Following two consecutive wins in the league, Milan headed to Bergamo with the aim of making it three. However, after conceding three goals, it all fell apart for Stefano Pioli’s men and Atalanta deservedly won.
The game was fairly even at the start with Atalanta playing a tad more direct than Milan, who dominated possession. This resulted in the home side opening the scoresheet in the 38th minute after a wicked deflection by Fikayo Tomori.
Fortunately for the Rossoneri, Olivier Giroud scored just before half-time to make it 1-1 and this was a necessary push. Milan failed to build on it in the second half, though, as Ademola Lookman stepped up again for Atalanta and made the most of sloppy defending in the 55th minute.
After the second goal, Pioli’s men had a hard time creating chances but did find a way back again through Luka Jovic in the 80th minute. However, in injury time, Davide Calabria was sent off and that led to Atalanta’s winner through Luis Muriel. Below are five takeaways from the game.
1. Disappointing by the captain
Calabria picked up a sloppy second yellow card in the dying minutes of the game, which resulted in his team losing the momentum and eventually conceding the winner. He will also not be available against Monza next week, which is far from ideal given the injury situation.
Although the third goal was down to poor defending, the fact that Milan was a man down changed the dynamic completely. You really should know better in that sense, especially when you are wearing the captain’s armband.
2. Consistently bad
After the Frosinone clash, we discussed Samuel Chukwueze’s struggles to find consistency after a positive performance against Dortmund. And that was once again evident against Atalanta.
You could argue that he technically has found consistency, but a negative one rather than a positive one. It’s becoming a real problem for Milan and has been very clear during Rafael Leao’s absence, with Christian Pulisic playing on the left instead.
Chukwueze had a couple of good moments early on against Atalanta and then disappeared from the pitch.
3. Shaky by the centre-back duo
While it was always going to be hard for Milan, playing with Theo Hernandez as a centre-back, the expectation was at least that Tomori would lead the way.
Against Atalanta, however, it was really obvious that Hernandez was played out of position and Tomori wasn’t much better either. Given the Englishman’s form in the last few months, it was a bit disappointing even if he didn’t get much help.
The three goals conceded were collective defensive mistakes and on the first two especially, Hernandez and Tomori were badly positioned and did poorly. Those mistakes must be addressed before the crucial Champions League game against Newcastle.
4. Striker duo impressive
On a positive note, Giroud and Jovic both managed to get on the scoresheet. After the position had been a big problem for Milan in recent months, this is certainly encouraging.
Jovic, who had big issues at the start of the season, is now gaining momentum. He scored and assisted against Frosinone and followed that up with a nice striker’s goal yesterday. For quite some time, it looked like he had rescued at least a point for Milan.
Giroud made his return from suspension and scored a lovely header to equalise, as mentioned. In short, they were promising displays from both and Pioli will be hoping that they can continue like this. Especially in view of the Newcastle game.
5. Out of ideas?
Pioli has a lot of excuses to use and some of them are legit, such as the injury crisis. Some of the new additions have also struggled to make a difference, while Leao’s absence was always going to be difficult to handle.
However, having said all of this, the manager seems to be repetitive in his ways and continues to make quite strange choices. The ‘positionalism’ was brought up by the newspapers this morning and one can only agree.
This begs the following: is Pioli out of ideas? Should he be the man to bring this team to the next level? It will be interesting to see what decision Milan will make after the Newcastle game, depending on the outcome, and what will happen in the summer if he were to remain.
a winning team cant be built overnight. It takes time. Chemistry needs to be created. There is a reason why PSG didnt win UCL but RM keeps winning with 1/10th of their spending. Shoving 23 bodies in a dressing room DOESNT make it a team and the legendary moneyball failed to predict that lol
That’s The ONLY thing we learned in every match this season.
this was a winning team. majority of guys are still here. yes?
Calabria let the team down with the red card but I’m glad the article points out that as a collective, the team was poor defensively, not just him. Atalanta should have been three to four goals up by the time Jovic equalized. I’m surprised the midfield gets a pass here. The new guys offer next to nothing in both phases of the games. Krunic has been made the scapegoat but honestly I don’t see what any of the others have done to justify starting ahead of him. I hope Krunic and Bennacer get to play as a double pivot to at least shield our decimated defense.
How can he ran out on ideas in your fourth season. He should be managing things better after winning the League and reaching the semi final in the UCL but that is not the case. He has the option to change tactics and deploy a more defensive approach to games but he won’t. Claiming we are Milan and we know what to do.Excuse me coach,you don’t know what to do. I think imo Ibrahimovic set the Target of winning the League to the team and not the coach. And Ibra was backed my Maldini and Co. In the season Ibra declared such a target . The coach never saw it. I doubt it Pioli can win any Silver wear again. Honestly speaking Milan is ambitious but he the coach is not. If he was, you could hear it from his utterance.
Moreso you try Simic in preseason ,but never gives him the chance rather you move Theo to CB which is not his natural position. He gets exposed by Atalanta. What is wrong in deploying a defensive approach to games , remaining compact and catching teams on the break. So you don’t concede alot.
