AC Milan’s defensive record is declining rapidly thanks to the injuries to key players, with the team now shipping goals in almost every game they play.
As pointed out by Corriere dello Sport (via Milan News), the Rossoneri are leaking goals and the 2-2 draw against Bologna on Saturday evening was just the latest example.
25 goals have now been conceded by Milan in their 22 Serie A games this season. If you factor in all tournaments, they have conceded 36 times in 30 games.
10 of those 30 games saw Milan concede at least two goals, and these are certainly not the numbers of a side that can win trophies.
In Serie A, no team in the top half has conceded more goals than Milan, with AS Roma and Napoli also having conceded 25. You have to go as far down as Genoa in 11th to find a team that has conceded more.
Obviously, the injuries to players like Malick Thiaw, Pierre Kalulu and Fikayo Tomori are going to have a serious impact on how many goals Milan concede.
That being said, Milan were still struggling at the back even before Thiaw and Tomori got their injuries, so there is more wrong than just the availability of players.
Absolutely, the injuries are not an excuse because Milan wasn’t good defensively even before the injuries.
Milan defensive issues are more tactical than personnel.
Do Bologna or Lazio have better defenders than Milan? Nope, but they have solidity because they have coaches who know how to set up a team defense instead of forcing them to play 1v1.
Just look at Romagnoli, who is back at his best at Lazio after he escaped from Pioli. He even mentioned that in one of his interviews after he left Milan.
Messias, Saelemakers and Krunic for all criticism they received did a very important but unnoticed work in defense. The same was true for Diaz and Tonali. Last game Pioli put Terraciano for Pulisic to help strengthen defense. Let’s not forget that Theo is not the greatest when it comes to defending either.
It says a lot that our current best defensive midfielder is Bennacer. We brought in a lot of attacking-minded players but we’ve lost filter in front of the defense. This makes it a challenge for defenders like Kalulu and Tomorr that are not as strong positionally but are good at anticipating and playing 1vs1, Kalulu would suffer even more since less filter in midfield means more crosses coming in our area, which is his Achilles heel.
An Ambrosini or Muntari type of DM is what we need but not sure we’re gonna get. These type of players don’t grow too much in value so unlikely to get bought by current management.
I see current management seeing a 2-4 place finish as a success as long as we advance in CL.
Finally some talk about defence. Our issue for the last few years have been defence and I don’t mean the backline. You can’t only defend with 4.
We really don’t have a problem with goals. Those don’t win you titles. Defences do
This isn’t rocket science… We don’t have good enough defensive mids. Since Kessie left, we hadn’t filled that role.
RLC si AM. Reijnders by nature is also AM. Bennacer is no Kessie and neither is Adli (still learning the position). SO with Pioli’s tactics, we get caught in transition because of this.
Everyone knows this. Inzaghi knows this. Pioli realizes this but doesn’t always adjust?
Our priority in the summer has to be to address the lack of a physical presence in the midfield to help defense in transition.