GdS: ‘The old rules of football’ – Milan again betrayed by defensive ‘fragility’

In what feels like a familiar tale for AC Milan so far this season (and beyond), individual errors cost them in a big game, this time against the leaders Napoli.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, ‘there are old rules of football that never go away’. You can attack (which Milan did with 62% possession and five corners to one) and try harder (13 shots to 9, 5 to 4 on target), but the details count.

Milan’s faults last night end with the sterility of the forward department, but evidently start from the weaknesses of the defence. The 1-0 goal comes from an error in build-up by Mike Maignan, on which McTominay gets there before a sliding Alvaro Morata. Anguissa’s through ball to Lukaku does the rest.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, during the presentation of Strahinja Pavlovic, called the centre-back ‘the animal’. The Serbian is used to using physical strength to prevail over his rivals, and yet in a shoulder-to-shoulder duel with Lukaku he ended up on the floor.

Of course, Malick Thiaw could also read the development of the play better by closing down the Belgian, and these are the details we are talking about. From that moment the game became exactly what Antonio Conte wanted, given his teams are masters of defending deep and countering.

The killer blow came at the end of the first half, when on Kvaratskhelia’s shot Maignan made a mistake in his reactivity and and the ball beat him into the corner, seeming to go under him. It was an uncharacteristic error given his recent form, yet it came in the biggest test.

The data shows that out of 12 games this season, the Rossoneri have conceded at least two goals in six. They have only three clean sheets – all at home – against Venezia, Lecce and Udinese.

When the opponents’ level rises, Fonseca’s team always concedes goals. Winning becomes so terribly complicated like that.