A first win of the season saw AC Milan pick up three points at the Via Del Mare, beating Lecce by two goals to nil.
Following the disastrous performance against Cremonese, which kicked off the season with a loss, Milan had to react and win against Lecce before the international break, which comes at a good time. Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic can recover, whilst Christopher Nkunku, who was announced today, could also get up to speed as he will not be part of the French squad.
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The Rossoneri’s lineup was depleted against Lecce with Ardon Jashari, Pulisic and Leao all out, but excuses had to be put aside as the three points were all that mattered.
Things started brilliantly for the Diavolo, with Gabbia scoring a goal just 4 minutes into the game. Unfortunately, that goal was disallowed, and the Rossoneri had to wait until the 66th minute to open the scoring through Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
Before the goal, Santiago Gimenez also scored, but the goal was again disallowed, this time due to an offside.
In the 86th minute, Pulisic killed the game with a lovely finish to form the final 2-0 scoreline, as Milan got their first three points of the season.
Here are five things we learned from the game:
1. Saelemaekers steps up in the absence of Pulisic and Leao
Alexis Saelemaekers was played up front, in the absence of Pulisic and Leao, and ended up playing on either side of the pitch and at times behind Gimenez, too.
The first half wasn’t the most efficient from the Belgian, but he was probably the best player for Milan in the opening 45 minutes and looked for the ball, trying to make something happen. He was, however, let down by his teammates a bit as they all seemed lost and didn’t make any runs forward.
In the second half, he picked up the pace and had multiple good dribbles and even got the assist for Gimenez’s disallowed goal. He also won the foul that resulted in the opening goal.
All in all, he did well across the front line and proved his versatility again. He was also the only player who could actually beat his man and work in the tight spaces, and he continues to be an asset for the team.
2. Modric orchestrates in the middle
Luka Modric was a bit poor in the first half, but it was mainly due to the whole side looking a bit off in their game.
In the second half, as Milan picked up the pace, Modric also improved a lot and dictated the tempo very well, eventually getting the assist for Loftus-Cheek’s goal. If you take into account the lovely delivery in the first half for Matteo Gabbia’s disallowed goal, then the midfielder had quite the impact.
Modric was also crucial towards the end in helping his team keep its cool and close the game down. It was also helpful that Samuele Ricci came on as the Italian added a bit more passing ability in the middle, which made life for the Croatian easier.
3. Trio disappoint
There were a few players that didn’t manage to step up in the second half either, after poor first halves – Pervis Estupinan, Youssouf Fofana and Santiago Gimenez.
The Ecuadorian still seems to be getting used to his new team, and he did have the occasional good combination with Saelemaekers down the left flank. Nevertheless, he was quite shaky as he made quite a few mistakes.
Admittedly, the second half was better, at least defensively, but still plenty to improve.
Then Fofana continues to frustrate as he did against Cremonese. The Frenchman offered little in both phases of the game, moving the ball really slowly, and other than a good through ball to Gimenez, we didn’t see other positives.
That leads us to Gimenez. The Mexican was very poor and has not been able to make the most out of the two games he had to prove his worth against arguably easier sides to play against.
The disallowed goal was the only moment he actually managed to control the ball and fire off a decent shot. In the other instances, he failed to control the ball. When he did manage to get a good first touch into the box, which was maybe once, he sent the shot wide whilst being 1v1 with the keeper.
A really disappointing performance by Gimenez, who needs to do much, much better if he does end up staying with the Rossoneri.
4. Compact at the back
On the positive side, the Diavolo managed to keep a clean sheet, and there was only really half a chance for Lecce to threaten Mike Maignan. It was a night and day performance compared to the one against Cremonese, as it looked more like the defence we were expecting under Allegri.
Lecce might not be the best team to measure against, but then again, the same could’ve been said for Cremonese, who had no trouble creating goal chances. It’s definitely refreshing to see such a performance at the back.
