AC Milan can feel their Scudetto defence slipping away as they were held to a 0-0 draw by struggling Cremonese last night while Napoli won against Empoli.
Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) writes how the Azzurri won 2-0 against Empoli meaning that the Rossoneri needed to respond, but they did not and were held to a goalless draw by a side in the bottom three, who had goalkeeper Carnesecchi to thank.
Despite several absences between injuries and suspensions, Stefano Pioli still wanted to rotate as Thiaw came in for Kalulu and Rebic for Leao. The choice, however, did not pay off: “We could have done more, the second half was not up to par,” he admitted after the game.
Cremonese closed up defensively to try and frustrate but Milan did not find the goal they needed despite 16 shots. Origi and Rebic struggled, Leao also came on to the field in the second half but couldn’t find a way, and De Ketelaere came on but was not very decisive.
In the final stage, Pioli even tried Lazetic, fresh from his hat-trick against Atalanta in the Primavera, but the opening goal never came and the Rossoneri fell 8 points behind leaders Napoli.
I wonder if Pioli needs a back up system to hurt the lesser sides. Maybe a two man offence and more balls inside the box instead of trying to thread the ball through a compact defence. This of course goes totally against Milan isual style of play. But something needs to be done. We can’t keep loosing against these teams. We almost wouln’t have needed a defence at all because Cremosnese was totally toothless. A 3-5-2 wouldn’t have hurt us. But I guess without Theo that is harder to achieve.
So disappointed with this and the Torino game. So frustrating to watch.
Totally agree, predictable play leads to
predictable results, you have to beat the teams in the bottom half of the standings simple as that. We cannot give them hope before the first whistle.
Just to say that I thought defensively we were excellent ,but forward play was poor ,,as players lacked understanding around the 18 yard area ,and indeed forwards looked lost ..no one to add significant movements and create many goal scoring opportunities..The stats show 75 percent of the ball .
Yet we could not create many clear chances ..i will say this again that man Olivier Giroud makes a huge difference to the side ,as his awareness always helps others around him ..He is world class ,he will be back
and we will win the next game ..When Olivier plays we are a much better team ..Yes 36 years of age ,but capable of scoring against any team in the world .
Rafael leao ,has a great understanding of oliviers whearabouts in a match ,and again he will be decisive in the next match …just watch and see..Yes it will be difficult now to claw back the 8 points on Napoli..
Not impossible but difficult.