AC Milan returned home with all three points after beating Monza last night, but the Italian media are rightly unconvinced by what was another drab performance.
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This morning’s edition of Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) has not held back as they wrote this morning that the way ‘the Rossoneri are on the pitch, in fact, continues to be a puzzle. Little rhythm, but above all little balance’.
Paulo Fonseca chose to name four forwards as Christian Pulisic played as an attacking midfielder and the issue is that it left the team open in transition. Monza had several chances on the counter-attack and Mike Maignan plus some bad finishing were to thank for the clean sheet.
Alessandro Nesta’s team exploited all of Milan’s weaknesses, even taking the lead with Dany Mota, a goal that was later disallowed for a foul at the start of the move by Warren Bondo on Theo Hernandez that created quite a bit of controversy.
In the end, the only positive thing about the evening for Milan was the result, but for the rest there was very little to celebrate. Rafael Leao remains at the centre of a storm and he started on the bench last night, coming on and missing a couple of chances to kill the game off.
Yesterday’s performance highlights the fact that Milan currently cannot maintain the ambitions with which it began the season, which is aiming for the Scudetto. Tuesday’s trip to face Real Madrid could be an important turning point for Palo Fonseca’s side, who will have to show the same spirit at the Bernabeu as in the derby.
Sacrifice, application and running will be needed to stand a chance against Los Blancos. However, as the paper adds, ‘as the weeks go by, that performance has become increasingly a faint memory. Will the Bernabeu be enough to rekindle the flame?’.