AC Milan recorded potentially their biggest win of the season so far on Sunday night, beating Inter 1-0 in the first derby of the season.
The only goal of the game came through Christian Pulisic early in the second half as he buried a rebound from Alexis Saelemaekers’ shot. Yann Sommer did well to get down to the low-angle attempt, yet with his right hand he succeeded only in parrying it straight into the American’s path.
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Speaking of goalkeepers, Milan had Mike Maignan to thank, as he made stunning saves from Lautaro Martinez and a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty to keep a clean sheet – his sixth in the league this season in 12 games – and to secure a massive win.
It is a fourth derby win in the last six (all unbeaten), with the Rossoneri moving above their rivals into second place. They are two points behind the league leaders, Roma, and the positive record against teams at the top continues. Ben Dixon has five things we learned from the game.
1. Maignan’s best-ever Milan performance?
Little more needs to be said other than Maignan was incredible for the Rossoneri on Sunday night. A captain’s performance in every sense of the statement.
Against Inter, he made six saves, including the one from 12 yards, as he ended the game with more than 2 xG prevented. A phenomenal performance against any opposition. Yet, the fact that it came against the Nerazzurri in a game with such meaning makes that performance even sweeter.
Maignan’s performances this season have constantly gotten better, and it is fair to suggest that he is experiencing his best period of form since he joined the club, perhaps even before then, too.
Whilst that is brilliant in the short term, it is also enjoyed with a bitter aftertaste. Maignan was great, but how long does he actually have left at Milan? With these performances, the list of suitors will only grow. So, the Diavolo must make a few final, considerable attempts to get him to stay.
2. Pulisic is the No.9
In the summer – and since then, in fairness – a lot of the talk has been about a striker, or the lack of one. Massimiliano Allegri requested someone with a predator-like instinct in the box. A more physical option, but a goalscorer, primarily.
However, they may only need the secondary element of that.
Pulisic’s movement for the goal on Sunday was phenomenal. He crept behind Manuel Akanji, and despite his call for a pass being overlooked, he continued to progress and then pounced on the rebound, catching the Swiss defender napping.
A simple goal, but a striker’s one. Admittedly, there were a few doubts about the striker partnership leading into this game. However, he and Rafael Leao combined well, and they got the better of a solid defensive unit.
Maybe the answer was there all along?
3. Still question marks
Whilst some answers may still be present, there are other questions that Allegri must deal with. Youssouf Fofana, despite his nice work for the goal, still played with a few issues, being sloppy on occasion.
It is a long-standing issue with the Frenchman, and questions are constantly being asked of him and his place in the team moving forward. Of course, there was the positive of his involvement in the decisive moment. However, he is not secure, especially with Ardon Jashari and Ruben Loftus-Cheek returning in the midfield and Samuele Ricci providing stability when called upon.
Then, Christopher Nkunku is also not helping to strengthen his case. He was only given 10 minutes, so we cannot be too harsh. However, he had three touches in that time, and whilst context plays a part, he looked invisible.
Right now, it is difficult to justify the price paid by the Rossoneri in the summer… and it probably has been for a while.
4. From doubt to certainty at wing-back
In the summer, the wing-backs were a particular area of interest. Alexis Saelemaekers’ time with Roma showed that he was a fine choice for the position, and this has remained the case. But the same could not be said on his opposite flank.
Pervis Estupinan arrived, but conviction did not. It would be a case of waiting to see how he fared. A few decent moments were overshadowed by the shakes, and a red card against Napoli gave an opportunity to Davide Bartesaghi.
Whilst the Ecuadorian returned at the first opportunity, he made a few errors, and so the Italian was trusted to be a starter on Sunday. A fantastic decision in the end, with Bartesaghi launching himself further.
The Italian looks to be a potential star in the making, and despite his inexperience, he looked – and, after the game, sounded – confident and mature. Any doubts are likely now fading, and it seems the partnership on the flanks could already be nailed on moving forward.
5. Allegri’s derby win
The victory can be attributed to several strong performances across the pitch; however, it almost always falls back to Allegri.
Maignan’s upturn in form can be linked to his arrival and the expectations rising on him, as well as the goalkeeper coach brought to Milan. Pulisic as a No.9 has been tried previously, but this is the truest version of a ‘striker’ Pulisic that has been seen.
Then, the decision to trust Bartesaghi and Saelemaekers, a win in itself.
All of these factors go back to Allegri, but then there is the fact that the Rossoneri are better than the sum of their parts. Traditionally, his teams have always been tough to beat, and this is the case at San Siro.
Beating the Diavolo is not an easy feat, which it was for large parts of last season. His team are well-oiled and robust, hard-working and focused. It takes mistakes, really, to get anything off the team, and even despite one, Inter could not breach Maignan’s goal.
Milan are back to being a team, wins are combined efforts, and that is thanks to Allegri.
