AC Milan’s Coppa Italia campaign lasted just two games as Atalanta knocked them out last night at San Siro, coming from behind to win 2-1, and it exposed three weaknesses.
As Calciomercato.com write, the match against Atalanta reiterated Milan’s three great limitations. The first, more predictable than the others and therefore even more serious, concerns the lack of a true goalscoring centre-forward to alternate with Olivier Giroud.
The Frenchman was rightly saved for the game against Roma on Sunday but was forced to watch Luka Jovic’s empty runs for more than an hour, with the Serbian the worst on the pitch according to La Gazzetta dello Sport’s ratings.
But even with Giroud, Milan had already paid dearly for the absence of a striker as a deputy to him, someone who could have allowed him to manage his work load and leave him feeling sharper going into the second half of the season.
Added to the errors from the summer window is the sin of not updating the coaching and medical staff, because no Italian team has had so many muscle injuries. This is why Pioli has already performed a semi-miracle by keeping Milan in third place, even if the Scudetto has vanished.
As had already happened against Napoli and Lecce (2-0 leads at half-time that became 2-2 draws), Milan dropped noticeably in the second half. The flaw was seen again in Empoli, where at 2-0 they came under seigne, and also in the match against Atalanta who were far better.
The third limitation – thinking more about the future – is the lack of a strong, because competent, management. After the precedent of Lecce, where there wasn’t even a director in the stands, a few hours before the match against Atalanta the absence of a club representative at the important meeting in Rome with the president of the Football Federation was even more serious.
Gravina hosted a meeting in which the future of Italian football was discussed. Inter, Juventus, Fiorentina, Bologna, Atalanta, Torino, Salernitana, Verona, Lazio, Roma and Lecce all had a representative there.
Milan, on the other hand, were notable for their absence, because the owner Gerry Cardinale was in America, while president Paolo Scaroni made some bizarre pre-game comments questioning the necessity of the Coppa Italia.
The 64,000 fans will not have been happy to hear such words, especially before a game that ended up leaving them feeling disappointed, as the jeers at full-time showed.
real talk. who the f is Scaroni and why is he the president of Milan?
I agree that Scaroni is useless. I do find it surprising that for a team that wanted to cut “middle men” by sacking Maldini (contradicted in 3 months by hiring Ibra), they kept Scaroni and not just gave all of these powers to Furlani.
Who the F…is Pioli and why is he the manager of ACM?
Our biggest weakness is our inability to impose ourselves in a game. We play in bit parts and can’t sustain momentum consistently. Every team has a free run at us at some point in the game. We struggle to manage games and get easily put under pressure. Capello keeps saying that every time a team attacks us they get a shot on goal…a big concern because we will eventually concede. That is a major weakness for any team trying to compete with the big guys.
Your correct Capello is correct , so why is Pioli still there and why did he get a contract at the beginning of the season
Last season was a disaster beaten by Juve Inter Lazio Sassuolo Roma smashed by Atalanta and just squeezed into CL? Pioli too many reason for to be shown the door before the season gets worse for Milan and supporters
He is not getting new contract this summer but oct’22 when Maldini in charge
The weakness is that Pioli is incapable of developing players and is insecure when it comes to the turnover of players. Given playing time, Adli can be used as a pivot in midfield. The team always loses the midfield with the consequence of putting pressure on the defence. We also lack a player who can shoot from outside the box without needing to play complex football to advance the team to the small box. Pioli’s turnover or the lack of it is creating the longest list of injured players a team can have. The lack of management commitment can also be a factor as to why the players are not putting there heart and soul in their play.
We can have haaland as a striker and it would mean nothing if he doesn’t get service. You look at our play and when does the striker ever get a chance? Whenever they do, either giroud or Jovic they usually score. But yesterday against Atalanta not once did Jovic get a chance and is that his fault or pioli’s tactics? It’s the same crap every game. The wingers run down the line the full backs support, pass it backwards or cross it into the box. Never does anyone ever try to go directly to goal nor does a striker get a chance to do anything.
Pioli doesn’t deserve credit for being in third. The teams below us have been awful and 90% of the points we’ve dropped is to teams we shouldn’t have lost to.
Pioli’s ignorance of continuing with a 4 3 3 or playing a fake 4 2 3 1 with loftus up top is damaging us.
Loftus cheek is not fit for attacking midfield role cos his vision is limited.he is better at just running and using his strength,which is why in Chelsea some coaches used him as a right back sometimes.reijnders wud be a perfect candidate or pulisic.now that chunks is away on afcon duty, reijnders shud be shifted upward with musah and loftus the two tandem.with cheek as d attacking midfielder,our strikers can only get supply from crosses from wingers alone making d team easily predictable
The question is : all these write ups, articles, analysises, observations, suggestions, advices, do pioli and the management ever read them ?
LOL. I can guarantee that NO ONE in the management reads any of them. 😀 😀 😀
If you were in charge of a multi-billion business, would you take advises from people writing stories/comments in the Internet or would you trust your own instincts and (supposed) know-how? 🙂
Reijnders I appreciate his work rate, the way he snaps out of 2 players pressing him, but not good enough to cope with the 10’s role, poor at shooting, poor at making accurate long and throuball, whithout displaying his defensive abilities, costing a lot of dangerous occasion against Atalanta as depicted in the incident which lead to Gabbia Knock out Tijjani was too late he overlooked DE Roon, doesn’t protect the defense
Where are the ppl on this chat that said we didn’t need a striker cause we had Jovic?? lol. Crickets…
Let’s face it – we are an unbalanced team/club on the pitch and off it. Ownership and an inexperienced management team are to blame. They assembled this team and entrusted all the power to Pioli (another mistake).
Heads should role at end of season – BUT – except for Pioli getting the axe – nobody else will get fired. Why?? Because so long as we make top 4 Gerry is happy. Do just enough to be competitive but not enough to put us over the top to win titles. The Atalanta model. Very profitable but you win nothing.
We don’t need a striker. I’m right here. We have jovic. People tear him up in the last game but the truth is he didn’t get a single useful ball and we got lucky to score a goal when we did. Atalanta was tight af in the back.
And why were we unable to create anything? Well it’s all down to the master class baldy and his ingenious tinkering when it’s no need for it
Agree that we don’t need a striker if the objective is to secure 4th spot. Pioli didn’t do a good job yesterday and I agree he tried to be a bit to clever and ended up playing Leao or nothing ball. He did have to tinker a bit given the injuries, using the Cup to promote a youngplayer or 2, and with Scaroni saying the cup is not an objective then why not tinker.
How many goals does Giroud, the true goal scorer, have from open play?
Would Jovic be any better if he had scored those penalties?