AC Milan gave the fans one final show at San Siro to end 2025, as they beat Hellas Verona 3-0 to end the year on a winning note.
After a rather cagey opening 45 minutes, Christian Pulisic opened the scoring in added time at the end of the first half, capitalising on a flick-on from a corner to fire in from close range.
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Then, Pulisic allowed Christopher Nkunku to take a penalty that he won early in the second half, which he converted emphatically for his first Serie A goal since arriving at the club.
Nkunku scored again a few minutes later, tapping home from close range after a Luka Modric shot had been tipped onto the post but rolled across the line, and the Frenchman reacted first.
The 3-0 victory means that Milan have the possibility of ending the year in top spot, depending on Inter’s result against Atalanta tonight. Ivan Stoev has picked out five talking points from the Verona win.
1. Better late than never
Following his move from Chelsea – one that cost Milan €37m in the summer – it’s fair to say that Nkunku has been a flop thus far given he had zero goals in 15 league games at his new club.
Just as rumours started to mount that Milan might try to offload the Frenchman in January he appears to have waken up and reacted at last as he bagged a brace to help Milan seal the 3-0 win against Verona.
Despite the goals not being the most flashy, he finally had a big impact on the game. He won a penalty for his side and converted it calmly to make the score 2-0 and then reacted quickly to beat the keeper on a loose ball and tap it in to get the third and final goal.
In addition, he combined better with his team-mates and his build-up was much much better this time out. He also could’ve gotten an assist with a good pass to Ruben Loftus-Cheek who didn’t do enough to make it count.
Overall it was finally a positive performance by Nkunku and Allegri will be hoping that his is the start of something long lasting and not just a one off.
2. The metronomes
It was a must-win game and in order for that to happen Milan needed to control the game and limit Hellas Verona’s attempts to counter after containing. For this reason, the battle of the midfield trios was always going to be decisive.
Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot did just that, with the Croatian impressing again with the things that we have become accustomed to: his work rate, his shielding of the defence, his desire to always show for the ball and his line-breaking passes.
Rabiot was also very lively, if not more than Modric. The Frenchman got the assist on Pulisic’s goal that opened up the scoring and then made himself available all over the pitch allowing his team to keep the ball and put pressure on Verona.
It was a very solid display and a reminder of exactly what needs to be done against sides that sit back and force Milan to be creative. With the experienced duo pulling the strings, things feel a lot safer in both phases.
3. Clean sheet at last
It’s been a while since Milan have looked solid defensively and especially against a team at the bottom end of the table. In that regard, it was refreshing to see a compact and focused team at the back that didn’t allow Hellas Verona to trouble Mike Maignan at all.
As we mentioned, the midfield did its job well so that the defence had little to do, but when they were called into action the three centre-backs made no mistake. Verona were often direct but the aerial balls were dealt with relatively easily.
Unfortunately for Koni De Winter, he had his shaky moments again especially in possession, even though there were no errors leading to goals this time. This again highlights the need for reinforcements in that area of the pitch and hopefully the management will address this in the next month.
4. A matter of timing
Christian Pulisic got back to scoring ways after a rather quiet game in the Supercoppa Italiana and against Sassuolo. Today, the American looked much better and the goal was in typical Pulisic fashion as he positioned himself well in the box to make the most out of his first real chance of the game.
This makes it Pulisic’s 10th goal of the season as he continues to be crucial for Milan and continues to improve on his previous season as well, establishing himself as a leader under Max Allegri. It feels like personal records could keep tumbling for him.
Sadly for Allegri and the fans, Pulisic has been barely able to play alongside Rafael Leao since the start of the season with both having alternating injuries. Hopefully both of them will be fully fit going into the new year and Allegri will be able to have a bit more fire power.
5. A hurdle jumped
Despite all the good results this season it’s fair to say that Milan have struggled against newly promoted sides and side sitting in the bottom half of the table.
Although Milan have only one loss all season, against Cremonese, the Rossoneri threw away points against Pisa, Parma, Sassuolo and the win against a struggling Fiorentina was far from convincing.
Given the situation it’s fair to praise Allegri as he finally found the way to play against a low block and win in a convincing way, all while keeping a clean sheet too. Hopefully Milan can get more out of these games in the second half of the season which will allow them to start dreaming about the Scudetto.
After the win against Verona, there is Cagliari, Genoa and Fiorentina to come early in the new year. All are in the bottom six, so there is a real chance to at least keep pace at the top, if not create a bit of a gap.
