AC Milan’s strength during the Scudetto-winning season was their defensive department, particularly in the run-in, but so far in 2022-23 it has left a lot to be desired.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes how the Rossoneri rearguard is struggling more in the current campaign and above all they are conceding more goals as a result, as evidenced by the seven goals let in during the last five games.
The cause is mainly too many individual and departmental errors. Yesterday’s match against Napoli is an example of this, because the away side’s first goal came when substitute Sergino Dest missed his tackle and gave the Neapolitans a penalty, while on the second Fikayo Tomori left too much space for Giovanni Simeone in the area with some general confusion too.
In recent days, Stefano Pioli has revealed that he is annoyed by the goals that have been conceded, and he was not happy with Napoli’s winner yesterday.
“On Simeone’s goal we brought too many players to attack the bearer of ball and we did not fill the area well,” he said.
The international break will help players to reset, but more attention and concentration are needed in certain situations in the penalty area where the space available must be reduced. It will be up to Pioli to find a way to get the almost impenetrable defence back.
True and true. Yet some of the fans here are in still denial. But that’s okay tho. As Pierre-Fik were truly impeccable on the 2nd half of last season. And it’s a surprise to all of us fans (in a good way) + our opponents (in a ‘bad’ way). But now, it seems like the other teams have found a way to penetrate our highly aggressive defense line (+ several individual errors do not help either). Let’s hope Thiaw can offer something different on our defense.
Lets not get too dramatic. Yes – we made some unncessary errors. Yes – that Simeone goal looked a little bit too familiar (Brozovic). Yes – we allowed few too many goals so far. But if you look at the xGA :
1. Roma 4.79
2. Napoli 5.87
3. AC Milan 6.73
We are in top 3, and only significantly exceeded by Roma. We are allowing less than 1 xGA per game, which is not that bad.
Underachieving on xGA usually means that your GK is sh*t, which we know is not the case, or that you were facing strikers who showed extraordinary skill and/or luck in converting their chances.
If we consider that we were facing a lot of top teams so far, the latter makes a lot of sense. When we start facing weaker sides, or when our “bad luck” ends, we should see the tide turning.
Coming from the BEST defense, less conceeded side in the whole Europe on the 2nd half of the season, it’s worrying. We do not take up where we left off. Something is just missing on our defensive scheme and it should be addressed promptly. As in Italy, it’s the best defense that’ll win the league.
Exactly. They’ve already proven last year that they are a good defensive unit. Combine it with xGA data, and you will see that they are just going through a bad period. Instead of overreacting and breaking what is working, we should give them time to bounce back. Patience is not usually a strong side of football fans.