Milan lost what was the distinctive characteristics since Pioli took over: aggression without the ball and intensity, physical and mental. Milan has become a passive team, unable to recover the ball high on the pitch.
The post match interview shows that Pioli must leave. I mean how was he satisfied with the the performance until the 2-2? Atalanta could have scored at least 2 more and we never played like a team the only time we get 3 passes together is in our half. Now we don’t have any options but I really hope Pioli leaves at the end of the season
Yes, Calabria, was sent off but sendings off do happen in football.
Giroud was sent off – does that make Giroud someone who is not leadership material or a player capable of winning a World Cup and Scudetto?
Players will get sent off. Players will have bad games. Players will have bad seasons. It happens. That’s why you take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and focus on the longer term.
It’s not only the sending off, although that was incredibly dumb. It’s the terrible defending that he has shown time and time again any time they don’t designate a second player to help him out as they have to do when we play Napoli or PSG.
I do take exception to criticizing the players Tomori and Theo. CBs come in pairs. They are effective as a unit and when you lose one you want the new one to build habits quickly.
Now look at what Theo was clearly asked to do. He went wide left in possession ASAP and Flo moved inside.
This likely put Theo in comfort but was not what we needed. We needed defense and to protect the defense.
So with Theo up the pitch we lose possession (as happens in the normal course of a game, not because of Theo)
You see Flo tracking back down the center but he isn’t sure if/when he should move outside. Theo is the same. I
If you pick 15 min to rewatch just watch these transitions. What baffles me is of I am seeing it then surely the coaches are too. Change the instructions.
Now consider Calabria who was way up the pitch as well this game. Why?! While not as obvious I felt Tomori was in a panic as the loan guy back without a clear idea of where the cavalry was coming from.
None of the above was the players. It was the system they were working in.
Our system needs an upgrade. Not (most of) our players
I agree with what you’re saying but Pioli usually gets criticised for a lack of tactical flexibility and it doesn’t get more flexible than what you’ve described.
And it nearly worked in phases.
It’s not something I’d have done but one thing that has impressed me with Pioli is he’s shown some innovation. Some of that has paid off. This one didn’t.
I don’t want coaches being put off experimenting though. It’s the only way to stay ahead.
100% with you on experimenting.
I didn’t see the science. Experiments start with a hypothesis, “Of X then I should be able to measure Y and then repeat it.”
We saw in early season with a full squad that inverting Calabria was not effective. I fail to see (this could be me) the logic of the hypothesis: “Maybe this works with only one healthy CB”
What I see is the same players trotted out in different positions. We see repeatedly that it has not worked. I think I see frustration in the players on the field with stupid behavior like Giroud getting sent off and Calabria this week.
What I don’t see is a new hypothesis. Examples might be
* If I play a young CB … (Simic)
* If I change tactics and play more compact then hit on the counter
Good science require changing one variable at a time and learning cause and effect. In a back line of 4 we had two players put of position alone.
I fell in love with Milan because of Piolis calm demeanor and Ibra’s old man influence. Today I have lost my faith in Pioli because he seems to have become erratic. Erratic is experimenting without learning.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Exactly. The instructions killed us and we all saw it within the first 10 minutes. We allowed them to pack the mid field we took up the wings instead and we looked out of sort with no solutions. Hopefully we don’t try that again.
It’s almost (almost) as if Musah performing poorly as a RB, Krunic performing poorly as a CB and Theo failing as a CB had to do with the coaching and instructions !!
This also got me thinking.
He played these guys out of position and then made the position nonstandard.
I’m not a Krunic lover but I appreciate what he can give us off the bench when we need more.spine in the middle to close out a win. Midfielders play as if CBs are behind them. Krunic should have played his natural position with someone like Flo behind him who is used to being last man.
Love me some Musah. Think he should be coming off the bench on the regular rather than starting on what is now 4 positions? Again a midfielder used to guys behind him and asked to cover every blade of grass. Geez of course he will mentally revert to risk taking risks in the heat of the match.
Theo. Glad he stepped up. Did well the first time. Then we got cute swapping he and Flo. Why complicate things? We have an injury crisis. If Theo is the best option then fine. Set up the rest of the shape and tactical philosophy for the game to ensure his success, not confuse the only CB we have.
We also have a crisis at the front. Okafur and Leao out. Chuk Ineffective. Hmm gonna be tough to score. Seems that going compact while we weather such crisis makes sense as the experiment to run.
Bro you’re making wayyyy too much sense 👍 lol
Out of ideas? When was the last time he had any ideas? Two-three years ago?
No midfield at all. I’ve rewatched the game. It’s a passing game between our backline and wingers or Theo carrying to final third or overlaping pass on Giroud. We have no functional midfield.
Yes. The midfield was non-existent. Just like in 4 matches in 5. The 4-3-3 with those men simply isn’t working. No team play. No creativity. No chances created. And leaky in defense. Something needs to change. NOW!
WE LEARN THAT WE NEVER LEARN !!!
We learn but Pioli doesn’t.