We learned six things…Ricci is firmly behind RLC Fofana and Jashari. That is not a disgrace by any means, but his arrival was really really hyped by Sempre Milan Forum. And his performances have been hugely underwhelming….so far!
We learned that our attacking resources are so thin that Fofana needed to play in the front 2 when Pulisic came off for a well earned rest. He’s the deputy to RLC in this role.
Solid performance by the whole team though.
Some of Modric’s passes were sublime.
Very glad to see Nkunku score.
He’s been asked to play a role he’s not suited to.
That’s not a sign of thin resources but of a tight squad.
The best squads have players covering multiple positions as it keeps things fluid and familiar, and ensures that reserve players are always match fit and sharp.
Serginho used to cover LB, LM and Striker, with Ambrosini covering for Pirlo, Gattuso and Seedorf.
Juve’s midfield rotated Pirlo, Pogba, Vidal and Marchisio with Padoin covering multiple positions including wing back.
The CB Matt Elliott played upfront for Leicester for a while under Martin O’Neill, and Phil Neville covered most positions for the treble winning Man Utd squad.
It’s a myth that a competitive squad has to have two perfectly formed players for every position. Those excess players simply won’t get sufficient match time, and constant rotation breaks up a team’s rhythm.
I understand what you are saying. Versatile squad players are very helpful. E.g. Saelemaekers could play that role but we are instead dependent on him to start almost every match as a RWB as our squad is so thin and lacking experience outside of midfield. Bartesaghi can play LB, LWB or LCB.
We started this season with 19 outfield players & 3 GKs.
This included some very young and inexperienced players in that 19 count of Atekame, Bartesaghi & Odogu.
Bartesahgi has performed well above expectations but the other two are getting little to no time (Odogu) respectively. As a result Saelemaekers & the 3 CBs are working overtime.
It’s really 17.25 players contributing the work for 10 positions.
As to the forwards.
First the decision to start the season with only 4 forwards means that we can really only play 352. There is zero flexibility. This despite the fact that only one of the four (Gimenez) is arguably best suited to the formation. And all four are injury prone.
All it takes is one injury/suspension and your options for the front 2 are limited. 2 injuries and you have zero options. As we have had for about a third of our games. Meaning we have to keep playing midfielders in the striker roles. If not at the start of the game (Saelemaekers and RLC once each) then as late or injury subs and shuffling.
This is beyond flexibility and squad harmony. This is bordering on negligent list management. Particularly when couple with what appears to be only goal keepers who can move up and down with the Futuro squad. Balentien was meant to provide cover but has also had long term injury. Where are the forwards who can step up and help from the under 23 team? Today they had one forward on the bench but he was an 18 year old from Primavera and not the Futuro squad.
We let go of numerous forwards in the summer who all would have been better suited to this coach/formation than Nkunku. Abraham, Jovic & Okafor.
The only way inexperienced players can get experience is if they play. They need a smaller squad to play.
Bartesaghi would never get have got this chance if he’d been buried behind 2 or more LBs.
18 players (you can’t have .25 of a player!) is a perfect sized squad for one competition.
Of the plan was to play 2 upfront (with the two being Leao and Pulisic who are both leading the scoring despite injuries) then 4 strikers was perfect.
The 4 strikers are also perfect because they’re also complementary.
All 4 can be on the pitch at the same time and it’s work:
Leap has different and complimentary characteristics to Pulisic
who has different and complimentary characteristics to Giménez
who has different and complimentary characteristics to Nkunku.
Those 4 produce 6+ different combinations:
Leao Pulisic
Nkunku Giménez
Leao Giménez
Leao Nkunku
Pulisic Giménez
Pulisic Nkunku
Pulisic Giménez Leao
Pulisic Giménez Nkunku
Pulisic Nkunku Leao
Nkunku Giménez Leao
Pulisic Giménez Nkunku Leao
That’s huge variation.
Now those combinations have been interrupted by the signing of Füllkrug who cancels out Giménez.
So now presumably Giménez is finished before he started.
And will Leao and Pulisic ever get a proper chance?
Players are capable of play 50+ games per season. That was the standard across all great teams from the great Milan to Juve to Barca to even Man City teams.
People just need to relax (and stop fantasising about some new signing because they’re bored).
