AC Milan keep making mistakes which threaten to derail their Scudetto bid before it even really got going, and they are not learning their lessons.
Calciomercato.com have published a report which highlights the same errors which keep being committed, after Milan threw away a two-goal lead at the Stadio Via del Mare to draw 2-2 with Lecce this afternoon.
We start with the substitutions, with which Roberto D’Aversa made the difference while Stefano Pioli arguably cost the game. Nicola Sansone got a goal and an assist after he came on in the 17th minute of the second half in place of Strefezza. Blin got an assist, who came on in the same minute for Kaba.
Piccoli scored a goal that was disallowed for handball, while Joan Gonzalez came on in the second half in place of Rafia and brought some control back to the midfield.
On the contrary, on the opposite front, Musah’s introduction at the start of the second half for Calabria was disastrous: he lost track of Sansone for the 1-2 goal and lost the ball to Sansone for the equaliser.
Milan have already dropped four points from winning positions away from home in the league this season which is two more than those lost away from home counting all three previous Serie A seasons. Not only that: they have only amassed two points in the last four games (2 defeats, 2 draws, 0 wins) in the league: only Fiorentina and Verona did worse.
Milan’s problem, which seemed obvious after about fifteen minutes, was all in the speed of Lecce’s smaller players. As a result of the same 4-3-3 chosen by the two coaches, direct duels were created all across the pitch.
Calabria had some difficulties against Banda, Chukwueze (despite being very fast) struggled to monitor Dorku, Theo Hernandez did not always contain Strefezza, and Okafor – who came on early in place of Leao – spent a fair bit of time running after Gendrey when the full-back attacked.
Milan were 2-0 up and could have killed the game but instead they risked Lecce immediately halving the deficit. Theo was guilty of giving space to Gendrey, and Mike Maignan denied Banda with a sensational save. It was a warning sign of things to come.
In the second half, the fatigue from the win over PSG on Tuesday was starting to make itself felt. Lecce believed and scored twice in four minutes as Milan failed to manage the game well – just like they did against Lecce – when taking the sting out of things and calming the pace was recommended.
Finally, we saw a familiar lack of discipline. Giroud protested for a handball near the area but Abisso didn’t see it and booked the Frenchman for dissent. When he continued to protest, probably saying a few too many harsh words, a red card was produced which means the Frenchman will miss Fiorentina.
