AC Milan extended their lead above Juventus to three points just before the international break, and it seems as though a third phase of the 2023-24 season has been entered.
As MilanNews recall, Stefano Pioli spoke at the press conference and commented on his team’s moment, and he too gave a nod to the idea that the current campaign can be broken up into multiple parts.
“We had an excellent start to the season, perhaps we did too well, considering that we had changed so many players and I didn’t expect it, just as I didn’t expect the decline afterwards. Now we’re good and there are many opportunities to demonstrate our value,” he said.
Part one
The first segment goes from round one to round eight in the league, in which the Rossoneri achieved seven wins and a draw, scored 16 goals, conceded 8 and collected 21 points (average of 2.63 points per game).
It was an excellent start to the league season, therefore, tainted ‘only’ by the heavy defeat in the derby against Inter. However, they recovered from that 5-1 loss to take top spot.
Part two
Then, however, came a sudden collapse that not even Pioli expected, due above all to the numerous injuries that affected Milan, particularly in defence.
Between October and December Milan played 10 league matches (round nine to 18), with a balance of four wins, three draws and three defeats, 16 goals scored, 12 goals conceded and a haul of just 15 points collected (average of 1.5 points per game).
It was during this time that Inter began to pull away in the title race, with Juventus behind them and a battle just to stay in the top four seeming likely.
Part three
Since the beginning of 2024, however, there has been a new change of gear by Milan who have returned to a pace almost like at the beginning of the season.
The numbers for the new year are similar to those of the first part of the year: 11 matches played (round 19 to 29) with eight victories, two draws and only one defeat, plus 23 goals scored, 13 conceded and 26 points collected (average of 2.36 points per game).
The main reason for Milan’s rebirth? Without a doubt the recovery of the injured players, but also perhaps some added awareness too.
My heart goes out to Fiorentina this morning and the loss of Joe Barone. Think we need an article demonstrating certain standards of class towards others. Fiorentina is rather shaken today.