These clean sheets will ultimately allow the Rossoneri to win games where the attack might not be performing well, and that’s all that matters in the end.
5. Captain America seals it off the bench
Pulisic didn’t perform well against Cremonese and was on the bench against Lecce, due to a minor injury, but he did what he does best after coming off the bench. He quietly found the space to cause some chaos and then calmly slotted it in to give the Rossoneri the win.
The American isn’t as spectacular to watch compared to Leao, for example, but he works hard and always knows how to get himself in these dangerous positions and has more than enough abilities to find the back of the net or provide an assist.
Hopefully, this season will not be any different, and one might hope that he can even get better with players like Nkunku and Modric around him.
1- Saelemakers HAS to be kept. I KNOW he doesn’t score a lot and his shooting is sus, but his dribbling and passing improved quite well, he can be used in many positions and most importantly, he plays like there is no tomorrow.
2- We should probably think on how to manage Modrić because he is really a level above the others and it seems we’ll really need him.
3- Giménez, if he stays, has his work cut for him.
4- Fofana has his work cut for him.
5- As soon as Leão is back, we should probably ditch the 3-5-2 for a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 with Nkunku as an AM. Heck even a 3-4-2-1 would be better than a 3-5-2.
Agree, Fofana was good pre-season, but has been rather average so far. He’s better sitting in front of the defense. All this bombing forward is not working.
The enormous versatility of Saelemaekers makes him like a master key. He should definitely stay, but unfortunately he has a serious injury almost every season. Mainly because of the intensity with which he plays. In my opinion he was the MOTM against Lecce. Everybody seems to forget that Modric wasted a really great chance and gave 2 lateral passes on our own half that were intercepted and created dangerous situations. If Fofane or Musah would have done this, everybody would have noticed. Speaking of Fofana, he definitly isn´t on the right level at the moment. I hope Allegri will try different options for him and RLC, because they´re both really slowing us down. Saelemaekers was smart enough to come and pick up the ball behind Fofana to surpass his position, but if it wasn´t for that most of our attacks would have been so slow that the entire Lecce team could position itself and we would have been stuck every time.
And Modrić played the full match without issues, even though he isn’t at 100% match fitness, said it himself. Maybe he shouldn’t play 90 minutes when we have 2-0 lead but I think Allegri was afraid to remove him since the other midfielders couldn’t pick up a pass and hold the ball if their life depended on it.
Always reading my mind.
I share the exact same thoughts.
I’ll just add that, Fofana and RLC is probably overk.ill on rigidity.
And I’ll have to say Modric is incredibly good..I recall a cross field pass that landed directly on the player’s foot. This is why big teams like Real.pay the big bucks for a leap in quality
I cut Loftus-Cheek some slack since he scored the winning goal, but I agree that him and Fofana have like 0 passing ability and it makes our midfield way too rigid. Not only Modrić is the only one who creates, but they limit his passing options since they’re essentially cones.
Fofana is quite remarquable, I mentioned last season that he wasn’t a 6 but right now it’s Modrić who plays in front of the defense, so Fofana should perform better as an 8 but he looks quite limited. Most of the time he shoots way of target, he can’t create and even his defensive game is sus. People sometimes mention that he is a French international but he didn’t play a single minute since october 2024 and is mostly a bench player.
Loftus-Cheek did well under Pioli as a support striker, but as a midfielder, he is quite limited.
Fofana is shockingly bad at shooting. How did he make it this far as a pro is impressive in and of itself.
I also think RLC is probably better being a SS but he’s not a very mobile or agile SS
But yea, they both were statues when Salad and Modric were trying to create 🤦♂️
Let’s hope.they get better though
Fofana isn’t really a 50-50, he’s better as a destroyer slightly in the back. He has the ability (once in a while) to give that good pass on the break, like the pass he gave Gimenez which left him 1-v-1 against the keeper. He also got a decent shot on goal this time, with not so many wasted. But, our midfield looks clumsy with him next to RLC
Salad will never be an elite player, but that’s fine. We underappreciated him even though he spent most of his last season tracking back to cover for Calabria’s mistakes.
