the poor performance and the two-goal deficit, Milan did managed to awake from their sleep and steal a point off Torino and Fonseca should be given some of the credit as his subs really rejuvenated the team.

The coach is still working on chemistry, and with new arrivals and late returning internationals it was never going to be easy right off the bat. However, bringing on Morata and Reijnders really changed things up as Milan started to have more of the ball and play closer to Torino’s penalty area.

In the end the Spaniard got his goal just in time to give hope with an instinctive finish. Then, Okafor and Yunus Musah combined for a great goal to equalise after Milan had been probing in and around the Granata box.

There’s obviously a lot of work to be done, but as we highlight the negatives we must also look at the positives, hoping that against Parma next weekend the team are fitter and more cohesive.

Tags AC Milan Milan Torino

39 Comments

  1. Great analysis, and point 1 is clearly by far the most important. I thought Leao was decent, though slightly imprecise.

    But the one thing I learned not mentioned above is – Mussah can actually deliver a decent cross from the right! All those minutes Pioli gave him there are starting to pay off …

    1. That was not even a good cross. Too low and behind where it should’ve landed. Okafor had great positioning. It was his smarts that resulted in the goal.

      Musah gets points for trying hard though.

      1. It’s the same cross he put in to pulisic for the game winner against Genoa before giroud made his goalie debut last season…putting it low with pace into an open space is the ideal ball to create something …Milan gets points…musah gets an assist

      2. It was a great cross that’s exactly what you want. Low, driven with pace and bending and right on his teammates leg. Keep hating bro.

  2. Subs saved the day… of course they saved the day. They were the better players who were supposed to start the match.

    I find it funny when some I see some people credit Fonseca with turning it around using his subs. It’s not like he invented something out of nothing with his alternatives. He just subbed in the starters. Didn’t even make any drastic tactical adjustments.

    1. lol. at least he had the smarts to make changes. In Allegrii’s day, subs were made after 80mins! Pioli has been known to be slow in making subs too.
      As much as i hoped we would get a win since Inter dropped points, im relieved we at least got a draw.

  3. I’m not worried about the offense. Take Leão, for example. It’s not unheard of that players struggle with finishing at the very beginning of a season; they need some calibration after the vacations. Leão didn’t finish well but was dangerous. He’ll be fine. Also Puli. Chuk had a wonderful pre-season, and a bad day yesterday. It happens. We know that Jovic when playing as the lone striker and playing from the beginning is no good. He is better as a super sub coming in as a second striker. On the other hand, Okafor and Morata were great.

    What is more concerning is Fonseca not knowing that he shouldn’t have left Saelemaekers at the LB position for 60 minutes, and shouldn’t have left Thiaw play almost the entire game. It’s a lack of awareness from the head coach. Also, sure, he doesn’t know his players very well yet after only 5 weeks, but someone (like Ibra) could have told him that Jovic starting as the lone 9 is a bad idea.

    But yesterday I was more negative than today. Look, of the 10 clubs that finished the 2023-24 season in the top 10 positions, 6 have dropped 2 or 3 points already in this first round and Lazio is already behind 1-0 to Venezia (or not, they have just equalized). Napoli was a disaster, losing 3-0 to Verona. Certainly it can be said that Conte had a worse start than Fonseca.

    There will be growing pains for most teams, as this pre-season was atypical and started late with the Euro championship. Let’s be patient. I just hope Fonseca learns fast that Alexis doesn’t belong in the defense, Thiaw doesn’t belong at Milan, period, and Jovic shouldn’t start.

      1. Napoli looked discombobulated, conceded 3 goals, couldn’t get any better than Verona in terms of shots on target (both had 4). They did hit the woodwork once, but otherwise Verona deserved the win, with double the expected goals index that Napoli had.

    3. Good take. And yeah, 14 clubs changed coach in Serie A. It’s bound to have an overall effect on the league. Six draws on matchday 1 already! This is the silver lining for our result. We can nitpick player selections and performances but we should also take heart in the fact that the side did not just crumble and shut down. They kept going for a result. I think this is underrated. I think it shows they understand that this season is an inflection point for this group.

      Napoli was terrible. ADL has completely trashed the team that he took to a title. Hiring a 3 CB system coach for that squad is like dropping a barrel of kerosene into a small kitchen fire. All he needed to do this summer (and last summer) was hire a proper 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 coach (not one named Garcia), bring in a good CB to (finally) replace Min-Jae Kim (which they did in Buongiorno) and bring in a creative attacking midfielder. Instead he went the kamikaze route with Conte. Oh well. Kvara and Osimhen will be gone next summer, if not sooner, and the side will be in full rebuild for a while. Better for us.