The 0.25 of a player was a joke on the actual contribution of Atekame & Odogu. That is how much Allegri is prepared to use them across almost half a season. Which ordinarily wouldn’t be an issue but is when your squad is so lean to begin with.
“And will Leao and Pulisic ever get a proper chance?”
They’ve had half a season of chances but can never be fit at the same time. If they were fit, they’d start almost every game.
“Bartesaghi would never get have got this chance if he’d been buried behind 2 or more LBs.”
Where did I call for more LBs? We have two. He got his chance when the senior player was suspended and he hasn’t looked back.
I was calling for more CBs because we are playing 3 CB formation & have 4 plus a kid that Allegri won’t play.
And calling for more forwards.
Re the forwards I was mostly making the point that we had depth that could have suited this formation and we let them all go.
Re Fullkrug signing. Gimenez has cancelled himself out with injury (coupled with the broken leg he dispensed in training to Jashari). Fullkrug also brings a tall and strong player that we haven’t had with the departures of Giroud, Ibra & then Abraham. I.e. hold up play and header threat restored.
Re all those combinations.
All those combinations you list are mostly wingers/second strikers trying to form a partnership without a target man. Gimenez tries in this role but it’s not his best attribute. Nkunku has had to keep doing it as neither Gimenez or Leao can stay fit.
Supposedly Leao could also be a target man but we’ve only seen glimpses. And what we have seen still shows him more effective as winger/second striker using speed and space to run into the box.
Really Nkunku should be alternating with Pulisic.
And the lines with 3 or more players are only sustainable as an emergency option when you are chasing the game (with this squad size). A chasing the game option we haven’t had for weeks as barely 2 are fit many weeks. E.g. we had no option to change formation v Napoli in the super cup. Which I know you don’t rate but is still a fixture to play against a scudetto contender.
“Players are capable of play 50+ games per season. That was the standard across all great teams from the great Milan to Juve to Barca to even Man City teams.”
Not these Milan forwards.
Our low cost forward recruitment strategy typically means their ability is offset by injury history. Otherwise they would not be affordable to our budget.
With the risky strategy you need some insurance of additional squad depth. We don’t have that this season. Not even from youth players who are forwards it appears.
my point re the forwards is that if you have have four and are playing 352. Then they should be the right combination of skill sets. Look at Inter. They have Thuram, Esposito & Bony. Who can all provide the aerial threat and hold up play. Lautaro is also very good at hold up play.
With Fullkrug’s arrival we might have someone who can do this. But all the other forwards are not well suited to being a CF target. Not even Gimenez really. He’s more like Lautaro in skill set.
This mix of four forwards was never the right combo for the game style Allegri wants to play. And with no additional forwards there is little scope to change formation.
I’ll just make one point.
The injuries are either temporary or recurring
If they’re requiring THAT is a separate issue.
You deal with a recurring injury by signing (pr promoting (always an option)) a permanent replacement.
So the real question is whether Leao or Pulisic or Giménez will have recurring injuries.
And, also, how 3/4 of the strikers have had these recurring injuries (as Milan sign another striker who is injury prone).
If a club can’t solve its injury issues signing more players isn’t going to solve the underlying issue. Milan have tried that for over 20 years and have signed at least one new striker every single season in that period.
It’s unsustainable and no basis for a winning squad. And a large reason why the club has only won 3 x Scudetti this century.
Atalanta’s useless. Gifted inter a goal and a win.
It seems like the really talented person there was Gasperini. That’s why Alatanta players tended to underperform when they left Gasperini’s squad and went elsewhere. With Gasperini gone, Atalanta has regressed into mediocrity.
Yes, that was a ridiculous defensive failure. They could have made Inter drop two points, but no; they had to give a late Christmas gift to Inter in that goal. And they also missed a sitter at around 86 minutes that could have changed the game back to a draw.
Manager makes all the difference.
Players over or under-performing is neither here nor there.
Clearly those players were capable of doing what they did because they did it.
A huge win given Milan’s struggles against the so called minnows.
Milan are 1 point off top. That is in spite of dropping points to Cremonese, Pisa and Sassuolo.
If they can beat the teams they’re supposed to beat in the second half of the season they might just be in with a chance.
Don’t forget Parma too. We’ve left at least eight and possibly nine points on the table to lower division teams. It may not be fair to call Cremonese lower division, because they can be tough to play, but we should not have lost that game.
Plus Leao and Pulisic haven’t been able to play regularly.
Imagine if they stay fit!