MN: Recoveries, attitude and tactical tweaks – three ways to restart the ‘Milan machine’

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan are in a rut at the moment having won only one of the four games they have played so far in 2023, and a response must arrive starting tomorrow against Inter.

Antonio Vitiello writes in his column for MilanNews that little can be expected from the transfer market as Paolo Maldini has declared that no business will be done in January and his words appear to be correct.

Therefore, Vitiello writes that there are ‘three ways to try to restart the Milan machine’. The first move is to recover the injured players, being having a full treatment room impacts the rotations Stefano Pioli can make and reduces the level of intensity the healthy players can consistently provide. Origi, Kjaer, Rebic and Messias are back, now we wait for Krunic, Florenzi, Ibrahimovic and Maignan.

The second way is to improve the mental attitude and the choices that are being made on the pitch. There is a need for more ruthlessness in front of goal and also to make the right choices in the defensive phase. Individual errors are too frequent, as seen in the Roma and Lecce games, but also the matches before the World Cup such as against Cremonese, Torino and others.

The third point concerns the tactical aspect, and in particular the idea that the Rossoneri seem to be struggling to find the balance that made them so effective last season. The team are struggling defensively, and it must be noted that in the Scudetto winning campaign Milan found greater solidity when a midfielder was inserted in the role of attacking midfielder, giving more substance to the midfield and certainly making the team more compact.

Tags AC Milan

3 Comments

  1. Do people not understand the concept of form?

    Throughout a season most teams and players will experience rises and dips in form. Some don’t but they tend to be exceptional. Napoli are currently exceptional but their upward only form trajectory will end eventually hopefully soon.

    Milan (who are second to the exceptional Napoli) are currently experiencing a dip in form which is hopefully temporary. We experienced a dip this time last season which we managed to overcome. The come back against Lecce is hopefully the beginning of the come back.

    And Lecce are a reminder of something else. At this level the gap between the teams comes down to inches not miles.

    Anyone can beat anyone and if a so called top team drop their level for a second – take an extra touch before passing, mistime a run by a second, or switch off marking for a millisecond – they will be punished.

    The thing that differentiates the top teams and the top players is they have fewer dips in form than the rest. But they still do have dips in form. It’s a thing.

    1. This is the most ridiculous post I’ve ever read. You sound like someone that has not watched most of the games this season. This is not a recent drop in form. Milan has played poorly pretty much the entire season with the exception of maybe 3 games. They lost to Torino twice this season, one of them 11 vs 10. They dropped points to Cremonese, Lecce, Sassuolo. They were utterly embarrassed by Chelsea twice in Champions League, and Milan has been quite lucky to have won some of the games they have. They are getting outplayed by lesser teams on a regular basis. Their defense has been conceding way too many goals the entire season, not just when Maignan got hurt. And the idea that the gap is so thin between teams like Milan and Lecce is ridiculous. The talent level is not close. If you want to know why Napoli is playing so much better than Milan this season, all you have to do is look at the signings they made vs the signings Maldini has made. End of story.

  2. @ K We’re second and Napoli is enjoying unprecedented form which has seen them smash both Liverpool and Juve. We have about the same number of points as last season.

    If the games this season haven’t quite lived up to your FIFA games then I’m sorry for you that you can’t tell the difference between real life and a computer game.

Comments are closed

Serie A Standings

Live football scores . Current table, fixtures & results.