The last couple have results have proved something that AC Milan feared: the team struggle without Christian Pulisic and Adrien Rabiot.
Corriere dello Sport report this morning that it is no coincidence Milan offered their least positive performances of the season against Fiorentina, Pisa and Atalanta, in the last three rounds of Serie A action. While they took home five points with no defeats, each game was a struggle.
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It is clear that Rafael Leao and his team-mates are struggling more at this stage of the season than at the start. The reason lies not only in the merits of high-quality opponents like Atalanta, but also in the measure of a squad that features just 19 outfield players when fully fit.
This squad – when affected by injuries, especially to key players like Pulisic and Rabiot – inevitably shows a decline in its value and potential on the pitch.
The wrong choice?
The decision to choose a relatively small squad was agreed upon in the summer between the management and the coach. Wthout the European competitions to contend with, Massimiliano Allegri deemed it appropriate to work with a smaller group of players, making it easier to manage the squad.
The problem is the variable of injuries, never truly predictable in its magnitude. Thus, after a disastrous October international break, the coach found himself with a reduced roster due to the simultaneous absences of Pulisic, Estupiñan, Rabiot, Loftus-Cheek and Nkunku, plus Jashari.
Above all, without Pulisic and Rabiot Milan have a lower ceiling. The Frenchman offered physicality, leadership and character in both phases, while the American offered work rate but above all consistent end product. Without them, Milan have ‘become an ordinary team’.
In the last three matches, Allegri has made only eight substitutions out of 15 available: three against Fiorentina (two of them in stoppage time), two against Pisa and three against Atalanta (one of them in stoppage time). It’s difficult to find the spark without fresh energy.
Some good news has arrived from Milanello: Estupiñan and Jashari will train with the team today and will be eligible for the match against Roma, although the Swiss will have to wait until after the break before being back on the field.
Pulisic has a slim chance of being called up for Sunday, more likely against Parma, where Rabiot can also hope to be available. For the next two matches, therefore, Allegri will have to hope that no further signs emerge of a worrying over-dependancy.
Yeah maybe, remind us the first match vs newly promoted team cremonese we’re lost. But this time might be better result drawing against strong teams.
I think we tend to panic too soon. This team is a far cry from the rubbish we had to put up with last season. The current limitations are because of the lean squad affected by unfortunate injuries and maybe that can be addressed in the next mercato…more specifically a CB and a CF. Allegri pulled this team from the bottom of the pit leaking goals left and right and for that we need to acknowledge we are making progress. The aim is to find consistency and I am sure it is an addressable challenge with this squad. And there are more mature leaders to pull the team together ( Modric, Rabiot, Puli)…
All this news are just nonsense are u expecting Milan to just be Italian Bayern Munich over night despite not starting our fist striking partner for ones which are pulisic and leao because of fitness issue and despite not being able to integrate our two most expensive signing of the season jashari and nkunku SMH Milan is way better than last season in less thank 4months
We had a much better start than expected and are still in a good position in the table. Our rivals still haven’t found a good rhythm and their European commitments will drain them, although Napoli and Roma are showing an ability to grind out ugly wins.
We have to be careful though. Based on what he have seen since pre-season, this system doesn’t work without Rabiot. Do we just hope Rabiot and Pulisic recover quickly? When all the forwards are fit, who starts? Will we see a change in tactics to help the forwards and integrate other players like Jashari or will they have to adjust to the current system? It will be interesting to see how Allegri addresses these issues
Sometimes with us fans it’s too much either black or white (and that team is supposed to be Juventus).
Win 3 in a row and we’re scudetto contenders, fail to win 3 in a row and we’re a trash team.
The early excitment we had earlier this season when we won a lot and looked convincing has now to deal with the fact that things won’t always go our way. We already lost 4 points since the end of the international break, AS Roma is not going to be easy and even when Pulišić and Rabiot return not sure we can gain back the early momentum.
Also we tend to look down on Napoli, Juventus,… soi-disant they’re “average” but we’re not world-beaters either.
This serie A is going to be long with many teams having something to say about themselves.
@Giga94 thanks brother I love reading your response
You got the nail on its head. Drawing Atlanta at home with couple of new players to me is a good thing but the Italian media will always write nonsense about Milan. All I know is that Milan is doing great with Pulisic and Rabiot injured and we will come back stronger when these players are back.
The media is just a double face streamers who have hatred for Milan as it’s shown in their daily articles if Milan wins they praise them and if they get drawn suddenly they become an ordinary team and it’s too early to discuss scudetho at this stage
I don’t belive in time frame for squad to have balance chemistry.
To me, individuals qualities, consistency and desperation to win is my priority.
If you know how to play football, you need no excuses, Modric, Rabiot is current example within us.
My big concern now is, during International duty, Milan should be very alert on our players. I think we have the power to influence them.
The only regrets are the poor results against cremonese on the opening day as well as the draw against Pisa, together with the unfortunate injuries coming to hurt the team,I hope those results doesn’t comes back to hurt Milan in latter stages of the scudetto race,Max Allegri has done a great job with this team,now we have an identity but lack of quality in some players really affected our game, most average players like Ruben Loftus cheek,Fofana,and lazy Leao are a huge limitations..I hope Rabiot and pulisic comes back quickly,also rooting for a win over Roma
Forza Milan
We lost over 25% of our squad because of that October NT break.
That is insanely unlucky.