AC Milan are heading for a Champions League place as things stand, but it is despite their attack rather than thanks to it.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, those who should be providing a spark in front of goal continue to be absent, and by now the Rossoneri world is resigned. Barring a collapse, Milan are destined to deliver the season’s big goal, but they are being weighed down by the sterility of their strikers.
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The question is as banal as it is simple: where could Milan have been if they had combined their iron defence with an effective attack? The answer is not so obvious, because balance is key, but the numbers are worrying.
Attack remains jammed
The match against Juve confirmed the enormous difficulties of the attacking line. Leao and Pulisic once again demonstrated that they aren’t able to play as a pairing, at least not within this tactical framework.
The American runs everywhere like a madman (in game data, he consistently ranks among the top players for distance run), sometimes even to cover the spaces left open by the Portuguese, who in turn tries to find space in the middle but rarely succeeds.
Leao and Pulisic are only part of the problem, because if we broaden our gaze to the rest of the line there are few solutions. The arrival of Niclas Füllkrug hasn’t worked, the man supposed to be a typical No.9 for games against low blocks. He will return to West Ham soon.
Christopher Nkunku has had a few games where he suggested a resurgence was coming, but it never did. Santiago Gimenez has been out for four and a half months and is clearly not 100%, especially if Allegri chose Füllkrug over him in the final half hour against Juve.
The result? The Rossoneri – who must protect their Champions League spot at all costs – have scored just one goal in their last four matches. That came from a midfielder: Adrien Rabiot. In the second half of the season, Milan’s attack is the 12th-best in the league.
Pulisic hasn’t scored in a staggering 958 minutes (December 28); Gimenez hasn’t scored since last season: 715 minutes (May 9); Füllkrug hasn’t scored in 428 minutes (January 18); Leao hasn’t scored in 368 minutes (March 1); and Nkunku hasn’t scored in 318 minutes (February 3). Combined, they’ve gone 2,787 minutes without scoring.
“The American runs everywhere like a madman”……….I thought this is the hard work we want to see? Hard work turned track and field…..lol
That’s the sacrifice Pulisic is making for the team. To cover open space defensively and trying to find open space in Allegri no plan offense. And I’m not blaming Leão. Both are isolated. Leão lost the ball it seemed half the time when he tried to attack, but he had few options. What does Allegri do against these lower teams?
Bash Pulisic, praise Leao no matter what. We get it!
Yes, he just does the opposite of what most of you do. No difference.
Pulisic hasn’t scored a goal in months and still has the same g/a production as Lazy Leao, in less minutes played and no penalties. At least he runs, what does Leao do?
You mean Leao that was injured in the first part of the season? 😀 Good job clown. When you try to make a point at least make a valid one.
You mean Pulisic who was injured in the last months of last year? 😀 Good job clown. When you try to make a point at least make a valid one.
It was funny only once. Stop.
Hard work is extremely important, without it we might have looked even worse.
Naaah, let everyone walk on the pitch as the #10 and see how we’ll win trophies again.
I wonder should Allegri give Leao and Pulisic a full 90 mins.
The way Milan are playing this season Allegri seems to use the first half to take the wind out of the opposition before scoring in the second.
But that leaves these two with about 10-15 mins to score.
Give them a full 90. Help them score.
Puli should be sold somewhere to be closer to Sweeney. He reminds me of Pato after becoming Berlusocni’s sun in low.
We should simply dump the 3-5-2, and also the rest of Italy. No matter the results… there are no CL, Euro or WC champions which play this.
Sve to treba rastjerat u 3 p….m……plus 90% ostalih koji igraju UNAZAD !!!
This analysis is weak. Where is the article addressing the fact that the attack is mooted because of Allegri’s chosen formation and tactics? The defense has been solidified to the detriment of the attack. But Allegri has gotten us back in the Champions League places, so that is still an achievement.
The question, then, is whether Milan can take the next step using the same formation/tactics, even if they splash on a pricey true striker. My wager is no, because Allegri’s approach won’t permit true success in Serie A or Champions League unless you have a genuine worldy in the role, and even then there would likely be a struggle with no service or interplay.
Allegri’s formation is defensive but thats not the reason why Milan players are not scoring goals.
Leao and Pulisic have never been good finishers or put up good goal scoring numbers, while Nkunku, Gimenez and Fulkrug barely play.
“Leao and Pulisic have never been good finishers or put up good goal scoring numbers”
LOL. Pulisic had amazing stats during the first 2-3 months of the season and proved he can be a helluva finisher. With that pace he would have scored +30 goals this season but then came the injuries.
And Leao has scored plenty as a winger. Not “great striker” plenty but plenty for a winger.
You’re kidding, right? The stats for goal contributions excluding the last six months don’t support that comment, especially as to Pulisic. Plus, both are wingers…
Also, Pulisic scored a bunch of goals in the first half of the season, but, frankly, they were junk goals. Allegri’s approach does not generate goal scoring opportunities. To suggest otherwise is just not accurate.
Lastly, watching Milan is boring as hell this year. Wonder why. Makes me want to turn off the game it is so awful.
Allegri’s approach gurantees the league’s best defense so far because it can’t be effectively utilized any other way. Otherwise we’re back to last season leaking goals right and left.
Nobody is denying that Allegri’s football is boring and defensive, but there is also no denying that leao and Pulisic are posting scoring more or less what they have always scored.
Pulisic scored 12 goals in 23/24, 11 last season in serie A including penalties. This season he has 8 without penalties. The total goals are less because Milan plays less games without European football, but the serie A games are the same.
When it comes to Leao, we already know that he sucks at scoring goals.
Like i said they have never scored many goals
I mean comparing it
To last year we were eighth and losing and bleeding goals. Do we want to go back to that? Of course not but that doesn’t mean we should be perfectly fine with the current situation with Allegri. BUT we need to understand Allegri is bringing defensive structure and we now need to build the attack. These stats do raise alarms but again we had to improve and claw back compared to the bad season we had last time
We also need to understand that Allegri’s been given a very unbalanced team, which isn’t ideally suited to any formation. 3-5-2 was chosen to get the best from our defenders, who are not world class CBs but each have some good traits, and to allow a midfield to shield and help that defence.
However, we don’t have top forwards for playing in this formation, strong in the air and good in tight spaces, and we don’t have the sort of wing-backs the best teams have, we have a hardworking right-sider who lacks end product and a youngster with a good cross but not yet developed full defensive awareness.
The 3-5-2 depends on the wing backs and two forwards to create together and we don’t have the personnel for that; I don’t blame Max for that.
Likewise, 4-3-3, we don’t have the CBs for that, we don’t have any experienced right full-back… Also not Max’s fault.
I’d quite like to try 4-3-3 with Tomori and Pavlovic as full-backs, with Gabbia and De Winter in the centre, but I also understand why now is not the moment to make that switch.
Absolutely brilliant analysis. I have been talking about this exact thing but you really made me think with your vision of 4-3-3. Could work but I also understand that Max is not going to try it now. The moment is too delicate.