AC Milan’s Coppa Italia campaign lasted just two games as Atalanta knocked them out last night at San Siro, coming from behind to win 2-1, and it exposed three weaknesses.
As Calciomercato.com write, the match against Atalanta reiterated Milan’s three great limitations. The first, more predictable than the others and therefore even more serious, concerns the lack of a true goalscoring centre-forward to alternate with Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman was rightly saved for the game against Roma on Sunday but was forced to watch Luka Jovic’s empty runs for more than an hour, with the Serbian the worst on the pitch according to La Gazzetta dello Sport’s ratings.
But even with Giroud, Milan had already paid dearly for the absence of a striker as a deputy to him, someone who could have allowed him to manage his work load and leave him feeling sharper going into the second half of the season.
Added to the errors from the summer window is the sin of not updating the coaching and medical staff, because no Italian team has had so many muscle injuries. This is why Pioli has already performed a semi-miracle by keeping Milan in third place, even if the Scudetto has vanished.
As had already happened against Napoli and Lecce (2-0 leads at half-time that became 2-2 draws), Milan dropped noticeably in the second half. The flaw was seen again in Empoli, where at 2-0 they came under seigne, and also in the match against Atalanta who were far better.
The third limitation – thinking more about the future – is the lack of a strong, because competent, management. After the precedent of Lecce, where there wasn’t even a director in the stands, a few hours before the match against Atalanta the absence of a club representative at the important meeting in Rome with the president of the Football Federation was even more serious.
Gravina hosted a meeting in which the future of Italian football was discussed. Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina, Bologna, Atalanta, Torino, Salernitana, Verona, Lazio, Roma and Lecce all had a representative there.
Milan, on the other hand, were notable for their absence, because the owner Gerry Cardinale was in America, while president Paolo Scaroni made some bizarre pre-game comments questioning the necessity of the Coppa Italia.
The 64,000 fans will not have been happy to hear such words, especially before a game that ended up leaving them feeling disappointed, as the jeers at full-time showed.