2. Pulisic is a second striker, he has all the qualities for this position. As winger he is not world class, as a striker he is. Thankfully Allegri doesn’t play with wingers so this is finally evident to everyone…
3. Fofana did quite good, seems you are using him as Musah last season, scapegoat. How about you don’t do that? Only cowards do this so people like them. He obviously wasn’t sloppy and what was asked of him quite well…
and *did * what was asked of him quite well…
100% agree…This journalist goes out of his way to make negative posts about Fofana…Despite the fact that he created the winning goal. He would have raved about Ricci had he created the goal.
Yep
No Pulisic is not the No. 9, and no the answer was not there all along.
In yesterday’s game Pulisic didn’t play as a No. 9, Leao did. Pulisic was playing in his regular role this season of a 2nd striker with a lot of freedom to roam left, right or drop back in midfield.
Just because he scored a poachers goal doesn’t mean that he played or is a No.9. He is a very dynamic player who reads the game well, has very good anticipation, with a great work rate. He is thriving under Allegri in his role.
There is a lot of talk from inter players how Milan did nothing outside of the goal. Well, Inter didn’t do anything outside of set pieces.
From Opta data, , the XG of Inter-Milan excluding dead-ball situations (penalties, corners, , free kicks, , throw-ins):
Inter (0.48) – Milan (1.00).
They did nothing besides sending crosses from corners.
Their midfield was nullified, while Saelemaekers completely took di Marco out of the game. Bartesaghi didn’t have much to do because Chivu put exclusively left footed wingback to play on the right side.
Inter best player was Acerbi, a CB. That is all you need to know about how inter played yesterday.
I agree, I am honestly baffled how can someone that does this for a living write that Pulisic is a no. 9.
Pulisic’s workrate was phenomenal as usual – all over the pitch on the left on the right helping the back and popping up with the kind of instinctual run and goal we used to see Inzaghi score week in week out.
A couple of other things we learned –
1. Refs in Serie A may as well come out on the pitch in inter shirts – how did their Bloodhound or Lautaro not even get slaps on the wrist for hair pulling and elbows? – and then Leao gets booked 10 min later for sliding tackle… and the penalty was debatable…
2. Some fans never cease to amaze me – we win with a clean sheet in the derby (as underdogs, “away” from home) against the top scoring team in the league and people are whining about horrible play, luck and how inter deserved to win if it weren’t for Mike’s saves… That’s like saying they would’ve won if it wasn’t for Pulisic scoring…
And just listened to the podcast – I even missed Chivu blocking Rabiot’s throw-in, Leao didn’t even touch Barella… and then we get “inter fan” popping up on here talking about a second star they didn’t even win on the pitch… what a team 🤮
Gotta agree here on all counts. A win and a clean sheet.. plus they hit the post a few times, a pen miss to rub salt in to the wounds. What more can we ask for 😁
Sometimes you gotta take these wins when you get them and forget about stylistics for a sec… It’s a derby after all. Anything goes. And the main thing is to WIN. Esp with the way Inter was playing (they’re still the more likely to win the Scudetto so have to take that into consideration too)
I’ll join the posts prior to mine in saying that Pulišić wasn’t the striker yesterday, Leão was. And just like every game where he has to play as a striker, he didn’t look comfortable and wasn’t as impactful offensively as we’d like him to be.
Yesterday we played with no striker, we played with a second striker/free roaming attacker and a left winger forced up front.
Ancelotti was the other coach who once played with no strikers, using Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr as the most advanced men while Bellingham was an attacking midfielder who scored a lot of the goals. But, unlike 2023/24 Real Madrid, we don’t have a Jude Bellingham, so we’ll need a real striker as soon as possible.
Other than that, I still dislike how easily we get pinned sometimes and struggle with buildup because of how cramped we are in our own half. I understand that it’s not easy to overcome a press and that being pressed is something that can happen, but we’ll have to work on that. The good thing at least, is that teams that press us run out of gas eventually.
Now while we somewhat managed to nullify Inter’s crosses from open play (although them using Augusto in the right side made things a bit easier for Bartesaghi), we did struggle a lot with corners.
And finally, someone really has to talk to Fofana about his shooting. Man thinks he is Gerrard or Scholes while he can’t even aim right even if the goal was twice as big. Because of our defensive style, we don’t get many chances per game, so we can’t afford to lose them because one player thinks it’s a good idea to shoot everytime he is within 30 meters of the goal.
What sweet me is that in the last derby cashanogulu lost the ball and Pulisic score, now Pulisic score and he lost the penalty again.Forza Milan
The football intelligence of Modric, Rabiot and Pulisic is just a joy to watch. Salemaekaers likely belongs in that group too. What a group for Allegri to have in building a solid match plan week-to-week!
I like Saelemakers but I would not use “intelligence” with him. He still makes very poor choices a bit too often for my taste.
At least he doesn’t seem to do this in the defensive phase tho.
