The wave of excitement after AC Milan’s win over Real Madrid in midweek came crashing down a few days later with a 3-3 draw against Cagliari.
This morning Il Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) uses strong words, speaking of Milan as a team that ‘does not know common sense’. Considering ambitions and how much the past season was conditioned by this aspect, nothing has been done to improve the defensive phase.
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Indeed, the impression is that after Cagliari significant steps backward have been taken rather than forwards. Milan conceded five goals against Davide Nicola’s team (two were offside), who up until last night had scored nine goals in the league.
This aspect also made Paulo Fonseca furious, and in his post-match interview he expressed disapproval regarding a defensive phase that was definitely questionable.
Ultimately, the home side got a deserved equaliser from Gabriele Zappa in the 89th minute, who for the first time in over 100 career games scored twice in the same match.
That is just one of the incredible takeaways from the rollercoaster evening in Sardinia, which saw the Rossoneri return home with a draw that felt like a defeat.
The defence isn’t fixed, we need to go in for a next level soon to be elite defender, Scalvini cries out. His performances for Atalanta notably the Europa final was impressive.
It’s not a question of individuals. There are probably three or four teams in Serie A with better defenders individually, yet we perform like a relegation-zone team in that regard.
It’s a question of both. Gabbia is out most reliable, all the others have a mistake in them, you need players who are cool under pressure, I’d argue Thiaw, Tomori and Pavlovic aren’t always that. For me one of the three needs to move on
The back line was an issue before the season started, and since it hadn’t really been fixed, still continues to be a problem.