  4. This is a continuation of last season. In pre season we saw Fonseca idea but this match is still pioli’s ideas. For Fonseca’s ideas to be productive, he must bench Leao or find a way to make him a team player rather than an individual in the team. He kills the dynamics of the midfield and attack. He doesn’t initiate defense once he loses the ball and will be walking slow. Fonseca needs to bring the other players up to speed and trust those he has been using in the pre season

    1. The above is just the stereotypical complaints about Rafa; you parrot them like you didn’t even watch the game because Rafa did nothing of that. He tried to feed his companions, he tracked back and tried to help the defense, he worked hard, and was very dangerous; just lacked the finishing product which happens when you’re just back from vacation. You guys hate Rafa and will call him lazy no matter what he does.

      1. I actually agree with you here. Leao was productive and working hard. He is still a key part of the attack. Our issue was in our midfield and defense.

        1. Leao was phenomenal though the finishing wasn’t as good but he will score more goals this season, the coach is really moving him closer to opponents goal. Watch out for him this season

      3. Yep, I actually was satisfied with Leao’s performance. He needed to be more clinical with his finishing, but so did half the squad.

  7. Antonio Conte.
    Signing him would have meant that Milan ownership wants to win trophies. 😂😂😂
    Smacked 3-0 by a relegation team.

    2. Yeah Napoli sure got off to a great start with that 3-0 defeat against Verona 😀
      Glad he didn’t sign for us and I do want to win.

    3. sorry 🔴⚫️ i read your comment as you wanted us to hire Conte my bad. Conte would have been one of the potential coaches i would have least liked to happen.

    4. Just like we said we can’t judge Fonseca after one bad game, we shouldn’t judge Conte avec one bad game either, we’ll have an entire season to see if our choice is good or not.
      That being said, I’m glad we didn’t sign Conte, I care too much about Milan’s presence in UCL.

  8. Tomorrow was the cause of the first goal. Absolutely too aggressive for the attack and the smooth ball movement was his being out of position.

    The attacked looked creative and was passing through the lines. While it didn’t produce any results with the starters, I can see what Fonseca is trying to do and I liked it. Keep shooting and we’ll see goals with this attack.

    While Pulisic and Leo didn’t get on the score sheet they caused havoc. Chuck however, is still a one trick pony.

    All in all a decent first game for the new coach and new style of play.

  9. Serie A is a tough league so it’s not surprising teams drop points.

    We won’t know the lay of the land until October.

    I agree generally with your sentiment but would really wish people would stop pigeon holing players.

    Good players can play anywhere and more importantly good teams can swap players in and out without any issues.

    Saelemaekers is not the first ever RB turned winger to play at LB. It’s a thing. And he did ok. The problem with the player on his inside.

    Thiaw was his usual awful self but, unlike Gabbia who came from our youth team, we signed Thiaw so he can probably score multiple own goals and still be given more opportunities.

    As for Jovic I really have no idea why so many people (except for, erm, professional managers like Fonseca….) think he can only play as a second striker.

    I mean even with a large gallop of pigeon holing it makes no sense to say this about Jovic since his main strength seems to be in the box. Therefore being the main target in the box – as a solo striker – would probably suit him even more. I’d think of a second striker as being more creative and capable of dropping deep.

    And nearly every team he’s played for (like nearly every team) played 1 upfront. Fiorentina, Eintracht and Real all mostly played 1 upfront like nearly every other team has done for about 20 years!

    So who is this mystery striker that can only play in teams that are set up like Blackburn Rovers from 94/95???

    Jovic didn’t get great service so the jury is still out on him.

    As for Thiaw the jury has come back and he really needs to go.

    1. I agree about Jovic’s position but his best season at Eintracht they literally played with 3 strikers and two of them were target men. Haller, Jovic and Rebic. As Rebic once said : “Haller won the headers, I attacked the space and Jovic scored the goals.”

      Maybe there’s a reason he has flopped ever since as a single striker. But yeah, he’s no second striker.

    2. “As for Jovic I really have no idea why so many people (except for, erm, professional managers like Fonseca….) think he can only play as a second striker.”

      Yes, we’ve noticed you’re the only one who doesn’t get it. Let’s just move on as you will never get it and it’s getting reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaallly old already.

  10. I really like what Morata did when he came on.

    Even if he doesn’t score many this season he’s brought that champions mentality. It was crucial we signed someone like him after losing Giroud

  11. Maignan was great in goal. One thibg he will ned to do a better job of is getting the ball out of goal faster. Fonseca wants speed out of the back. Maignan too many times waited too long to distribute the ball. Minor point and again he deserved MOTM.

    1. “One thing he will need to do a better job of is getting the ball out of goal faster.”

      I read that as : every time he concedes he takes forever to get the ball out of our goal lol

    2. I agree David and I noticed it as well but I’m not too worried as I’m confident its just a matter of adapting to the new faster style of play and at least Maignan is already pretty great with feet.

  12. 1) Thiaw is terrible and should never start for this team again.
    2) Chuku is a pre-season wonder who looks good in friendly matches when other teams are playing their B-sides but is not a regular season starter.
    3) Calabria to the bench
    4) There is a reason Milan let Saleamakers go to Bologna. There is a reason Bologna didn’t want to keep him. He’s a useful bench player but not a starter
    5) We have a strong bench and once we get the starting XI sorted out we will be fine.

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