I agree with you. If he plays like he did last night all season, he will make a difference. He was good.
What the f’co does ‘elite player’ even mean.
He’s one of the few players left in the squad who knows how to win a Scudetto.
I don’t know what that makes him in your totally arbitrary ratings but it’s kind of irrelevant.
Can you stop it with the Scudetto narrative already? It’s irrelevant and 4 years removed at this point.
None of the players from the ’11 Scudetto are here anymore yet you don’t moan about any of them. Let it go.
Saladmaker is a rotation player that’s useful in this disjointed roster. Elite players: Look at Real Madrid, ManCity, Liverpool… Salad never cracks the starting 11 in any of those.
Sorry I should just focus on wild speculation on players’ ‘ceilings’ rather than recorded history.
Yeah Saelemakers could NEVER win a Scudetto?
Am I right?
Saelemakers sums up everything that’s wrong with Milan and Serie A.
They’ve been desperate to try and force him out, and to replace him with an ‘upgrade’.
They did their usual 3/1 thing and signed three wingers in one summer. They blew 20m on Chukwueze who they signed at the exact same time as Pulisic AND Luka Romero.
They sent Saelemakers off to play for their RIVALS.
And the whole thing was a total waste of precious time and money.
All that time that Saelemakers and the rest could’ve been building on the Scudetto season the club wasted trying to find some enigmatic upgrade.
This has happened across the whole squad. It’s a total mess.
7 RBs were forced out in the last year alone including the club captain and its most important attacking asset.
And now look what the club has.
Musah signed as 1/3 midfielders that same summer, and Estupiñán who has lost the ball more times in his own half than I’ve ever seen from a professional.
Until people actually LEARN FROM THE PAST, what hope is there?
Gimenez is not making his case. I like that Allegri is giving every opportunity to do so, but so far, he has been struggling in all aspects.
Allegri is allergic to new players. Where are the new players ?
Allegri is using all new players since he is a new coach.
??? What??
Apart from Modric and Estu, the rest of the new players haven’t played. Jashari, Ricci, Athakame and De Winter have played a total of 32 minutes between them with the latter two having zero minutes
Allegri is a new coach so all the players are new to him.
I believe he’s talking about new to the club….duh
Just use common sense, that’s all I’m saying geez 🤷♂️
And I’m pretty sure he wrote ALLEGRI IS ALLERGIC TO NEW PLAYERS.
He can’t be allergic to new players when each and everyone of the players at his disposal are new to him.
They are not new to us, the Milan fans, but they are new to him.
Duh!!!
Well he is completely right that all the players are new to Allegri. Unless Rabiot joins, he will be old for him.
It’s like that time you started a new job and you just rocked up and started running the place.
But I know, I know elite football is different. It’s more like a casual bar job.
Of course these players can just hit the ground running.
PS Cutrone’s now at Parma so I guess my and his love affair with Como is over. At least they said nice things about him..
Ha.
You’re now the Parma Pariah!
I see Catrone came off the bench and scored too.
Nah bro, go back to Como! You like them because they’re close by, remember! Fake a$$
Or better yet , he’s at Parma since you love to talk about Parma ham so much, what could be better? A match made in heaven.
Saelesmaekers is a versatile, well rounded player. That’s why I think they went for Nkunku too for his versatility.
Fofana and Gimenez both need to seriously step it up.
Overall it was a positive display, despite the first half. This team is starting to find its footing, and with that being early on, that’s only a positive.
It’s still too early to judge but I’m happy with the result. It will help with some of the recent negativity. I didn’t like Allergi and Tare’s comments this past week at all. We have no idea what the team will look like yet due to all the transfer chaos. They started well with Ricci and Modric (what a player) but then the focus shifted to raising money through sales rather than building a team. We urgently needed full-backs, midfielders, and a starting striker. Transfers in the goalkeeping department and central defense were a waste of time.
