AC Milan dropped more points this afternoon against Lecce, surrendering a 2-0 lead at half-time to draw 2-2 with a side that have not won in their last seven games.
Calciomercato.com write how it is a result that hurts Milan’s morale and also their position in the title race. By winning tomorrow at home, Inter can go eight points ahead of their city rivals who are showing signs of cracking under pressure.
Milan have a huge problem relating to muscle injuries and for the first time Pioli made a public admission at the end of the match: “It’s true that we are suffering a lot. I don’t have an explanation, but it certainly can’t just be bad luck. It’s true that by playing a lot, physical and mental stress increases and this can affect the players.”
The Rossoneri go into games with an average of four players unavailable per game and they have suffered 16 muscle injuries since the start of the season, a trend that had already been seen in the last season and in the one before that.
The result is a team that has to constantly battle emergencies and they pay the price in terms of physical and mental tiredness, and in competitiveness too. Having less depth increases pressure and workload on the starters, reducing the option to rotate.
For an hour of the match Milan were excellent, but that final half hour was a blackout which had many causes. The most obvious is in the management of substitutions which is at least questionable.
Yunus Musah as a full-back and not Alessandro Florenzi was a head scratcher and the American committed errors for both goals. Rade Krunic remained on the pitch despite a mediocre performance in both phases, while Luka Jovic was inserted at the end out of necessity.
There are many points for reflection on Pioli’s work, but he does not seem to be at risk of losing his job despite such a bad run of form. Now it’s up to the coach to ensure that the excellent performance against PSG doesn’t remain a false dawn.
