Empoli 0-2 AC Milan: Five things we learned – bravery triumphs over confusion

AC Milan returned home from Tuscany with three important points in their possession after beating Empoli 2-0 at the Stadio Carlo Castellani.

After a goalless opening 45 minutes, the game appeared to be in a perilous position for Milan when Fikayo Tomori was controversially sent off for a second yellow card, but then Luca Marianucci also got his marching orders for kicking out at Santiago Gimenez.

Speaking of Gimenez, he was part of a triple change at the break which saw Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic come on too. It was Pulisic who teed up Leao for the opening goal, a header to meet a cross at the far post from close range.

Then, Gimenez got his first goal since joining in the January transfer window with the American again the provider, cutting in on his left foot and curling a shot inside the far post with a finish that has drawn Bobo Vieiri comparisons.

The fact that the teams around Milan have also won over the weekend is not great news in terms of gaining ground but it shows just how necessary it was to win. Below are five things we learned from the game.

1. Locking the door

We start with what might not be the most glamorous talking point but might just be the most important one: Milan, after some suspect performances defensively since Sergio Conceicao arrived, management a clean sheet.

In the build-up to the game there was talk of the coach rotating the centre-back pairing but he opted to stick with the same back four since Kyle Walker came in (the Inter game), hoping to build some familiarity and understanding.

The result was that the department looked cohesive and organised pretty much throughout, barring one shot from Colombo that cannoned off the inside of the post. Pavlovic and Tomori rose to the physical battle well and were aggressive at the right moments, while Theo Hernandez’s shift at both ends was solid enough.

The real plaudits deserve to go to Walker, though. He has not been outstanding in any of his three starts in truth and yet has been impressive in each. His positional awareness, leadership, experience and composure have been a breath of fresh air compared to the previous standards on that side.

2. Glass half full

Joao Felix got his first start after netting on debut versus Roma in midweek, starting alongside Tammy Abraham in what looked like a 4-4-2 on paper but effectively he had a free-roaming role in behind the Englishman.

His performance was quite enigmatic, in the sense that it was quite hard to concretely judge. He was often at the heart of the danger created in the first half and also in the second, buzzing around the edge of the area like a bee, looking to bring team-mates in and break lines with pass or dribble.

He had 53 touches across his 84 minutes showing just how much he wanted to get on the ball, with 20/26 passes completed (77%). He won nine ground duels too, demonstrating that the battle was there too and he pressed from the front.

However, the wastefulness cannot be denied, as Felix had four shots off target (one on), missed two big chances and lost possession 17 times. To try and distil it down, Felix is showing a big willingness to try and be the attacking catalyst and to try pick the lock of the low block, yet the end product needs some refining.

3. Officiating shambles (again)

Referee Luca Pairetto and the entire team of officials have been criticised plenty by the media, and rightly so after what was a display that nearly jeopardised the outcome of the entire game.

The first talking point was in the first half when Cacace went with his studs into Kyle Walker and was not even given a yellow card for it. It was a late challenge which got nowhere near the bar, with studs up and connecting high on Walker’s ankle.

Then there is the red card incident involving Tomori for a second yellow card after fouling Colombo on the break. The issue with this is that Colombo looks to be in an offside position, and the linesman is not even level with the last man which skews his perception.

Tomori goes in hard and does not get the ball so it is a yellow card under normal circumstances, yet the fact play has even been allowed to get that far is another error from the officiating crew. Due to the fact it was only a yellow card, the VAR team could not intervene.

They did manage to correctly spot and award a red card to Marianucci for kicking out at Gimenez, which quickly produced numerical parity, but had that not happened then we could be talking about a very different outcome and very different levels of anger towards to officials.

4. Sticking not twisting

Conceicao deserved praise for being as bold as he was, firstly at half-time when he changed what wasn’t working and brought on Leao, Pulisic and Gimenez, meaning we saw the ‘fantastic four’ in motion with Felix still on the field.

Then, when Tomori’s red card meant that the Rossoneri were at a man disadvantage, the head coach did not do what many managers would do by re-addressing the balance and bringing on a centre-back. He explained the decision after the game.

“The temptation at that moment was to take out an attacking player and bring on a centre-back. I moved Musah to right-back and put Kyle with Pavlovic, while dropping Joao Felix a bit,” he said.

“I took a risk, I wanted to win. Drawing with a club like Milan for me is like losing two points. We did our job and brought home the three points.”

Risks are what Milan need at the moment, especially with the situation in the league table still in need of improvement and – as mentioned in the introduction – that the surrounding teams all won.

Would it have been different had Thiaw come on when Conceicao initially got the ‘temptation’? It’s difficult to tell of course, but the fact that Pulisic set up the goals that Leao and Gimenez scored suggests the ultra-attacking approach was worthwhile.

5. A chance goes begging

Whether it was because Gimenez was not quite 100% or not is somewhat irrelevant, because Tammy Abraham showed that he actually deserved to get the start against Empoli with his performance against his parent club Roma in midweek.

Against the Giallorossi there was a lot to like: the Englishman moved smartly, won duels, held the ball up well and perhaps most importantly scored two goals with instinctive finishes to show that he can provide that clinical edge which has been lacking.

Fast-forwarding to Saturday evening, that same player was not seen. One might have suspected it would be difficult to get quite as much joy against a deep and compact defence rather than against Claudio Ranieri’s more gung-ho approach, yet there is still a way to be useful.

Abraham often found himself dropping too deep and then was cut off from the rest of the move as it developed. Really he should have recognised Felix was doing the roaming-and-connecting role, instead positioning himself on the last shoulder like he did against Roma.

With a chance to prove that Gimenez has to earn his spot, Abraham managed 15 touches in his 45 minutes, with zero shots, zero dribble attempts, 7/10 passes completed, zero key passes, one aerial duel won and possession lost six times.