AC Milan have enjoyed a good run of form in the league since the turn of the year and were presented with a great opportunity to grab second spot after Juventus dropped points to Hellas Verona, but they fell to defeat against Monza.
Stefano Pioli’s men found themselves two goals down at the break after several individual mistakes, and they were a man down by the 52nd minute with Luka Jovic receiving a red card for lashing out at Armando Izzo
Despite the setbacks, the Rossoneri did manage to halve the deficit through Olivier Giroud and even equalised in the 88th minute through Christian Pulisic.
However, Warren Bondo and Milan loanee Lorenzo Colombo scored in added time to seal Monza’s first ever win against their Lombardy neighbours.
Here are five things we learned from a dramatic yet disappointing encounter…
1. Way off the pace
Malick Thiaw was injured for nearly three momths and was thrown into action from the start against Monza which proved costly in the end with the centre-back making two extremely sloppy tackles in the space of a few seconds which resulted in a penalty.
In the sixth minute of added time in the first half, Thiaw was again under the spotlight after he was beaten with ease by Andrea Colpani as he pushed out of position to help Ismael Bennacer but failed to get the ball.
Then, also failed to block Danny Mota’s shot as it got deflected by his foot and went into the back of the net which was rather unlucky, but also a result of the poor positioning and decision making a few moments earlier.
It’s fair to say that that was probably the worst game of his Milan career. It wasn’t so much a physical fitness problem but more the mental side of things, and that is something which should snap back into place with game time.
2. Making a statement the wrong way
Thiaw was on his way to comfortably securing the title of flop of the game for Milan regardless of the result, but Jovic somehow managed to top him as he was sent off in the early minutes of the second half.
He reacted aggressively to a provocation by Izzo after the pair had come together and been warned by the referee moments earlier.
He got a shove from he experienced Italian and threw his hands towards his face. The contact may have only been a scrape, but VAR intervened and the referee had no choice.
That made things even more difficult for his team, but it’s just a pity that the Serbian couldn’t keep his composure because he hasn’t managed to make the most out of the chances Pioli has given him from the start and now he will likely serve a multi-game ban.
3. Outthought and outfought
Whilst individual mistakes were costly for Milan and the outcome of the game it’s also fair to say that Monza were compact and disciplined on the pitch, taking their chances well.
With that being said credit has to go towards their coach Raffael Palladino, who instructed his players well as they soaked up the pressure Milan tried to put on them early on and played fast and direct on the counter.
It is a style which has been a problem for Milan for a while now and a reason why the team has done so poorly against opponents in the bottom half of the table whilst playing much better against teams in the top half that play a more attacking football.
Interestingly, Palladino actually spoke in his press conference after the game about how he watched Milan’s 3-0 win over Rennes and that gave him the conviction he needed to play a 4-2-3-1 rather than a 3-4-2-1, implying he felt more comfortable matching up with the opponents.
4. To the rescue (almost)
Despite the delicate situation in which Milan was they did manage to get a goal back in the 64th minute through Giroud after a flick from Pulisic that got the ball in the Frenchman’s reach.
That gave them plenty of time to find another goal and salvage the situation and in the 88th minute that moment came, when Pulisic showed some individual quality to beat his man by cutting inside onto his left foot and lashing a rocket into the far corner.
The happiness was short-lived with Bondo’s goal winning the game just two minutes later, but Pulisic and Giroud did well to get their team back in the game and we finally saw that killer instinct from the American who has been struggling a bit recently in terms of his production.
If not anything else, Pioli will hope that the goal will give Pulisic a nice morale boost, whilst Giroud hit 20 goal contributions in the league for his team, though he didn’t give much away before the game about his future.
5. Chances not taken
Similar to Jovic, Noah Okafor and Samuel Chukwueze were given a big chance from minute one to show that they deserve more regular starts and yet they showed little to nothing that was positive.
Okafor has had some good moments off the bench, scoring three goals in fact, but failed to help his side against Monza as he delivered a pretty anonymous performance on the left side.
The Nigerian meanwhile has barely had a good game in Serie A (both his goals came in Europe) and you would expect more from the most expensive signing of the summer transfer window.
The third disappointment is not Jovic – who we mentioned in a separate point – but rather Rafael Leao who had a wonderful game in the Europa League against Rennes and got the goal he was craving, which we hoped would help him regain a bit of confidence.
In spite of this, against Monza the Portuguese didn’t get on the ball that much and didn’t create any dangerous chances when he did. Pioli admitted after the game that he felt a calf problem and that’s why he didn’t start, which makes his 45-minute cameo even more bizarre.
