AC Milan have had some very positive performances this season, the most recent being on Sunday, but their lack of consistency is what will hold them back.
This morning’s Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) writes that space of a few days this Milan can offer an excellent display and then flop hugely in the next game. The victory over PSG in the Champions League was followed three days later by a collapse in Lecce, for example.
Milan took the field at San Siro on 10 January in the Coppa Italia against Atalanta and after a good half-hour they took the lead, but then they seemed to implode and La Dea probably emerged deserved winners.
Four days later, the Rossoneri welcomed Roma to the same venue and beat them 3-1 thanks to goals from Yacine Adli, Olivier Giroud and Theo Hernandez, opening up a 13-point gap above the Giallorossi and nine points to fifth.
This is a two-faced Milan, which knows how to be ruthless with its opponents but also – in a negative sense – seems to coast in certain moments. In the second half of the season this cannot happen if the Rossoneri want to at least cultivate a hope of a Scudetto comeback.
The paper goes further by remarking that this Milan are a bit like what Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao are showing. The former has 11 goals and 7 assists this season and takes charge of the team in moments of difficulty, as the match against Roma could have been.
Leao on the other hand smiles a little less. Giroud is putting together the numbers that were expected of him whereas the winger has been stuck in three Serie A goals since September 23rd: far too little for the highest paid player on the team.
In Udine, on Saturday, there will be another opportunity to escape from this unwanted goal drought. Milan not only need continuity to hope for a comeback, but also and above all the best Leao.