AC Milan beat Slavia Praha 4-2 at San Siro to ensure that they will take a lead to Prague next week in their Europa League last 16 tie, but it was far from a simple game.
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The fact that Milan scored four goals, won the game and walked off the pitch perhaps not feeling best pleased says a lot about how the game went, especially after Diouf got sent off and Olivier Giroud found the opener.
Doudera’s equaliser stunned the San Siro crowd, but then. Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek struck in quick succession before the interval to give the Rossoneri a 3-1 lead at the break and it looked like job done.
Schranz halved the deficit as Milan looked like they didn’t know how to deal with a man advantage, yet thankfully Christian Pulisic’s tap-in restored the two goal lead, which Pioli’s side will take into the second leg.
Here are five things we learned…
1. Out of focus
Although Milan won the game, the obvious point of frustration is that Milan conceded twice when Slavia were down to ten men.
The Rossoneri got the lead shortly after their opponents were given a red and couldn’t keep ahold of the lead for more than two minutes, which is when the equaliser came.
In the second half – after managing to score two more goals before the break – instead of closing the game and even looking for a fourth goal Milan again conceded with to make it 3-2, once again reopening the contest.
We can’t really blame anybody individually because each of the defenders had their sloppy moments; rather it was a collective letdown at the back which cost Milan the two goals they let in.
One thing is for sure: this is not a defence that will help Milan hoist the Europa League trophy in Dublin and Pioli must address this before a better opponent (with respect to Slavia) awaits.
2. A night of ups and downs
Christian Pulisic had a strange night, starting with the assumption that you would assume that he would be more active given the numerical advantage, but that wasn’t the case.
Pulisic did end up with a goal, but it was all Leao who created it really, with the American getting a tap in in a situation where the ball was going to end up in the back of the net regardless of his actions.
The former Chelsea forward has been struggling for weeks now barring a few exceptions where he has shown some individual brilliance, but overall he seems to be too slow to make dangerous runs down the flank and he’s also unable to beat his man in most situations.
This is one of the most important skills for a winger, and his decision making has also let him down making it a very underwhelming performance. It is a really interesting situation we are witnessing given he started the season so well, and is still putting up numbers, but doesn’t seem as dangerous.
📊 The stats from the win against Slavia Praha pic.twitter.com/5T595vzIsJ
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) March 7, 2024
3. Doing just enough
Rafael Leao was the main man again, although he was invisible for a big part of the game. However, he did pick his moments as he provided an assist for Olivier Giroud’s opener after a lovely cross aimed at the far post that made the Frenchman’s job of putting the ball into the back of the net fairly easy.
Then on the fourth goal, he showed his pace and dribbling skills and chipped the keeper with lovely technique but instead of a goal he’ll have to be satisfied with an assist because of Pulisic tapping in the ball in on the line.
That being said, we can probably give Pulisic some credit as there was a defender nearby and his instinct did secure the goal in the end. Giroud also grabbed a goal to contribute to the win, but one can argue his build-up play left much to be desired.
Lastly, Loftus-Cheek got a goal as well after a lovely header. Playing in that advanced midfield role also allowed him to get on the ball frequently as he had some nice runs forward, but again, he was not that effective in the final third.
Overall, a good attacking performance and it’s hard to say otherwise given the four goals scored, but the two goals conceded ruin the mood a bit.
4. Positive from the subs
Pioli’s substitutes were fairly positive this time around. Alessandro Florenzi and Matteo Gabbia were replaced at half time by Calabria and Tomori, respectively, and it felt like the right call.
Florenzi got two assists, but also received a yellow card after less than two minutes, so subbing him off made sense, whilst giving playing time to Tomori – who just came back from an injury – was also wise given the circumstances.
Luka Jovic also came on later in the game and was involved in the fourth goal and had a couple of nice moves prior to that too.
They were well-timed subs overall and there is the feeling that we could see some sort of rotation in the reverse fixture so it’s good that everybody seems fit.
Prior to Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the last midfielder to have scored three goals in his first three appearances with #ACMilan across Europa League and UEFA Cup was Zvonimir Boban, in 1995.
[via @OptaPaolo] pic.twitter.com/0rMDqb5CK4
— MilanData📊 (@acmilandata) March 8, 2024
5. Poor game management
This game was not managed well by Pioli. The reality is that nobody had an outstanding game and the players did just enough to get the win, but not enough to keep the clean sheet, control the game better or even score more goals.
These are all reasonable requests given the opponent and given the red card. Both prior to that red card and afterwards as well Milan lacked creativity and lacked structure in truth.
When attacking there was a clear gap between defence and attack as the Rossoneri had five or six players close to the opponent’s penalty box and nobody between the backline and Adli which limited the options in front of the Frenchman and his teammates.
It was a really frustrating game to watch, because nobody seemed to have express desire to play with the ball and there was no clear game plan which either highlights Pioli’s bad tactics or that his players don’t do as they’re told, which does not reflect well.
Even after picking up two fast goals at the end of the first half, Milan then slowed down the tempo a lot in the second half allowed their opponents to recover. That feels like it has to be by instruction, and that is hard to stomach.
