GdS: Three ‘strategic advantages’ – how Milan and Juventus can bridge the gap to Inter

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan are currently 18 points behind their city rivals Inter in the table while Juventus are 23 behind, but both clubs have the objective of catching up with them.

La Gazzetta dello Sport have published a report which outlines the three ‘strategic advantages’ that Inter have over Milan and Juventus, ones that have allowed them to win the league title so convincingly.

1) There are no doubts about the head coach Stefano Pioli. Inter director Beppe Marotta said Inzaghi is perhaps halfway through his cycle and therefore knows the situation perfectly.

2) A team, or rather a group, with a very high average quality. In short, Inter can be improved, but they don’t have the urgency – unlike their pursuers – to plug holes all over.

3) Pre-planning. The Nerazzurri’s summer mercato started months ago by locking up free transfers like Mehdi Taremi and Piotr Zielnski. They can plan further signings without the same urgency, also evaluating big offers for their star players.

Looking again at each of these three points, it is quite easy to see where Milan and Juve lag behind and where the work is to be done.

1) The coach. Milan are on the hunt for Pioli’s replacement. However, nothing has been decided yet, but it is essential to clarify and quickly choose a path. After Julen Lopetegui, the most popular names at Milan are now those of Sergio Conceiçao and Paulo Fonseca.

They have the same nationality, a fairly similar preferred formation (4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1), they are almost the same age: (50 and 51 respectively) and they know the Italian league well. Yet there is no time to waste, because every day that passes is a day wasted.

2) Milan and Juve are two excellent teams, but – paradoxically – they are easily improvable. The Rossoneri must sign a new centre-forward to replace Olivier Giroud, while there are other areas such as midfield and centre-back to look into.

3) Inter have made moves in departments where they already have alternatives like Frattesi and Asllani in the squad. Milan and Juve must instead establish pillars to build around, and yet they are the same as the Nerazzurri in the sense that their stars might attract big bids.

The names? Milan knows well that all of Europe likes Theo Hernandez and he would guarantee a crazy capital gain. Yet, a team that wants to chase Inter cannot imagine improving without its most decisive player.

Tags AC Milan

11 Comments

  1. An identity is needed because we clearly lacked in that front.

    Filling the gap in the squad and having our players play at their right position. Pulisic is a left winger, okafor is clearly a second striker but pioli just put him everywhere as he he does with Musah. Adli is not a pilot player. He should be a backup trequartista and we should get a proper dm

    Lastly Inter will not be as efficiant as they been this season. They got away with with way to much and Lataura and Thuram will proberly not be as clinical next season.

    1. “Lastly Inter will not be as efficiant as they been this season. They got away with with way to much and Lataura and Thuram will proberly not be as clinical next season.”
      I don’t know, we always hear that sooner or later, Inter’s financial problems will caught up to them and that they will crumble, but they seem to be improving from year to year. I think we should forget about them getting “weaker” anytime soon.

    2. How can you say pulisic is a leftwinger, when the dude played on the right and has over 20 goal contributions.. it’s a hollow argument that he plays out of position if he is playing well

      1. Man this age all you look at is numbers. It is more to the game than just stats. He dont beat his man at the right. Let me ask you do you think Leao would be as effektive if Milan put him pn the otjer side

        1. Sure he does.. he beats them regularly.. and tell me where does leao play if we put pulisic on the left? Now idk what would leao do on the right.. the way i see it, he’s a righty and all he does this season is put crosses in the box. So on the right, he’d probably do that easier..

        2. It’s not just numbers, even in the games where he doesn’t score and/or assist, he does pretty well collectively stopping attacking from our right flank and helping to build up play.
          Dribbling wise, he doesn’t seem to have a problem cutting to the inside and either passing and shooting. If he was so unnatural on the right flank, you would almost always see him cutting to the outside which is not the case. He doens’t always beat his man, but that’s his skillset+the defensive organisation of the opposition team.
          Also in both Chelsea and Dortmund, he was often used as a right winger and in many seasons even more often than any other position, so it’s not like Pioli put him in a position he wasn’t used to like he did with Okafor and Loftus Cheek.
          Pulisic is a well rounded forward who can play in many positions up front and proved to be the best right winger we had in pretty much a decade or so.

    3. That’s the copium fans keep using. Inter will not be as…., inter would soon get docked…,
      Inter would soon suffer thier financial problems…., inter this inter that.

      News flash inter is doing well and would keep doing well with a clear goal and management despite their perceived financial woes. It’s best Milan fans recognize this and wake up to reality and stop drinking that copium Kool aid.

      It gets tiring after a well especially when it’s obvious inter is and as been doing fine.

  2. Inter was not built for 1 season, but they have been building their team for the last 5-6 years. The solution for Milan is to start building the foundation from the start, from management to coaches must have one vision. Indeed, the results will not be instant, fans have to be patient.

    1. I have always wondered this “building” everyone keeps talking about is it the continuation from M&M tenure and by extension Elliot’s, or is it a new one post firing m&m. Because this building of a system is just an excuse at this point.

      Maybe it meant something at one time, but now it just looks like a place holder they tell the fans or the fans tell themselves to hope or cope in this case.

      1. Because if we were continuing the building from the old management it’s 5 years now and we should have been on Internazionale level.

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