Malick Thiaw and Simon Kjaer played together as a pairing for the first time against Inter, and the defensive performance from AC Milan certainly gave that impression.
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Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan) talks about how Stefano Pioli’s 4-3-3 matched up – or failed to – against Inter’s 3-5-2. Davide Calabria and Theo Hernández were allowed to move inside from full-back, pushing Tijjani Reijnders and Ruben Loftus-Cheek up, but that left the central defenders remain exposed to many two-on-twos.
Kjaer and Thiaw are certainly not Alessandro Nesta, Thiago Silva or Paolo Maldini and such an approach made it clear that in times of selection problems there is not a lot of quality depth available to Pioli at centre-back.
Only Marco Pellegrino arrived in the summer from Club Atlético Platense for €5.5m, with Matteo Gabbia leaving on loan. Sven Botman was a target in the summer of 2022 and he will visit San Siro tomorrow with Newcastle as one of the Premier League’s better defenders.
Kjaer – despite some good performances – has never returned to the levels he achieved before the cruciate ligament injury in his left knee back in December 2021. Thiaw’s rise has been rapid and he has established himself as a starter, but he too must expect growing pains.
In the summer, before going for Pellegrino, Milan had explored Evan N’Dicka, Maxime Estève and Andrew Omobamidele, but they didn’t end up investing in a new central defender.
Now, with the five goals conceded in the derby, the Rossoneri have shown some of their weaknesses and Pioli must adapt in order to not leave the rearguard exposed.
