AC Milan travelled to Roma for a tough away clash against Lazio, hoping to bounce back with a win after three games without one. So they did, thanks to a late winner by Noah Okafor, but it was far from a perfect game.
In the 1-1 draw against Atalanta, Milan were rather dominant and the disappointment of not getting all three points was huge. In spite of that, though, one would expect the team to build on the performance and play just as well/perhaps better in the next clash.
That wasn’t the case, unfortunately, as the Rossoneri looked nothing like the sharp side they were last week and barely managed to threaten Lazio. The first proper chance and shot on target came in injury time of the first half, which says a lot.
In the second half, not much changed except Lazio got a man sent off after a rather a situation that you don’t see every day. Despite this numerical advantage, though, Stefano Pioli’s men didn’t seem to know what to do with it.
Fortunately, Noah Okafor did bag the winner in the 88th minute after a nice move. The game went on to finish in an ugly manner with Adam Marusic and Matteo Guendouzi earning themselves red cards in the 94th and the 97th minute, meaning Lazio finished the game with 8 men.
1. Pioli playing Russian Roulette
This season has been filled with rumours regarding the Italian’s future and despite Pioli stabilising his team’s performances in the new year, it’s becoming increasingly clear that his time at Milan must end at the end of the season.
It has to be the case, because the coach is struggling to find any continuity with his tactics and is just playing Russian roulette each game, hoping that things will work out.
You cannot play the way Milan did against Atalanta, a much better side compared to Lazio by the way, and then proceed to play like what we saw yesterday. Not to say that he doesn’t deserve any praise, but Pioli’s inability to find consistency with his tactics is costing Milan a lot.
Furthermore, he has at least three world-class players at his disposal: Mike Maignan, Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez. Yet somehow, the football that the Rossoneri played last night was absolutely dreadful to watch. Pioli’s tenure at the club is coming to a natural end.
2. Fortunate to not concede
Despite the man advantage and the win, Milan were fortunate enough not to concede with Simon Kjaer and Alessandro Florenzi playing poorly at the back, committing a lot of unforced errors.
Matteo Gabbia was also a bit clumsy at times, though he was relatively good in comparison to the former two. The same goes for Hernandez, who probably was the best out of the bunch but nothing spectacular.
It’s clear that the pace of the game didn’t suit Kjaer at all, finding himself out of positioning and losing his man several times, and the Dane will likely be on the bench moving forward. Gabbia is the only one who still has a chance (and a pretty good one too), which is commendable given the heavy returns.
3. Midfield trio disappoint
Against Atalanta, a phenomenal game by Yacine Adli helped Milan dominate the pitch, but he was very poor this time out. Although he was the most creative one out of the trio, that is Ismael Bennacer and Ruben Loftus-Cheek too, the Frenchman simply wasn’t good enough.
As for Bennacer, the issue is probably his fitness as he was out for a long time and still hasn’t found that crucial rhythm which he relies on with his playing style. Loftus-Cheek, meanwhile, set a very high bar at the start of the year and has struggled to replicate that at times. Maybe we shouldn’t expect him to, but he was poor this time out.
Adli is the most peculiar one, though, as he looked nothing like the player we saw against Atalanta. Consistency is something he must work on a lot.
4. Attack not firing on all cylinders
We have pretty much gone through all the areas on the pitch, with few positive words to say, and the attacking department is no different on that front. More so than individual performances, before you slate us in the comments, it was the lack of link-ups that hurt Milan yesterday.
Olivier Giroud couldn’t find his teammates with the flicks and was often in the wrong positions, not receiving the passes (to then flick) in the first place. Christian Pulisic had his moments and also got Pellegrini sent off, which counts for a lot, but he also had one or two good shooting opportunities.
Finally, Leao was not at his best this time out either, failing to put the Lazio defence in real danger for most of the game. He picked up towards the end, first with the narrow offside goal and then with the cross which led to the goal. But why didn’t he play like that from the first minute?
5. Substitutes to the rescue
This time around, Milan’s bench did prove to be a game-changer with Noah Okafor’s goal enough to seal all three points in the end. The Swiss international seemed motivated after coming on and positioned himself well on the goal, as he showed good agility and reaction to grab the goal.
Tijjani Reijnders also played a very good game off the bench as he was a big upgrade to Bennacer. Tidy with his passing and unlucky that Leao was offside (by just a few centimetres) following his great through ball.
Davide Calabria was also an upgrade to Florenzi, although not a big one but the Italian still brought some fresh energy to the pitch. In short, Milan certainly have more depth than they did last season and it has been crucial on a few occasions.
