After the derby win, Massimo Ambrosini claimed that AC Milan could compete against Inter for the Scudetto, and after drawing level on points, it could be a possibility.
The contrast in emotions from before the Derby della Madonnina to now is stark, and it is fantastic what a good performance can do. Before the game, Milan were a side struggling to find an identity. Against Inter, they looked much more competitive.
Paulo Fonseca insists that things were kept largely the same, but the players seemed more assured in their roles, and as a whole, the Rossoneri looked like the dominating team for large parts of the game. When Inter did come forward, there were still some worries, but these should be ironed out as time progresses.
It is important to build on this and use the derby as a restart point, rather than a flash-in-the-pan moment, and if Milan can continue on the same path Ambrosini suggested they could challenge for the title when speaking to DAZN, and his words have been relayed by Milan News.
“There had been too many low-level performances, but in my opinion, Milan are a team equipped to keep up with Inter. For me, it’s the best equipped in Italy to try and take the Scudetto away from them…
“They [Inter] are human, nobody thought Inter would want to play this kind of game. But taking that step for which you charge every game is not easy.”
The favorite for the scudetto isn’t Inter but Napoli. It’s not because Napoli has a better squad, or plays better than the rest, but because they are the only team that will play once a week. It will be hard for Milan, Juventus and Inter to keep up with Napoli playing every 3 days, while they are resting midweek.
Rotation is going to be key to either our success or our demise. We will also probably not be able to use the 4-2-4 every single game. Especially this year with more UCL games, the club world cup coming this summer and those freaking international games that do nothing but injure our players.
So far, Fonseca has proven to be more flexible tactically wise than Pioli and also more willing to use the full depth of our squad, let’s hope he can manage that.
Well said, mate.
@Giga94. I don’t see why this would be a problem to play 442 every game. The team needs to build on consistency and settle on a specific formation and style of play.
Therefore, it would be foolish of Fonseca to constantly change our formation and shape as it will become difficult for our players to perform to their best.
I do think though that in January we need more signings and I would dare to say that we should strongly consider selling Leao and RLC as early as January but definitely by next summer.
Both players are a liability and they don’t perform up to the level needed to compete with the top clubs. Leao is horribly lazy unlike Pulisic and Chukwueze who do their defensive duties and they work hard for the team.
What I said is not a knock against the 4-4-2 itself, it worked so I have to acknowledge Fonseca’s brilliance here.
From what I saw yesterday, this 4-4-2 requires Abraham, Morata, Pulisic and Leao (although the later was in sleeping mode yesterday) to cover a lot of ground and apply pressure on the opposition’s defense, which can be quite taxing. I’m not so sure Okafor and Jovic can probably replace Abraham and/or Morata, but assuming one of Abraham/Morata isn’t available for a reason or another, we might consider reverting to another formation or change the tactics slightly.
But again, Fonseca proved me wrong yesterday, so I can’t say much for now about his ideas.
One of the reasons we lost/drew games under Pioli when some of our players were injured, was because he insisted on keeping the 4-2-3-1 even though none of the key players for such a formation was available.
For January we should think about who can sub Fofana and Reijnders. Will Liberali, Zerolli and Vos do the trick or we would need a new signing ? Bennacer should be sold, I like the guy, but he’s too often injured to be reliable. Will Musah finally level up to expectations ?
As for Leao, I’m more and more inclined to sell him as well. The next few games will be crucial to determine if he wants to be an asset, or we should cash as much as we can out of him. We did let go of more talented players and we did well.
Agreed. Fonseca has got to get a streak of good performances first before anything else, Including a good game in Leverkusen and establish this winning identity on the squad ,whilst having this new momentum.
Player Rotation will come into later as for now the players can handle a run of games but I agree it will be a huge test , especially for some roles where the squad is short.
I hope he can manage it as well.