Uhh for those saying Fofana wasn’t a problem…my goodness, are you watching the same match? He looked like a deer in the headlights for 95% of that game. He did well enough on the goal to save him for another week, as it was THE derby and it can be a lot, so if you pop up and do anything of import, you get a pass. The only reason he hasn’t been replaced by Ricci is because Ricci is a totally different player and he’s needing to learn how to play the way Allegri wants that 3rd midfielder to play, closer to the box, almost like a Tiji style (which I’m sure is the player Max had in mind for that role before he was sold). Fofana’s shooting is atrocious and he makes many mental mistakes. He cannot take a game by the scruff of the neck the way Rabiot can, and he can’t get forward and really work the keeper like Tiji could. He’d be a GREAT back up, but as a week-over-week starter, he’s not it. Unfortunately, we really don’t have a 1:1 replacement at this time. We’re waiting on Ricci to grow into that spot.
Having said that, the rest of the team looked fantastic. So disciplined, courages, fought for each other, and really showed they have what it takes to push this title challenge all the way until the end. Having Rabiot and Puli back just makes us a different beast. Salad is becoming maybe the best right wing-back in Serie A and maybe all of Europe. Magic Mike, enough said…
Let’s not go overboard with Salad being the best right wing-back in Europe. He’s doing great, let’s leave it there.
The only reason he hasn’t been replaced by Ricci, is because Ricci cannot do anything that Fofana does, and we all saw how well he did replacing Rabiot…proving that he cannot do anything that Rabiot does either!
I’ve not seen much of Jashari, and RLC is a different player as well. There is no clear alternative to Fofana really, so he will play. and thanks to him, Milan scored!
Trust Allegri!
Fofana was pressing and harassing all game. Actually he does that in every game he is always pushing high up the pitch giving the opposition little time to settle. He never lets anyone waltz around our midfield without putting in a tackle or challenge. That hard work allows Rabiot and Modric to do their thing…Thats why the balance is so good between the 3. AND has taken milan to the top AND keeping us there….He is not and never has been a goal scoring midfielder…I actually do not think Milan have a suitable alternative for him. Not sure about Jashari though, never seen him play a full game.
Pulisic isn’t to grow 6 inches and win headers. Other than that he’s brilliant.
The one time Pulisic never seems to compete is on headers.
It appears his strategy to interfere and collect the second ball. In general he is not a physical player.
These are not knocks on him, just things to be managed. Getting a bruising CF in there like a Lukaku for him to play off of would likely be deadly for the rest of the league.
This is why he worked so well with Olivier Giroud. A true 9 will lay the ball off to a finisher and their interplay was really good.
If Milan buys a No 9 in January and starts him, or if Allegri begins to start Giménez then who goes to the bench if Allegri continues to use the current formation? I ask because I honestly can’t come up with a good answer.
It’s just fiddlers wanting to fiddle.
The reality is that they don’t need anyone else. The squad is fine.
There really isn’t. You could put Fofana on the bench and drop Pulisic into a #10. It would take him further from the goal.
I think Milan should save their money and play Leao and Pulisic up front all season. Nkunku and Gimenez and maybe RLC can be alternates until the summer.
Jean-Philippe Mateta is the striker ACM should get. 6′ 4″- strong, fast, and big. Scores goals in the EPL. Wants to play in Serie A and for Milan. Available in January. Look him up.
Jim you’re absolutely correct! Mateta would be a great addition to the squad.
Fantastic performance.
Huge win.
The defence were phenomenal.
Maignan obviously but Gabbia, Tomori and Pavlovic were great at defending crosses and cutting out attacks.
Having Gabbia at the heart really gives the team an identity – an Italian identity – that’s been missing.
The full backs were great and Bartesaghi showed exactly what Italian defending about. Italians, unlike any other nation, put this value on defending that is very hard to replicate. It’s like Italian food outside of Italy. The good stuff is fancier but it lacks the basic substance.
Whatever about Fofana’s issues he compliments Modric and Rabiot, and having complimentary players is more important than individual ability. And when Modric and Rabiot are next to you all you really need to do is throw your weight around like he does.
Upfront it worked and it didn’t work. Pulisic popping up everywhere definitely worked. Leao struggled but also occupied the Inter defence. It’s a shame he didn’t make more of the chances he got to run at the defence but there’ll be other games
But fundamentally this all works. The pieces all fit together in a logical way. For the first time in years.
And I love the bench size.
This is what I’ve been looking for years. Who knew a multi-winning Scudetto winning coach agrees with me.
“Leao struggled but also occupied the Inter defence. It’s a shame he didn’t make more of the chances he got to run at the defence but there’ll be other games”
And you know why he didn’t ? Because he ain’t no striker. Leão loves to occupy the left wing and initiate his attacks from there, he isn’t as good centrally.
The only striker we currently have is at exactly 0 goals and 0 assists in serie A. All of our other forwards are false nines, wingers,…
And before you say anything about the coach, Allegri specifically asked for a striker like Vlahović not Nkunku.
You love the bench size because right now all of our injured players are back while it was Inter that had to fill a left wingback as a right wingback. But there were games where we couldn’t fill in a forward or a defender even when we needed to.
Truth is, Allegri is a master craftsman but this team needs an additional striker (a TRUE striker) and can make use of a supplementary central defender.
Leao got the ball a few times on the left hand side and went to dribble but it just wasn’t working for him.
I actually really like having two wingers as strikers but they probably need someone driving forward from the middle.
RLC could be that player and he could score goals like he did in his first season.