AC Milan traveled to Turin to face off against Torino seeking their fifth consecutive win in Serie A which would have kept up the pressure on Napoli, but they fell to a first away league defeat in 18 games.
The game started well for Milan in terms of creating chances, but Rafael Leao wasted both of Brahim Diaz’s feeds. The first time he was left one on one with the goalkeeper but failed to even hit the target, and then he wasted a through ball where he missed the target.
After those two big chances that Milan did not convert the game became more feisty and balanced, with Torino eventually taking the lead via a set piece, which has been the weakness of Pioli’s side over and over again. It only took two minutes after the opener for Torino to score a second after more questionable defending.
In the second half, Pioli made several changes but that did not result in more dangerous chances, with the eventual goal coming via a foolish mistake from Milinkovic-Savic that Junior Messias converted. The goal didn’t change the match and the three points went to the home side, so here are five things we learned:
1. Achilles heel
The problems Milan have from set-pieces have persisted for years it feels like they are yet to improve on that weakness. Djidji was left unmarked in the 35th minute and didn’t even have to jump to convert a free header in off the far post.
It seemed as if Kalulu was the man that had to mark him, but we only saw Gabbia rushing towards Djidji in an attempt to intervene, so the result was horrible defending and lack of communication.
It’s one thing to have a tall physical player beat you in the air and head the ball in with precision, but just giving away free headers like that is unacceptable and the mixture of zonal and man-marking approaches clearly doesn’t work in Milan’s favour.
2. Unusual flop
Rafael Leao managed to be the flop of the game and this is very unusual for him as he didn’t even get the chance to make things right in the second half because he was subbed off at half-time.
We have often spoken about the winger and whether or not the club should meet his salary demands and whilst the answer has generally been yes without much of a question, the opportunities he missed early in the game are exactly the ones that he needs to bury if he wants to be one of the highest paid players in Italy.
Now, obviously, every player will have a bad game here and there and Leao is the most dangerous player by far in this Milan squad, but what’s worrying in this particular instance is just how bad these two misses were and the reaction after them that was non-existent.
3. Misfiring left side
If wasn’t bad enough that Leao had a rough night, his partner in crime – Theo Hernandez – also failed to have any impact on the game.
The Frenchman is usually a powerhouse on the pitch, but against Torino he was a shadow of himself as he failed to impose himself on the game.
Theo offered little to nothing going forward as his forward runs just didn’t work out and in the final third of the game he could barely make an accurate pass or control the ball at all as he lost possession on multiple occasions.
It was really disappointing outing for the left-back and he will need to respond against Red Bull Salzburg if Milan want to make it out of the group.
4. Midfield overwhelmed
Pioli started the game with Pobega and Tonali in the starting XI and despite a couple of good moments the duo failed to dominate the middle of the park.
Pobega was clumsy and slow and could have easily racked up two yellows with his challenges. Tonali tried to make something happen with a few optimistic long balls – one of which resulted in Messias’ goal – but other than that the Italian was also underwhelming as he could not impose himself.
There is also the question of chemistry as Pioli has rotated the squad a lot in recent weeks and it was obvious at times that something wasn’t clicking, but because of the tough schedule Pioli will need to find a solution because Ismael Bennacer and Tonali cannot start every single game together.
5. A surprise positive
Sergino Dest had arguably his best performance for Milan so far against Torino but unfortunately that came when the rest of the team was not performing at all.
The right-back was the only one trying to make something happen as he was not afraid of going forward or taking on his man. His pace and dribbling allowed him to do so, but Torino were not hesitant to foul him if he slipped pass a man or two.
That being said, the performance is a building block for the Barcelona loanee as he has looked better in the last couple of games, and at the very least he looks as though he could be a good impact man to call upon.