I hate the international break.
Maignan
De Winter Gabbia Pavlovic
Musah Ricci Modric Saelemakers
Pulisic Nkunku Leao
I actually agree with this lineup until Jashari comes back. Then he can take Musahs place. With an obvious shift in the setup.
The Scudetto winner and now one of the longest serving players, Tomori for De Winter.
I’ve no idea what to do with WBs.
Saelemakers is one. May as well give Bartesaghi a chance as the other.
This Saelemaekers glaze is crazy. He’s a decent player but his end product is sus. This, another example of the Pulisic hate on this cite. Did you even watch us not create a thing yesterday? Opposed to the plethora of shoots two weekends ago. Keep pushing the narrative.
Did you see his pass for the Gimenez goal that was disallowed?
I honestly don’t know what people are expecting.
They won. That’s all that matters.
Yes, these fanboys fawning all over Saleamakers now is so over the top. He’s never been anything more than an average player. All the talk of his creativity, yet he never actually creates anything. The offense was not good whe he plays. He averages about 2 goals and 2 assists per season in his career.
Even against Lecce, he was playing up top with Giminez as basically a second striker and had zero shots on target, not even sure if he had an attempt. He is not an attacking player. The end product is never there. But we already knew this about him. That’s why he lost his starting role to Messias. That’s why we loaned him to Bologna and they didn’t want to keep him either. And then to Roma. It’s like this entire site has amnesia. He is a useful player to have on the bench , start a few games here and there, nothing more.
Saelemaekers played in more games than Giroud in the scudetto winning season. Roma definitely wanted to buy him but we didn´t want to sell him because he did so well. Bologna also wanted to buy him but they always want huge discounts (even more than us). Most of the games he plays for us are as a left wingback. That´s why his attacking numbers are low. For Roma he played in a more attacking position consistently and he scored 7 goals and 3 assists even with being out injured for a long time as well. Be glad we have him in our team because against Lecce he was our biggest attacking threath when everything was locked up. Once we had the advantage, Lecce had to try and attack more which caused more openings but from the start it was Saelemaekers who made things happen.
I followed Pulisic when he was with Chelsea. Compared to that fan base, this is a love fest for Puli. Forza Milan!
Compared to Modric, some of Milan players look like non-footballers. 🤣
Pulisic’s press and resulting goal is exactly what we need to see from Gimenez. Unfortunately, I just don’t think Gimenez has it, nor will he. Also, Gimenez missed a great run opportunity with a pass from Modric in the second.
The Nkunku purchase seems sudden and irrational but I believe we truly need him. Gimenez does not have the skills we need.
Five things.
1. Pre-VAR the game would’ve ended 4:0.
2. I’ll take 2:0.
3. A win is a win.
4. The club has wasted millions and years trying to force out Saelemaekers – what a disgrace.
5. The club has forced out about 6-7 FBs this summer and now has none except for Bartesaghi who still can’t get a game ahead of Estupinan.
6. If Estupinan was a youth player he’d be playing in Serie D.
7. That RLC header was ridiculous. He made some nice runs forward but his touch let him down. He needs to improve.
8. I’m not sure the trio mentioned in 3 can improve so they were all worthwhile signings that caused unnecessary disruption.
9. The squad’s a mess.
10. I can’t count.
Musah needs his confidence back. So many times he’s 1 on 1 in open space in the final 1/3 and just passes back.
Another backhanded comment about pulisic. You Cant mention pulisic without trying to cut him down “The American isn’t as spectacular to watch compared to Leao,”
Modric is so far ahead the rest of the players in class and technique, the gap is almost shameful to see .
And the sixth thing we learned is Allegri does not know
5 Things we learned:
1. Won away from home.
2. Kept a clean sheet
3. Managed to score 2 goals.
4. Team has improved in some ways but still has some way to go.
5. Allegri shouted at Musah.